Focus!

I've always been pretty decent at poker without the analytical knowings of poker. Lately, I've been studying alot of my hand histories and learning alot about the game of poker that I have never explored before. I feel like I can get deep in MTTs but I'm just losing focus for like a glimpse and it ruins me for the rest of the tourney.

For example, I'm playing in a 5k guaranteed tourney in the money with an above average stack of about 35k. I get 54s(spades) on the button and call a raise. The flop is 2h 9s 7s. Dude just pushes all in and I snap call. Of course I lose and I know it was a bad play on my part but I couldn't help myself from calling. I lose half my stack just like that and never recovered.

Just wondering, if you guys have any advice or tips on how to stay focused and prevent yourself from making bad plays. Maybe there is a tip that i'm missing to put my over that "hump."

I do this shit ALL the TIME its because are fingers work fast then we real think i dont think we would ever make these Misstakes Live.

doulikewaffles said:

I feel like I can get deep in MTTs but I'm just losing focus for like a glimpse and it ruins me for the rest of the tourney.

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Practise 'taking your time'... all the time (try taking roughly the same amount of time whether you're raising, checking, folding, whatever). If you get in the practise of this you'll be less likely to button mash (imo).

Also, why does it 'ruin me for the rest of the tourney'? Just have to re-adjust.

Its this frame of mind that once I've lost that many chips, theres no way I can win. I feel like you have to play perfect to win one of these MTTs.

Taking my time is something I've thought about before but once I'm in the game I don't even think about it. I'll try and practice this more. It also gives a good reason for evaluating the hand. Thanks!

At the end of tournaments everything is amplified. So every decision is crucial. One way I take my time is to take my hand off the mouse.

It's kind how they say you will eat less if you put your fork down while your chewing.

Chew the information and when your ready pick up the fork and enjoy the meat!

No offense, but calling a raise with 54 suited, then subsequently calling an all-in is a retarded move. I don't think you should be worried about "focus" at the table. Perhaps you need to pick up a book, such as Harrington on Hold em, or perhaps one of Sklansky's books. Then perhaps you can learn your basic hand rankings, learn how to be tight aggressive, etc...

Good luck!

zackryan28 said:

No offense, but calling a raise with 54 suited, then subsequently calling an all-in is a retarded move. I don't think you should be worried about "focus" at the table. Perhaps you need to pick up a book, such as Harrington on Hold em, or perhaps one of Sklansky's books. Then perhaps you can learn your basic hand rankings, learn how to be tight aggressive, etc...

Good luck!

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No offence, but I think without context, this is just not a good post to be making. If he is already ITM with a large stack, then I'm sure he knows the basics that you'll get out of HoH or others. Stick to the subject of the post, get off the back story. This is not helping.

Granted, calling with 54 suited may seem, on the surface, a bad play, but what if the raiser was known to be raising light, on tilt, or just a shorty bein a donk? We don't know these things, so it is not our place to judge.

So, back on topic....

PO and tusabes both make really good points about slowing down and making concious decisions based on reads and odds, rather than snap doing anything. Snap calling/shoving/folding, while it may seem like the best move, IMO is never a good idea. Unless you have a stellar read on the situation and you are snap calling with the stone cold nuts, it's best to take at least a few seconds to think about it. No use in playing for hours only to lose alot of chips on a rash, snap decision.

As far as getting back on the horse after taking a big loss, just take a few deep breaths, maybe stretch, then assess your immediate situation. If you are still hovering around average, just get back to grinding it out lie you would if you never had a bigger stack to begin with. If you are short, patiently wait for your spot and get it in there. Again, no need to go making rash decisions. What was done is done, time to focus on what you need to do now.

My advice would be to think one step ahead before any making any decisions in an MTT. Whatever action you take, you should have a reason for doing so and nothing should be done out of impulse. My taking the time to think about your actions will not only help you make the possible best decision, it keeps your mind on the game.

Taking your post for example, you snapped called a flop shove with a flush draw for more than half your stack. Now, did you really think about what you doing when you called or did you just see a flush draw? For the sake of this post, I'll just say you saw the flush draw and possibility of picking up a nice big pot got into your head. Maybe you got ahead of yourself and thought that if you won this pot, you'd be a commanding chips stack.

Now, if you had stepped back (so to say) and really broke down what has happening in the hand, you might've made a better decision. You may noticed things like:

1. You weren't getting the odds to call and chase a flush draw.
2. You were calling with 5 high spade draw, is that really a hand worthy enough of calling half your stack for. Your opponent can easily be semi-bluffing with a higher spade draw here.
3. To call cost you half your stack. If you lose, that's a huge chunk. If you fold on the flop, you give up very little and you're still sitting on a great stack.
4. The risk just isn't worth the reward here.

So, think about the actions you decide to do. There should always be a reason for your actions. Then think one step ahead. For example:

1. Limping in
-If you limp in and someone raises, are you going to call? If no, then don't limp.
-Is it a hand you could raise with? Then raise instead of limping.
-Are you calling a raise out of position? What will your action be if you miss? If you hit?

Etc.

As for losing a ton of chips in hand, if you're still in the tournament you've still got a chance. Look at your stack compared to blinds. If you go from a 40K stack to a 10K stack and blinds are 25/50, even though you lost 75% of your stack, you're still sitting on 200 big blinds so you're still doing really well. Keep that in mind. What did you do before you build the big stack? How did you play? Unless you're running super well and winning every hand, your stack is going go up and down through out the tournament. Just keep on adjusting.

Here is small self-evaluation guide on MTTs I wrote. There may be somethings in there that could help you.

It's hard to stay focused online at home for 3,4 sometimes 5 hours at a time playing in some of the huge freerolls like on Fulltilt.

TheKAAHK said:

No offence, but I think without context, this is just not a good post to be making. If he is already ITM with a large stack, then I'm sure he knows the basics that you'll get out of HoH or others. Stick to the subject of the post, get off the back story. This is not helping.

Granted, calling with 54 suited may seem, on the surface, a bad play, but what if the raiser was known to be raising light, on tilt, or just a shorty bein a donk? We don't know these things, so it is not our place to judge.

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Somebody who calls off all of his chips either doesn't understand his hand percentages very well, or his focus problem is unbelievably severe. I don't care if the other person was tilting. He could be tilting with 10 4, in which case our boy here would be dominated! If you want to play your suited connectors aggressively pre-flop, that's reasonable. But to double somebody up with a 5 high flush draw?....

tusabes said:

At the end of tournaments everything is amplified. So every decision is crucial. One way I take my time is to take my hand off the mouse.

It's kind how they say you will eat less if you put your fork down while your chewing.

Chew the information and when your ready pick up the fork and enjoy the meat!

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thats good advice. i need to apply this when i each final tables. i tend to act to fast.