During Long Online Tournaments.

Hello peeps , wanted to start a discussion about this question.
During long , like 3-5 hrs tournys what do you do to stay focused during this time?

Me my self seem too like for atleast 80% of the time like fold fold waiting for better hands and just surf around on different sites like newspaper sites etc. Dont really know if this is a good habbit tho doing this its kinda hard to but a profile on the players at my table but during the begining of a tournament you really dont have to.(thinking of the table switching etc)
I also ALWAYS ! play musik , only gangsta rap (a)!

What do you guys do to make the time go in big/long tournaments?

Everyone is going to be different.
For a 5 hour tourney I always find myself walking around between hands i.i getting a drink or something. It's weird because to stay focused I have to do something else in between hands even if its not poker related. But at the same time, it means I am not watching every hand at my table which is a disadvantage because you don't get to see how everyone plays. If I were to concentrate the entire time and do nothing but poker, however, I would probably end up doing worse. So yeah, listen to music, surf the web, do whatever it takes so you don't have to just stare at the same table for 5 hours.

For me when i do play long tourneys. I end up catching up on my podcast shows that i have not been able to listen to during the week. Also i mostly likely play some types of cash games also.

There are a few things that I like to do to stay focused.

If you are on FullTilt or pokerstars, I like to go to

http://officialpokerrankings.com/

This is a site in which you can review almost any players stats to make notes based on his/her Buy In level, Return on Investment, Profits, and a overall generalization on how much a player has played.

Secondly, I like to review past hands. Alot of times I will let 10 hands or so play out and hit the hand recall button (For what hands did make it to the river) you can make notes based on how that player bet that hand.

Also if you are new there is a free 3 month trial of pokertracker which is one of the leading statistic collectors. It calculates agression factor, preflop raise, and other useful information. In cash tables it databases information to which you could have 10k plus hands on a player.

I am not the most advanced in putting all of this to really good use, but I do have a good idea as far as its concerned about a few of the edges outsite of the cards, and building some notes with facts on players.

Good luck to you at the tables. :fight:

The best help I have found for long events is to play a couple small s&g at the same time. I have found this keeps me in the game and thinking about poker not the news or my dog. I also try to plan so that I have no other commitments in that time frame so there are no other interests.

The only thing (imo) that does not interfere with someone's poker game in some manner is listening to music while playing. Everything else, including multi-tabling, is a distraction to some degree.

Most people today suffer from some sort of ADD (Attn Deficit Disorder). The same people who must text or make calls from cell phones while driving, or any of the other dozens of things we see people doing OTHER THAN driving at the time.

I started playing live poker in '69, long before anyone ever heard the magic words ... 'online poker'. It required paying attention. There's a reason they don't let you multi-table in a casino and you only play 25-30% of the hands live per hour that you do online. I still prefer live play.

For me, the answer is, if I get bored playing. then I go do something else. If I sit down to play a large field MTT, I knew what I was getting into ... many hours of poker. That's what it's all about ... isn't it? SnG's were created for exactly the players who can't pay attention to one thing for more than 30-90 minutes.

I like going deep ... 4, 5 hours, etc. It gets more exciting the deeper I go. First, I have survived 50%, then 60, then 70 then 80% of the large field of players. THAT's when it gets exciting. I played well to get there and find the attention level at that point increases for me. For me, it's not about beating 18, 45, 90 players. In a large MTT I have to survive THOUSANDS of players.

Bring it on ... one game at a time ...

I normally play multiple tables so that helps me stay away from surfing the net or anything. But in all honesty what works best for me when I'm only playing one table is to maximize it so that it takes up my whole screen and just listen to some music and try my best to figure out each player at the table. I make a game out of trying to figure out what cards they're holding based on position, stack size, etc. That normally really helps me stay in control of a table. And always keep asking yourself what image you're creating and how they will react to it.

i take notes on everyone at my table. 1st thing i do in a tourney is to note the date/buyin/name/time of the tourney then i cut and paste this to every player at my table. i will paste it as new players come to my table or if i go to another table. then i try to note any out of the box play such as raised alot w/KK preflop. or made an oversized 3bet allin w/the nutz etc... with HEM i've gotten lazy but taking notes on everybody and noting as much as you can on each player can't fail to keep you focussed. also if they show up at your table later in a tourney you will know it and posibly have a good note on them.

