A little advice on motivation?

So heres me I play on Full tilt. I have a profit. I'm pretty much a small stakes player 21 years old with a 3 digit bankroll. I'm pretty good at holdem' i think great at stud/razz/ horse. But i have one major problem.
There will be days when I say to myself "alright gonna make some money today". And all day long I will play my Ace off, Grinding. And those days can turn into weeks. Then there are days where I feel like I need to be playing cards, feel like I need to be building my bankroll, but i have no motivation. I can't get focused. And sometimes i go weeks without even playing on full tilt (with my bankroll just collecting dust). I want to play everyday and if I can get motivated and stay focused i will build my bankroll. I'm wondering if anyone has any problem like this or anyone got over a problem like this. And any input on how i could fix the situation would be much appreciated. Thanks

Its frustrating , when ya go without a win . Id take a break and watch poker on tv, it gets me motivated .

turning on the computer or grabbing a deck of cards should be motivation enough. first thing i do everyday is turn on the computer and look for a game. i can play is game all day every day. i love it. if u love what your doing u shouldnt need motivation. sd if ur having a tought time getting motivated take a step back, buy a new book and see if u get some inspiration that way.

Don't go in there thinking, "I'm going to make some money today"... after awhile, it'll feel like a job. Go in there just to have some fun. You'll enjoy yourself more, become more relaxed, and will probably even make more money.

i think u cant be motivated to play poker 365 days of the year. some days do other stuff and play play poker when u feel motivated if u want an advice

I think if you don't wanna play just don't even if it has been weeks, I believe you should only play when you're hungry to play, hungry to play your best poker and hungry to beat your opponents.

If you play because you feel you have to poker will become a drag, sort of a nine-to-five and this could end with you developping an aversion of poker.

I sometimes don't wanna play and I do completely different, something that has nothing to do with poker, I don't watch poker on TV don't read any books on poker.

After such a break you will feel an itch to get back in it and you will find yourself playing your best poker.

Oh and as far as your BR goes, let it get dusty better than watching it going up in smoke by not playing your A-game due to a lack of motivation.

I don't think there's really an advice for that. Playing poker has to be something you like to do. If you don't really like it for some reason it could be harder for you to focus. I think you like the idea of making money, but don't like the idea of sitting to play poker.

petey5o said:

So heres me I play on Full tilt. I have a profit. I'm pretty much a small stakes player 21 years old with a 3 digit bankroll. I'm pretty good at holdem' i think great at stud/razz/ horse. But i have one major problem.
There will be days when I say to myself "alright gonna make some money today". And all day long I will play my Ace off, Grinding. And those days can turn into weeks. Then there are days where I feel like I need to be playing cards, feel like I need to be building my bankroll, but i have no motivation. I can't get focused. And sometimes i go weeks without even playing on full tilt (with my bankroll just collecting dust). I want to play everyday and if I can get motivated and stay focused i will build my bankroll. I'm wondering if anyone has any problem like this or anyone got over a problem like this. And any input on how i could fix the situation would be much appreciated. Thanks

Click to expand...

Pick three days and force yourself not to play. Take off MTW and you'll be itching to play come Thursday night.

Set a goal. "I want to make enough to buy ???.". Determine a realistic amount of profit per session and # of session to reach that amount.

You might also want to put a time frame on your goal.

Your goal should be resonable, attainable, and measurable.

My advice

Have a break for a while... clear your mind... and come back with a whole new mind set.

You say you are playing to win... this is the wrong mindset in my opinion, you are putting pressure on yourself to win money... and pressure is never a good thing...

The mind set you are looking for is to have it in your head that you are going to the tables to do battle...

I used to play tooooo much at one time, 6, 7 or even 8 hour at a time until the early hours.... and I would usually end up either even or at a loss.

Then I thought to myself, why play for such long periods, my PC is always there, its not like I have to travel far, then I started to only play when I felt fresh and focused and never played for long periods, maybe one multi-table tournament a day....

Now during the past 3 months I have increased my bankroll from $100 to about $1200, and all that patience was well worth it.

Also remember to stick to bankroll rules when you are running bad, heres what I use:

20 x Max. Buy-Ins for Ring Games
30 x Buy-Ins for Sit and Go's
40 x Buy-Ins for Multi-Table Sit and Go's
50 x Buy-Ins for Multi-Table Tournaments

Hope this helps mate...

JamesGodfrey