The most important question in poker

I have finally realized that, for myself, the most important question that I can ask is: "Should I play right now ?" As a micro player, the strategy really isn't that hard. Raise, don't limp, isolate limpers, respect position,play good starting hands, value bet and Baluga Whale theorem. EZ game right?

I know all of this and I am capable of doing them. The problem is, sometimes I'll fire up a session when I'm steaming from a rough day at work or a spat with the wife, or whatever, and the next thing I know I'm down a couple of buy ins due to this wonderful "process":

"He's a fish, these cards are junk, but I'll outplay him" or " He's bluffing, I'll call him down" , or the ever popular "Only an idiot would keep calling with less than the nuts on this board and he couldn't have called with 6 2 off suit preflop. I'm firing that third barrel." Anyone else ever done that?

When I'm in a correct state of mind, I crushed at 2nl and 5nl back on pokerstars (after my newbie phase) and 4nl now on merge. I believe that the only reason I'm not playing at least 25nl is my recent inability to "just say no" when I'm not in the proper state of mind. So that's my challenge to myself. I am committing myself to only playing poker when I am in a proper frame of mind, calm, rested, and not distracted. I'm working on developing a pregame routine to encourage this.

So, fellow CC'ers, what do you do to ensure that you are in that poker playing, fish crushing, printing money state of mind?

what I do is look over hand historys or a video that i make of me playing before sitting down at any table, so that way i can see my mistakes and try to prevent them from happen when i sit down again. I also have a schedule that i play at the same days, at the same times. Also listen to a song before go on any poker site, to get the blood flow. Then there been time where i watch the movie rounders and wanted to play from there.

All good suggestions. Thanks. Also, +1000000 on watching Rounders. I don't think that I have ever watched that movie and not wanted to instantly go play afterwards.

Before I play, I will 'rail' a few games, read a few articles,
watch a few vids etc. till i feel i'm ready to hit the table.
you gotta get yourself in the right frame of mind.
i believe concentration and the right mood are essential
if you want to win.
resist the urge to play if you are not in the right frame of mind.

That's the serious bit.

Having said that, I sometimes get a few bottles of wine and just have fun. Usually, about the third bottle, my BR starts to dip and i realize i have to stop playing.
That's fun

Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble,
I'm on my second bottle........think I'll watch Rounders.
gl all

Having gone from 'A' game to no game overnight, I know exactly what you are talking about.

For eons, I have been playing a play money something, before tossing in my real money. It works when I do it that way. I get an idea of how my 'PokerBrain' is acting, and when I do evaluate things correctly, I can tell whether or not I should be playing serious.

Of course that is my theory. Too often, after the fact, I remind myself that I should have taken a few minutes (1/2 hour min) to find out my state of mind.