I just get up and go get food and drinks between each hand or chill and watch the playoffs games right next to me.

with hockey and nba playoffs i just have them on to pass the time. add a nice couch and its just like the poker room

i like to listen to everything from heavy metal,rock to rap on my computer while I play. secondly, i drink coffee, and usually smoke some ciggs. Thirdly, to pass time, i'll read some poker books that I printed off, and interestly enough, alot of times, i'll find myself in the exact situation that i was reading about. This helps keep me thinking critcally about my hands, and I seem to have a smooth flow through the tournament when i'm studying like this. Besides that I am studying my opponents when im not playing. The mark of a good poker player is one who studies his opponents when he himself is not in a hand. You should be tracking your data if you are playing online, and if you just have to do something, get on the poker forums and ask a question on there, or something. You can even get help deciphering what the stats mean, and how to interpret them objectivly througout your game. You need to be observant of what hands your opponents are playing, and how they played the hand throughout the different streets. This will help you when you are involved in your own hands, and ultimately help you become a better poker player. Listen to music, or if you have videos in .avi format, you can watch a movie while you play a tournament, and this def. helps pass the time, but you will be less attentive to the game.

Do nearly always look at the table and try to figure out how your opponent is playing!
Try to stay focused!!!:deal:

I get more and more into it like nevadanick said. When I'm going deep in a tournament with over 1000 players, I get a rush and I'm watching every hand that goes on (not to mention constantly checking how many people are left and how much I get if I lose now).

It's actually usually at the beginning of a tournament when I don't pay as much attention - when I get into the money the potential payoffs become big enough that I start putting more effort into every hand.

In the first stages I surf the net..so I won't make any stupid plays...later when I'm deep I will be more focused on the opponents...and try to make a nice score

When I play in long tourneys, I listen to music to keep me occupied.

Well, first off, don't surf for porn or ebay for a new ipod cozy or anything like that. Go back in the hand history and see what people are betting and when they're raising-try to get a better feel of the table. YOu can also find the chip leaders in the tourney and watch their tables. See how they play because you'll most likely be seeing them down the line if you're lucky enough. Keep your head in the game and take bathroom breaks when you can. Wash your hands too-mom will be checking.

If you're planning on boosting your ROI you better learn to distract yourself while playing long MTTs. I started an MTT last night at 6:15PM (the $5.50 six-max on PokerStars) and finished 7th out of ~1500 players. By the time I was done with the tourney, it was probably around midnight. So I was in front of the screen for a good 6 hours.

I'd say most of the times I'm not playing my hands I like to see what the action on the table is like. One fun exercise I like to do is try to guess who's going to win the hand I'm not playing by trying to determine what cards they have based on their betting pattern pre-flop and post-flop. It's helped me improve my game a lot, and I'm amazed at how accurate you can be just by analyzing betting patterns. I'd say that in more than 50% of hands, I'm able to determine who will win the hand. So in the beginning I'll just feel out the table and see what's going on and try to gather as much information as possible.

The deeper I get into the tourney, and the less tables you have, I might click on a couple of tables and see what the play is like there. I guess when I'm not focused on the actual tournament, i'll either watch TV (playoffs are great distraction), listen to howard stern, or chat with friends & chicks on IM.

One BIG ADVICE I have and the reason I'm responding to this post is this: During MTTs the biggest mistake you can make is playing horrible hands. Sometimes you're just itching to play a hand (because you're bored or whatever) that ends up costing you a big part of your stack or even your tourney. How many times has that happened to me? all the time. So it's v impt to stay distracted so you don't get yourself in trouble.

Stick to quality, premium starting hands and you'll see that there are so many donks out there that you really don't have to try any fancy bluffs or what not to make it to the final table.

