What do you think when you sit down at the table?

This question is for ONLINE PLAY ONLY. When you start to play for the day, whether it be ring games or SnG's, what goes through your
head? What is your strategy? I try and double up which just isn't working. Do you play to make a certain percetage increase on ur bankroll?
Do you sit to make xxx $? Do you try not to lose? Basically what should i be concentrating on because i find focusing on doubling on, harms me
more than helps me. Many thanks

I never try to double up, i just play good hands , see how the other people are playing , weigh the table up. let the calling stations go out first , then when the time is right POUNCE !!!!

The first thought is usually - whos the maniac? because the more often than not is one.

I never play before it is my turn on the BB - that way you have a chance of seeing a few hands before you have to play.

I try not to get too involved in a hand that can go either way too soon, as without a read on someone and their play you could be playing yourself into a trap.

Take your time to get settled - if you just want to blast in and rush out why bother playing?

After a couple of orbits you should be getting a feel for the table and certainly the looser players will be obvious (the same with the tighter ones, but they may just be card dead)

Basically - sit down, look around, become settled and play the best you can.

GL

Before you build a house, you must have a solid foundation and terrain prep or all the hard work will go to waste: the basement will be floded because rain won't drain properly, the cement can crack, plumbing might malfunction, etc.

For poker, it's the same thing. Many people sit down and they start to think about rads, bluffing, doubling up right away. This is wrong since it doesn't take into account or minimizes key aspects of poker: BR management, table selection, game selection, etc. Online, it's very easy to pop 30$ on NL50 and try to double up without thinking: live, you have to buy chips, sit down, post, wich make it a hassle and a deterant for non-degens to play way above your bankroll.

So before you start thinking about stuff like "not wanting to lose", read up on bankroll management and the basic ABC skills. Poker is about the long run and the long run is longer than you might think in your wildest dreams: ie. 10k hands is a drop of salty water in the ocean for many online players, so their focus clearly isn't on "doubling up" all the time.

In my experience, the biggest maniac is usually the one who says "gl all" before the game starts. This person is either a maniac or just supa-loose!!

The more I am getting into poker the more I see comparisons to the game I love, golf. The harder you try, the worse you do. When focusing on results, the more distracted you get and not focusing on what you should.
In golf, it is the shot you are about to play, there is nothing you can do about the last one. In poker, it is the current hand, there is nothing you can do about the last one. Bad bounces, bad shots happend, its part of the game, in poker, bad beats are part of the game.

For tournament poker, when I start a game, what I usually think about is just surviving, just existing. You know the M system (green zone yellow zone orange zone red zone), I think to myself, "just survive until you are in the orange zone or red zone, then you can start really gambling and trying to double up". Of course if an opportunity early on comes for me to double up I'll take it, but I am not thinking "I've gotta double up, gotta double up gotta double up!".