Grinding Composure.

Ok so I basically would like to get some advice from successful grinders on how to
1. Prepare your self effectively for the long session to come
2. How to stay composed during the session its self.

Rushing into a session and instantly opening up multiple tables seems like a very bad idea. You are instantly bombarded with beeping tables once all the blinds come round, and the decisions are piled on you from the word go. Although a lot of the decisions are rather routine, I find I often make very bad decisions in the first few minutes if I get given good cards because I'm not in the right frame of mind to play. What good mental exercises does anyone do to get their brain ready for the session to come? Do you gradually add tables until you reach your A game or do you think about the way youre going to play before you start the session? Any advice on this would be useful.

Also during the session, I often find I make bad decisions right after I've won a big pot. I dont know why, maybe it is sheer coincidence, but I've played 22k hands and several times I've lost chunks of my profit from the previous big hand because I either fold too soon, because I think "I just won a big pot, no need to risk this hand" or I get to ahead of my self and put money into a pot that is marginal at best.

Also are there any techniques that people use to help them think clearly when they are involved in more than one big pot at a time? Some people suggest counting to 10 before you make any decision for more than 10% of your stack. Does anyone use similar stuff?

I add tables slowly when I start a session, rather than all at once. I feel I need to "work into" a productive session, rather than being overwhelmed by too many decisions too quickly in a session. Maybe I'm missing-out on value here. I don't know. It just seems that when I first sit down, I'm never at my absolute "A" game straight out of the box. Takes a few minutes to really get locked-in.

Making poor decisions right after winning a big pot? I sometimes struggle with that, too. I think its probably fairly common, though not as common as making poor decisions right after losing a big pot. Kind-of a "reverse tilt", if you will.

Simply being aware of it is the first step. Beyond that, just start really scrutinizing your decisions when you are in this zone of just having won a big pot. Ask yourself if you would make that same decision if you hadn't just won a big pot. For me, at times, in this situation I tend to get a little too loose and "spewy", so I know I need to be on-guard against that.

I wouldn't describe myself as a successful grinder yet but here is what I do.

-I play 6 tables and just open them all up at once, each takes different time for BB to come around so that somewhat prevents instant bombardment of decisions. I tend to play slightly more cautiously near the start of the session and avoid any marginal spots until I have an idea of villains and table dynamics.

-I try not to let winning or losing a big pot affect subsequent decisions, it's not easy sometimes but it get easier the more you play.

-I don't find myself involved in 2 big pots at the same time very often. When in a big pot I take my time, not by counting or anything but by slowing down on the turn and river giving me time to think things through. I do this even if I make my decision quickly to avoid giving off timing tells.

micromachine said:

-I play 6 tables and just open them all up at once, each takes different time for BB to come around so that somewhat prevents instant bombardment of decisions.

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yeah, with this.. I play 10+ FR, open up all mine straight away and I don't feel too swamped.

I prefer starting everything straight away, if I'm playing less than 10 tables I get bored and end up spewing.

Campbell92 said:

yeah, with this.. I play 10+ FR, open up all mine straight away and I don't feel too swamped.

I prefer starting everything straight away, if I'm playing less than 10 tables I get bored and end up spewing.

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With FR I'd probably open them right away. I'm in the process of switching to 6-max though, so things get started a little quicker and I like to "work into" a session. If I have a little lull at the beginning it just gives me a little time to study a couple of the players I'll be facing.

Interesting stuff. I just had a tiny profit session and I went through my database and worked out that I made almost $4 worth of bad decisions. Although I try to deny it to my self, they were tilt based. For example calling with 55 to try and hit a set, and then I refused to fold them on a 2QQ board because I put him on AK when that was about the only hand I was beating. I really need to work on the minor tilt issues, although I never do really really stupid stuff, all the small tilt pots add up. In the last session they added up to $4 (I play 5nl atm)

Thanks for the replies. I need to stay focused ! maybe I should take more breaks.

