How not to think about tournament

[Negmardesign]

Hey ppl. I was playing on party poker, started from $1.1 ticket and menaged to win ticket for powerfest #83-h $500k gtd. Its my first time that im geting that far and now im just looking at the tournament lobby to see how many players will get in and all that im thinking is that im going to play that game tomorow and im so afraid that im going to play it bad.... i was hoping if you can share some sugestions how to make my brain stop messing with me

 

[mariale_1990]

1st do not have thoughts of fear, you should think very positive and have a lot of concentration, because even though it is not free there are players who play very crazy, you should try to make your game, ..


Calm
Concentration
Positive thoughts (if you go thinking that you are going to lose, then you will lose) GL in your tournament

 

[Limited_Al]

Play as you always play

I agree with the above post.Keep calm, don’t think about the prizes, and just play your best poker.


In my opinion, you need to be in the same frame of mind if you were playing a $0.25 MTT or the World Series! Don’t make daft moves, play the table once you have a solid read, and think about your plays.


Also, MTT variance is huge, so just keep plodding away and don’t judge your wins/ losses from a small sample of games.


Best of luck! :top:

 

[LeX72rus]

I congratulate, not ochkuy and all will well

 

[cranberry]

I think that you first need to build your game plan and adhere to the main factors - patience and discipline. To distract from the upcoming tournament I advise you to find your hobby.

 

[Lheticus]

I'm seeing a lot of generic "keep calm and play poker" statements here, but not a lot of input as to HOW to do that. One possibility--the one I use anyway--is to do other things on the computer and not really start thinking about poker until the event starts, then once it does I put all my focus on analyzing my opponents' patterns and playing from hand to hand. Of course, this method comes with its own hazards but I'm afraid it's the best I have for you. ^^;

 

[king11682]

You have to have strategies, and it is not enough to have a strong initial hand, because if a flop project comes out that does not favor you, you have to be cautious and wait for the river to see if it improves or gets worse. And also how many opponents you have in front at that moment of the game. Sometimes we have good decisions but also bad ones.

 

[karl coakley]

I've never felt I would play a tournament "bad", but I have played larger buyin tournaments that made me feel nervous. This was simply because I was risking what was a lot of money for me. On each one of these I did end up playing poorly. I think I played more passive and less aggressive because I was risking more than I was comfortable with. The best thing I could tell you is that this feeling goes away when you play a few tournaments and settle in. This is why there is no substitute for experience. I would suggest you simply play the tournament the same as you played the satellite and you will do fine.

 

[mr_kommpa]

First of all you have to remember that you are most likely not gonna cash, but hopefully you will profit in the long run. So don't start thinking about what you should do with the money or anything like that ( easier said than done, I am all ways sitting planning what I am gonna celebrate with, the disappointment when I lose is so much worse). Just play normal poker and if you lose, you just lost the satellite money, it you cash,that would be amazing!

I have also won sattelites to $100 - $500 maybe 5 times, lost every single one, and sadly the first times I did not think about it like this, it was not fun losing. But then I realized that the chance will come up again, that makes the loss feel a little better. (I play cash now, so for you the chance will probably come up even more).

Also, have fun and analyze the hands afterwards!

 

[PKRNRS]

Just keep rocking. You're butter cause you're on a roll

 

[demibar]

First off all its not big deal 1.10 then you shouldn't play with fear but focus on the game and enjoy playing poker .

 

[Eric Salvador]

If you can review prior hand history on go over things you did good and things you did bad. Go onto youtube and watch some hand analysis and try to envision how it could help you. Go with your reads. If you've played for a while and have been able to trust your reads then don't allow yourself to fear losing. Pick up some simple breathing patterns inhale and count to 6, hold and count to 4 and release and count to 6. Repeat until your relaxed.

 

[Negmardesign]

hey ppl thanks for the replays. Unfortenately i wasnt in itm but i think its becouse of that that i was waiting to long for good cards. i mised a lot of straights and full,s just becouse i was afraid to call bb with A3, q8 or similar. I think i need to start playing more agresively or just a bit more relaxed as this was not good strategy. and i really dont like felling when you lose your chips on poket qq and q on the flop feels very bad but it will be better next time

 

[felipeanicio]

I went through this, I qualified for the biggest tournament of my life, I stayed the weeks following the inscriptions making plans with the prize, the day of the tournament did not last 15 minutes at the table.

 

[willko01000]

Gd Luck!

Run through your skill set checks, your tournament rule book. How to start the game early on, then mid game play and how you will play the last leg. Do some meditation or deep breathing exercise to help focus.

 

[Lheticus]

I don't know if this applies to you OP, but well, to anyone reading this who it does apply to, it's also important to keep in mind that tournament play and cash game play are VERY different beasts. In cash games you can get away with straight up running the numbers and making a profit by playing only +EV situations. In tournament play, especially MTTs, it can be very different.