Start as you mean to go on...

[MonkeyDonkey]

Don't know if this will make much sense, but here goes....

Does anyone else find that when you sit down to start a session, how you are and 'feel' at the start tends to absolutely crucial?

For example, when playing online its seems to me, partly due to the nature of online poker (namely, its immediacy - you can play whenever you want) that how you prepare mentally for a session is crucial. When I start playing with no thought and no real effort into actually thinking about my game I often, as you'd expect, perform poorly. I get home, go into my room, logon, pick a table and start playing. Having sat down a bit stressed I start to gamble too much to relieve the stress and suprise suprise, I'm down fairly quickly. Winning sessions often follow on from when I've been reading a poker book, really thinking about my game or about what to do with certain hands in certain situations.

One thing I do is often say to myself several times that I'm gonna have to make a great laydown this session, just to get rid of those crying calls when you've got a great hand, you just know it's beat but call anyway. This just settles me, helps me to regain focus/discipline and helps me to not tilt if such a hand arises.

So what I want to ask fellow Blondites, is does anyone have a certain way of preparing or starting that they wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of us desperate online poker freaks?

[patman]

i used to rush home dive upstairs and pay the first game i could as i wanted to switch off. Now i wait talk to the wife and decide what level and how long i am going to play for. i also think about what situations i will lay down a hand in.
I alos never ever start a game just to try and get a quick one in...you think badly and make wrong decisions when you are worried about how long you have left to go for dinner, pub, visitng etc

Feeling relaxed is the key and i cannot play poker when stressed or have pent up rage from the days work

it works for me and i make better calls as i am in control of my enviroment..no coin tosses or what the hell type calls...well not many

[AdamM]

Isn't what we're talking about here 'form' or rather the underlying causes of what people then describe as form. your confidence and state of mind at the start of play is crucial to your decision making in the hands to come and if it's not right, your decisions won't be either. I don't know about the other guys clocking up the hours through the day and night but i try and eliminate form altogether by having  good routine. I take my daughter to school at 8.30, feed the baby when I get back. have a nice cuppa while he settles down for a nap then log on. no rush. I wait for my choice of first game (I'm on the Ladders at the minute and always start the day with a $3 level 1, so it doesn't matter if I loose it and if I win, I might parle that up to $500 then I'm flying. If I am doing other stuff while playing I make sure it's stuff I can put to one side when the game demands my attention.  I'm sure most bad runs are self inflicted. The cash out curse has been talked about here before.
ie...a few big wins...cash out...too much confidence...lack of concentration...play more hands more outdraws...conspiricy!!!

[Thrapton]

Wholeheartedly agree Pat,If I am stressed or rushing my poker is always poor but when I have gone home eaten, relaxed, watched a bit of telly and then Play in a later tourney I generally play near my best (Which is only fair/middling).  I now tend to play later starting events like the 10k on Betfair and have a decent record, yet my record in earlier starting events is a lot worse.

[jezza777]

Completely agree. How i feel when starting a session directly affects my results . I dont do anything in particular to prepare ( maybee i should) and if i am in the wrong mood or mindset i generally play a lot looser and with much more arrogance / aggression and get eaten up. The opposite is also true tho and when i am at the top of my game i can cal the all in on the end from the guy who i" know "has been chasing his flush draw with confidence and also have no problem laying down big hands and keeping myself away from 50/50 situations. I went through a stage of not siting down to play if i wasnt in the mood and didnt play for three days straight , which is unheard of for me.