Staying calm under pressure

I decided to wear the heart rate monitor that I use for running to my weekly poker league. We have between 20-40 show each week for a tournament. I mostly play live anyway but thought it would be fun to see what happens if I get a good starting hand or holding a monster and someone betting into me. Wanted to see how calm I could keep myself to reduce tells.

Base heart rate is 64 beats per minute when not doing anything.
Base heart rate playing poker went up to around 68, general excitement I guess.
Heart rate first time I peeked at AA = 84.
Heart rate 2nd time I peeked at AA = 78.
Highest it ever got was 96 with 4 way action and my nut flush got run over by full house on river.

I could never get it to stay below 70 while in a hand but I found I was trying to just stay relaxed more and breathing slower to try to stay calm. I eventually got it to go up only about 4 beats per minute while in a hand. I am sure people were wondering why I kept peeking at my watch all night but thought it was interesting. Not sure if I will do it again.

That's a great idea actually. When looking @ how your heart is pumping while knowing what hand you have, can be great practice on keeping your emotions/heartrate in check. Distinguising how all this works is a great tool for poker. I might try it. How did you do in it anyways?

I have a wrist watch that is a heart rate monitor. You can get them for $30-$40. Mine is alittle more complex, downloads to the PC and keeps a graph from the time I start it etc. I just noted what time I hit big hands and went back later to see what happened.

Hear is a tip for you about staying calm if this is a issue. I have noticed this in many players and look for it as a tell. But most players like to hold their breath when under pressure. This may be something you do.

There is some youtube video out there doing exactly the same as this. I forget which player, but there was one pro who's heartrate barely changed at all.

Even with AA, stone cold bluff etc etc.

Pretty impressive.

I think, in part, the stakes you are playing compared to bankroll must be a huge factor.

I have trouble staying calm too. But, I think that heart rate monitor would probably complicate things for me. The beep--------beep--------beep would be fine until it went beep.beep.beep.beep. That would say to me, hey, you're nervous, which would make me more nervous. Guess I need to drink less coffee while playing.

I'm not sure about the heart rate video, but if you look at the "Can You Spot the Tell" for Jesus Ferguson (filmed during last years Heads Up Tourney on NBC) they show his routine for putting chips in doesn't vary for AA, bluff, or draw.

YouTube - Can you spot Jesus' tell?