Tomthebomb said:

There are a few things that I like to do to stay focused.

If you are on FullTilt or Pokerstars, I like to go to

http://officialpokerrankings.com/

This is a site in which you can review almost any players stats to make notes based on his/her Buy In level, Return on Investment, Profits, and a overall generalization on how much a player has played.

Secondly, I like to review past hands. Alot of times I will let 10 hands or so play out and hit the hand recall button (For what hands did make it to the river) you can make notes based on how that player bet that hand.

Also if you are new there is a free 3 month trial of pokertracker which is one of the leading statistic collectors. It calculates agression factor, preflop raise, and other useful information. In cash tables it databases information to which you could have 10k plus hands on a player.

I am not the most advanced in putting all of this to really good use, but I do have a good idea as far as its concerned about a few of the edges outsite of the cards, and building some notes with facts on players.

Good luck to you at the tables. :fight:

Click to expand...

I happen to do this during the deep stacked tournaments on pokerstars. But I'll be honest, its near impossible to play any tourney without feeling a little bored unless you are going to multitable. I normally have project64 running when I am playing one table because goldeneye really makes it that much more fun.

Like mentioned before, i enjoy going to officialpokerrackings.com. Additionally, i bring up a holdem odds calculator through google.com. this might come in handy during gameplay and it helps take the pain from a bad beat knowing you played correctly. but to stay awake infront of the computer you need MUSIC. Bring up itunes and jam. I don't like to walk around because if i do i know that ill miss the one out of one hundred hands that is playable (i can be very tight lol). It is definitely hard to stay focused in long tournements but, the less distractions the better. I'd say just stick to music because it helps keep you awake and usually helps the momentum of a good run for me.

appreciate all the answers , it's really fun to see what other ppl do.
So far nobody that has been like , i only focus on the tourny and nothin else etc. ( lies ofc right )
Ive now recently had one thing going for me quite good that i would like to share. I turn on some half interesting movie that ive seen before such as , Scarface 8 mile somethin like that and just concentrate on the big hands. I keep it like , half screen is the movie and the bottom half of my screen is my table. If u are able to do this try it out, i recently came 5th / 4th place in 2 tournys during this strategy.

I generally pay attention to big MTTs at two stages. At the beginning, I have to determine who the big fish are, and how best to take their money. Because the blinds are so low compared to the stacks, there are great opportunities early on. Then, once we get close to the money, I'm paying close attention until I'm out. A lot of players will lock down, and it's important to know who you can and can't steal from.

In the middle, I pay very little attention. I'll post on CC, surf the net, update my poker database/spreadsheet/diary, etc. Anything to keep me from playing too many hands.

man in long tourneys its real hard to keep your dicipline ....i know i somtimes have a tendency to just get finiky after a while when the blindss are high and start slipping but to pass the time during i usually watch wpt or a movie or highstakes poker.....helps pas teh time

I usually run more than 1 MTT at a time, like 4 or 5, so it pretty much solves my problem...and later, as you said before, surfing net ftw

I play a $2NL and surf the net while playing a tourney, but only for the first 2-3 hours or when the field thins out to about 25% of the starting size, then I turn on PT, close the net, close down the ring game, put on some tunes and I'm good to go.

At the very beginning I do anything except concetrate

At the beginning of a tourney the blinds aren't worth anything so you don't need to play anyhing but monsters. I don't think a tourney really kicks off till the 100 BB+ stage where you can actually make raises people will respect. Even then you have to wait till 200 BB+ sometimes.

Then when it gets to about 1000 BB+ or near the bubble I really start to knuckle down. This strategy helps as you don't do anything stupid and creates quite a tight image you can take advanatage of later (usually).
I played a tourney recently where i played 2 hands in the first 80 or so. AA KK and I doubled up both times and put myself on a decent stack. Of course I did something stupid with 89s a little later in the blinds and got knocked out

Music and surfinng the web help in the beginning, then you need to get rid of surfing but music is fine all the way through.