Poker Fatigue

Yo


Ill start off with an explanation in the form of a story which leads to me question. So...ive been playing freerolls ALOT *alot alot* and in one freeroll i managed to get farther than i "ever" have before *97th place out of 3000/4000+* and i felt really good about that. Once i was defeated i went to another FR and immediately started to get sick of looking at poker cards...the previous night before i could hardly sleep thinking "man im gonna go own in poker" which explained the 97th place...but during the FR after that i felt completely lazy and drained so much so till i had to lose it all and take a lay down.
A few hours later i tried another FR and the same result happened again. So my immediate thought was "...its gotta be poker fatigue" . My question is *How do you combat poker fatigue?/and if your in the middle of a tournament and you all of a sudden get sick of looking at cards do you just go all in OR do you sit out and take a breather?* I tried this and only felt the same way again.

Thanks

-G

The thing that I've learned about tourney play is to limit how much time you spend each day until you can build a "tolerance". I'm going to make an educated guess and say that the freeroll that you made it to 97th place took you about 4 hours. I have noticed that when I go deep into a tourney like that I need to take a few hours off to recharge. There have been times mid-tourney that I have had to sitout and go for a walk around the block just to clear my head and refresh myself. So until you build up some table stamina you just may need to stay away after a few hours of table time. Its like everyting else, its good in moderation and too much can be harmful.

It is very tough to stay alert in the duration of a huge MTT. It is often very difficult to play mature poker for so long. I usually try to either play at other tables at the same time, maybe an SnG or cash tables, so that I don't get too aggressive from being bored at the MTT. I also might watch TV or something on the side. It's important not to hit a point where you "don't care" and push with mediocre hands.

This is my first post, I'm happy to be here.

Online I just play for fun, and to help myself figure out odds and such quicker so I can use those skills better live. Staring at a comp screen can really make u tired, specially since you're not doing much so I would play a tourney and then end it for the day if you have gone deep, not just jump into another one.

Live, I play 4-6 days a week, about 10 hrs a day, depending on how much time I have to spend with the gf or how good the weather is...gotta golf baby!

Stop playing online for awhile and play more live. Sitting down for hours in front of a computer monitor will drain you. Your best bet is to get out of the house and play with real people, have some drinks and relax.

I hardly know of anywhere that actually has local poker tournaments *they dont advertise them anyway* That and isnt the poker age suppose to be 21 and up ? *is only 20* i will look into it and thank you never thought about that tho. It would definately be my first live anything.

I will do just that. and yeah it took about 3-4 hours to get there..i had forgot all about stamina lol and was just like "im gonna play and thats that!" thanks alot and thanks too all the advice.

NEVER, NEVER play poker when you are fatigued. The poker table isn't going anywhere. It will be there after 8 hours of rest. This is experience talking. I have lost more money (live and online) when I was craving Z's, hence I had no business gambling. You make stupid decisions when you can't think straight. My favorite example is once I pushed thinking I had AA, but when I turned over my cards, thinking I had won, I actually had A4. I had been playing for 20 hours. Basically, all my profits I had managed to grind out all day, were wiped out in one hand, all due to the absurd notion that I had to keep gambling. Needless to say, I have now learned to pace myself. I hope this helps.

Another thing you could think about is the size of the tourny you're entering. If you're only playing freerolls it'll be hard to find a smaller sized tourny so you will get tired of playing alot easier, especially after starting at the screen for hours straight in the SAME tourny. So once you have a bankroll to start playing with you should think about some smaller tournys, maybe SNG's. Being able to do some other things between SNG's helps.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......
sorry i was slepping.lol
just kidding,anyway i know what you mean.
I find myself playing long streches upward of 22/24 hours of online poker at times.
I do get sick of seeing poker cards,tables,bad beats.......
If i am in a tourney or freeroll and starting to fell fatigue cooming on i'll get up and walk around.
Maybe take a 5 minute break do some stretching,just walk away from the computer for a few minutes and refocus on the game.
I also find that just web browsing places like cardschat ,keeps me from getting to zoned out on watxhing cards flop.