What are the stakes you guys are playing at? Can you make a profit even at the micro stakes?

FryGuy14 said:

What are the stakes you guys are playing at? Can you make a profit even at the micro stakes?

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You can make a profit on micro, just ease up on the bluffs and tighten up. Value bet them to hell.

I typically play Tournaments and SnG's at around the $5 buy-in or less amount. I used to play cash games up to 25nl, but since I didn't play at all for awhile, plus I'm just moving to 6-max from FR, I've dropped-down to 4nl - looking forward to moving to 10nl soon.

Micro stakes should be the EASIEST place to make a profit - as long as you are just talking about profit, period, and no set amount. It's simple really. The micros are where most new players start and if you can't beat new players it's highly unlikely you'll be able to beat more experienced players that generally play higher limits.

Note that your profit may not be much per hand, or even per session. At the smallest of the micro stakes you are playing for so little that it is hard to make large sums of money. (There ARE those that do though----Hi Blackrain). What most people focus on is being able to turn any kind of profit, get experience, sharpen your game, and move up through the stakes step-by-step.

OK, for those of you who think or regard poker as a sport, why do you just jump in there and get playing without any preparation whatsoever? A sportsperson has genuine warm up and warm down methods depending on their discipline. Why would playing poker be any different.

I usually do some off table work like reviewing my last session or reading some strategy articles or watching a poker video or two, just to get my mindset right for playing. I might play chess or any game that requires some methodical thinking. Then I feel ready to play.

I warm down by chatting to poker buddies about some poker related topic or read some more.

I believe that all poker players would/will benefit from having some sort of pre game routine to ready themselves. If tilt is a common problem, then you need to find some way to address that. The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler is an excellent book that will help anyone that has tilt problems, and no, I get nothing for plugging a good poker book either, before you ask

See thats what I had in mind ^ something from the above post to help with warm up. Where are the good strategy vidoes? A link to an archive would be amazing.

I do what Tino11 said. Go on cardschat, go on 2p2, look over some hands, have some red bull and then start playing.

If I start to tilt I turn computer off because previous tilts have resulted in lots of broken things and spewing. By time it's back on I've calmed down.

In terms of warming up, there's nothing wrong with starting with one table and adding more as you feel ready to do so. Another thing you can consider is sitting and watching a couple of orbits before you actually start to play. And these are not mutually exclusive; you can do both.

Also, if you get the feeling that windows are popping up too quickly, you're playing too many tables. Some people get stuck on the idea that they have to play a certain number all the time. That's just not so. Play as many as you can comfortably handle at the time, and remember the number can change depending how you feel.

Red bull is expensive ! I'd have no roll left if I got a crate of that stuff every week lol.

I managed rather well today, using some of the advice in this thread ^ I play 5-6 tables which I find is manageable, I just don't like it when I get a big hand in the first couple of minutes because I don't find Im in the poker mode of thinking/don't have any info on the people at the table if they are new players.
First hand today, got AKo in the button, and was 3bet by a shortstacker in the BB. I flatted, without realising he was a short stack and I missed the flop. He shoved all in and I folded. lost 60 cents wasnt a big deal but I felt if I had been paying attention I might have 4bet shoved the AK. Anyway, those are the kinds of things I have problems with. I wil try and improve tho.

Well you can get source or blue charge, same caffeine equivalent of red bull.

Another thing, when I plan to play for a while I put music in. It really helps me to not tilt.

Yeah thats true.

I used to play with Music and I found it did help with tilt, but I also realised it subconsciously affected my decision. If for example, I am faced with a marginal choice, if there was an uplifting tune in my head I realised I would call because I was in a happy mood.

What limit do you play at? I think I remember you saying you played at 5nl, but I might be totally off. ( I also play 5nl atm)

Yea it does sometimes cause you just to click buttons without really considering things lol.

