Tips to be able to review the hand?

Hi all,

I have noticed a huge discrepancy in my live game vs. my online game.When I am in a hand in live play, I find myself having more trouble mentally with tough decisions than in online play. It seems that lot of times I make a more impulsive move in live play that I don't in online play.
In live play when the hand is said and done, my mind is a lot more clear and I am able to immediately realize I made a bad play. It seems that I keep forgetting to slow down in the hand and review everything that has happened and act accordingly.
Actually, just last night I reviewed all of the facts of the hand after somebody made a river bet, and realized that there betting pattern showed they were making a push. I still laid the hand down because the bet was 20% more of my stack in a tournament.

So I'm wondering if anyone has devised any mental strategies to be able to effectively review the hand, and then act accordingly?

Really, it's something that comes with practice. You can help yourself by simply asking yourself why you're bet/raise/call/folding before you actually do. If you can't come up with a convincing reason why you should be doing something, doing it is probably a bad idea.

It's weird that you say you're having more trouble with your live play seeing as online play is many orders of magnitude quicker and comes with far more potential distractions (TV, internet, surprise visitors etc). I'm just theorizing here, but it's entirely possible that you're having just as much trouble with online but you're not actually realizing it because the play moves on so quickly. In live play you have far more time to dwell on a hand and hence have far more time to realize you've made a mistake if you're not thinking about things enough before you make the actual play. Get into the habit of reviewing your online sessions if you're not in the habit already, and you might find some nasty surprises.

I feel like I have the potential of more trouble in live play, because in online play it's easier for me to fire the trigger when making a play. When playing in a live setting, sometimes I feel moves have more weight on them, and I get more nervous. I've definitely gotten an adrenaline rush when playing live, can't remember last time that's happened for me online.

Yeah, it's a common problem. Although you're playing with chips live and online, little pictures and clicking a button on a screen carry less weight than verbally declaring your action and physically moving chips around.

Again, it comes with practice. While I don't recommend taking too much time in every online hand because that would be pretty annoying for anyone you're playing with, at least take a few seconds to step back before making each decision. If you're playing multiple tables online, maybe cut back for a while before re-adding tables as you get more adapted to it.