How long can you play solidly and still play at your best?

I played in the $11 Deep Stack at Stars last night. I came 32th out of 1800 odd and was playing for 10 hours, and it was 3am. At the end I just played poorly though and started playing too many hands,probably just out of tiredness affecting my judgement.
Does being able to concentrate longer and longer come with time?
I consistently get deep in these tournaments now, and finish inside the bubble more often than not. Problem is I tend to play much better at the start for the 1st few hours.

Like every sport. You need to practice... Play more and more and more, you going to train your patience, your concentration, your ability. It is nice also to read some tips from the pros to not get tired soon.

Have the turbo coffee at the ready if you expect to go deep, if it finishes at 4am, chances are you'll still get to sleep!

It's a double edged sword. Either your tired at the end of a 8 hr stretch, (I have had the late buzzer actually wake me up - i know, sad but true); or you have so much caffine in you that when u do have a chance to grab a few hours of sleep, your too wired! I have found there is no one to call at that hr to tell "Hey, I came in 2nd place out of 8,000 ppl" - at 4am, no one cares, hehehe

If you dont need to wake up in the morning to work, think has the final table to get motivated.

I've made 13 hours before, but by then the family is tired of it, I'm tired of it, and there's more chances of me going all in on 3-5o, not caring if I lose it.
Bed is a big movitator.

not sure how you can go so deep and than lose interest/get tired when it really counts.

use the breaks as a chance to clear your mind....get some caffeine...whatever it takes.

Personally, if I made it that deep in a large tournament my focus would be sharper than ever knowing a final table is a possibility.

Xavier said:

I played in the $11 Deep Stack at Stars last night. I came 32th out of 1800 odd and was playing for 10 hours, and it was 3am. At the end I just played poorly though and started playing too many hands,probably just out of tiredness affecting my judgement.
Does being able to concentrate longer and longer come with time?
I consistently get deep in these tournaments now, and finish inside the bubble more often than not. Problem is I tend to play much better at the start for the 1st few hours.

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Where do you live Xavier?? because EST 10 hours is not 3am!! I played in this tournament and finished 6th I had about 6-7 CCers watching me as my AA got busted by AQs I was 2nd in chips and the chip leader busted me, anyhow I went out in 6th at 1:30am playing for 13 1/2 haours never really lost focus if anything I was more focused at the final table. I got busted but could not have played the hand any better than I did with 1 exception and that being that I push on the turn rather than the flop, because he rivered his flush and I don't believe he calls allin after turn chasing the flush.

Grossberger said:

Where do you live Xavier?? because EST 10 hours is not 3am!! I played in this tournament and finished 6th I had about 6-7 CCers watching me as my AA got busted by AQs I was 2nd in chips and the chip leader busted me, anyhow I went out in 6th at 1:30am playing for 13 1/2 haours never really lost focus if anything I was more focused at the final table. I got busted but could not have played the hand any better than I did with 1 exception and that being that I push on the turn rather than the flop, because he rivered his flush and I don't believe he calls allin after turn chasing the flush.

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I live in England. Tournament starts at 5pm here which is not the best time because if you make the final table it will be like 8am the following morning! the deepest I've got in it I played for 14 hours and didn't reach the final table only finishing 11th.

I think it's harder to play well the more tables you have, and online.

If I'm 6-12 tabling, I can start to feel mental fatigue after sometimes just an hour or two.

I don't know about one table, cuz I've never done that, but I know that 4 tables, I can play for at least 3 hours before feeling it.

Live however, I've played for 36 hours straight. The game's different though, so even if you begin to have play deteriorate, you probably still have a solid edge.

I'm usually 4 tabling about 6 hrs then I'm done.

The latest I played was an UB CC freeroll until 5:40 am - I had to get up anyway then .

I won it but what a day at work .

I hnow someone who plays at least 4-5 table in the same time. it s amazing how he can do that . and he plays pretty good. he can stay focus for a long time during his tournaments. u need to practice more, that s the secret.

Depends on winning

for whatever reason my problem seems to be when I win money and have a good stack. For instance I start a cash game with $50 turn it into $150 playing good for about 4-5 hrs. Then I start gambling with the damn money and making moves I wouldn't otherwise make.

canucks921 said:

for whatever reason my problem seems to be when I win money and have a good stack. For instance I start a cash game with $50 turn it into $150 playing good for about 4-5 hrs. Then I start gambling with the damn money and making moves I wouldn't otherwise make.

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If you notice a leak like that, you gotta plug that thing fast. If for whatever reason, having chips makes you play sub-optimally, sit out once you have that big stack.

You can open up a new table with $50, and problem's solved.

I have played for 9 hours once and cripple towards to the end... Physically and mentally I was tired... Now I like to look at how long the tourney's will be and check my availability and my state of mind... To see if I can go that long or not... It's good to know ahead of time how long the tourney last to pace yourself and mentally prepare yourself to all the way....

I think that one of the reasons the 20 something kids are doing so well, is because they can physically and mentally last longer playing solid poker than someone of my age (40+). When I was younger, I could go all night. Now 9-10pm comes around and sleeping just seems so much more important than poker. I'm good for about 4-5 hours .

Well i tighten up the longer i play,but i used to play 16plus hours live alot.

SydTheCat said:

I think that one of the reasons the 20 something kids are doing so well, is because they can physically and mentally last longer playing solid poker than someone of my age (40+). When I was younger, I could go all night. Now 9-10pm comes around and sleeping just seems so much more important than poker. I'm good for about 4-5 hours .

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The older you get the shorter the attention span gets. At 72 mine is around 2-3 hrs, at the most.

i guess that is one of the reasons i prefer to play at the cash tables as opposed to tournaments,so i can walk away. i play my best for the first 3hrs after that i lose interest and the tilt factor or a total blow up can happen at any time.

when i start playing 4 along time my back starts to give in on me then i start playing more hands and just being a dumb player but if im just about the final table i would suck it up and keep playing

If I'm that tired while playing in a mtt for a long time I will go take a 5-10 minute break - even while the game is still going. Beats staying in and making poor judgments because you're too tired.

Depends on my mood. Some days I am good for 6+ hours of play. Others I loose interest after an hour. I have learned that if you are not interested in the long haul and commit to the 6 hour tournament, don't even bother in signing up.