I jump around limits at cash (5NL to 25NL depending on how I feel), never really settled into a paticular limit cos I play mostly SnG and MTT. I occasionally sit at 5NL and open shove hands to de-tilt myself, you should sit me on one of those days lol.

Screen name and average time of tilt?

well my warm up is religious really

in windows 7 there is feature called yellow sticky notes i have a constant virtual sticky note down the side of my screen reminding me of my leaks and important thigns to remember like
* if he limped and called raise then got real agressive throught the hand heavily consider sets,

these are the things i sometimes mess up on, a read it 4 - 5 times before i play a hand of poekr and i also always have it on the side of my screen like...dont 3bet bluff without stats sorta helpfull reminders for me I have about 10 leaks or reminders, and whenver i make the misatke again i put an 'x' next to it so i can see what my most constant leaks are and i can go about fixing them off the table

CheckraiseLife said:

well my warm up is religious really

in windows 7 there is feature called yellow sticky notes i have a constant virtual sticky note down the side of my screen reminding me of my leaks and important thigns to remember like
* if he limped and called raise then got real agressive throught the hand heavily consider sets,

these are the things i sometimes mess up on, a read it 4 - 5 times before i play a hand of poekr and i also always have it on the side of my screen like...dont 3bet bluff without stats sorta helpfull reminders for me I have about 10 leaks or reminders, and whenver i make the misatke again i put an 'x' next to it so i can see what my most constant leaks are and i can go about fixing them off the table

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Really, really like this. Going to give this a try for sure. Only problem is.... if I stickied ALL my leaks, there'd be no screen left to actually see the tables on . Seriously, great tip.

Wow, I really like that tip too. I have Windows 7 as well, so I'll endeavour to find this function. I actually considered doing something like that with a regular piece of paper but could never be bothered. But an E-list would be much better.

BlueNowhere said:

Well you can get source or blue charge, same caffeine equivalent of red bull.

Another thing, when I plan to play for a while I put music in. It really helps me to not tilt.

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I'll stick to good old coffee myself.... I drank Redbull before it came to the US when I did music tours to Europe in the early 90's when I need a pick-me-up and I hated it

I think freerolls are good playing multi-screens, but I try to just play 2 or 3 tops when playing money games

CheckraiseLife said:

well my warm up is religious really

in windows 7 there is feature called yellow sticky notes i have a constant virtual sticky note down the side of my screen reminding me of my leaks and important thigns to remember like
* if he limped and called raise then got real agressive throught the hand heavily consider sets,

these are the things i sometimes mess up on, a read it 4 - 5 times before i play a hand of poekr and i also always have it on the side of my screen like...dont 3bet bluff without stats sorta helpfull reminders for me I have about 10 leaks or reminders, and whenver i make the misatke again i put an 'x' next to it so i can see what my most constant leaks are and i can go about fixing them off the table

Click to expand...

I like this idea as well....thanks for sharing

CheckraiseLife said:

well my warm up is religious really

in windows 7 there is feature called yellow sticky notes i have a constant virtual sticky note down the side of my screen reminding me of my leaks and important thigns to remember like
* if he limped and called raise then got real agressive throught the hand heavily consider sets,

these are the things i sometimes mess up on, a read it 4 - 5 times before i play a hand of poekr and i also always have it on the side of my screen like...dont 3bet bluff without stats sorta helpfull reminders for me I have about 10 leaks or reminders, and whenver i make the misatke again i put an 'x' next to it so i can see what my most constant leaks are and i can go about fixing them off the table

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Im being a noob, but where can I find these sticky notes? I have windows 7

TheGenera1 said:

Im being a noob, but where can I find these sticky notes? I have windows 7

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Click the windows button. Then navigate to "control panel". Then you should see "appearance and personalization". From there look for "Windows Sidebar Properties" and under that you should see; "add gadget to sidebar" (click) and you should see notes.

Directions are the same for those of us on Vista.