Playing all day

How do people who play poker all day or 6-8 hours a day stay focused that whole time?


Ive been playing a lot lately and if im having a bad day i find myself putting all my chips in late in the day without it being justified. How do you keep focus in times like this?

If you feel your emotions to start getting the better of you, its a good time to get off and take a break.

If you cant take a bad beat and move on to the next hand then maybe poker isnt for you.

there are many days that i play from 11 am when i wake up all the way to 2 am at night when i go to bed.

honeslty, i sometimes think the entire day passed by like a wink of an eye. i have no focus issues whatsoever cause the game is so damn addictive. if im playing a mtt,then its the rush of going deep that keeps me alert. if its cash,ill definitely take a 1 hour break in the afternoon cause the grind sometimes makes me feel like a mouse running in a cage.

I try to limit myself to 4-5 hours a day, depending on how I feel and especially how I am playing. If I get on a losing streak, say 6-8 games, I take a break til the next day.

it depends on the day and on the winnig streek ,if im rolling good i can go on for at least 10 hours if i see im tilting or getting tired the best thing is to get out take a brake or just play next day.it took me time to realize that after a long year i finnaly understud you cant go on for evr you need a brake.when im just on a run of loosing i just close it.

I don't know what form of poker are you playing ( cash games, sng's or mtt's ) but it's easier to stay focused if you play sng's than tournaments, because it takes less time for a sng to be over and you cash/win more frequently. For a MTT (180 man and up) to be won it takes more time ,more focus ,more flips to be won and after playing 3 hours and not even cashing it's frustrating for most of the people. The main advantage for MTT's is that when you win ,you win big. So if you want to play tournaments you have to be able to stay focused for a long period of time, to be patient and ,the most important thing, to have a big bankroll ( over 200 buy'ins). Also, I think multitabling helps you not to get bored or distracted and be more focused.

thanks guys, i find cash games are easy to stay focused but yes i was referring to mtt and if you make it deep but dont cash and you go on to the next 3-4 hour tournament, its very hard to focus

If I play for too much time, I always make bad plays and lose my money that was so difficult to win, so, the first bad move that I make I ask myself if I'm still playing at my best. If not, I quit the game for that day. I can't do that while I'm playing MTT's, that's why I try to only play MTT when I'm really in the mood for play a long session of poker.

It all depends on how im feeling that day.. I have days where i cant even sit and play for an hour or two but than theres those days when i just feel on point and super into the game and ill sit at a live table for 15hrs straight.. but for the most part i dont TRY to keep myself focused i just play how i feel

I think its about motivation, back in the day we had $1000 free rolls all day long, 1 million dollar poker games on the weekends, tons of players, I could stay focused back then, now its just a waste of time futility, who wants to play a tournament for 5-6 hours just to earn a couple of bucks, just my 2 cents.

goodhandluke said:

How do people who play poker all day or 6-8 hours a day stay focused that whole time?


Ive been playing a lot lately and if im having a bad day i find myself putting all my chips in late in the day without it being justified. How do you keep focus in times like this?

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That's what the (sit out) button is for! Better you set out and, then blind out, you'll be further ahead.

Are you playing tourneys or cash?

If you get bored or are running bad just log off. As much as you want to play just loooooooooooog offffffffffffff.. lol.

Or you could join one of the very cheap Sit N goes/tourneys and calm down relax etc... lol.

Do whatever it takes to save yourself money.

I have had many sessions that have lasted over 24hrs but like every1 esle has said
if you lose focus or get emotional take a break....

No way

goodhandluke said:

How do people who play poker all day or 6-8 hours a day stay focused that whole time?


Ive been playing a lot lately and if im having a bad day i find myself putting all my chips in late in the day without it being justified. How do you keep focus in times like this?

Click to expand...

There's no way you can stay focus whole day. Even supermen couldn't do that. After a while you 'll play on auto-pilot.

I try not play all day because its exhausting and I tend to play dumb when I am exhausted! I also play music all the time when I play so I don't get bored as much (especially those slow tables).