One of the questions we always seem to get from aspiring tournament players is; what can I do away from the table to improve my game? The following list includes the five best practices I believe tournament players can use to enhance their results while not actually playing.
1. Eating Healthy / Good Diet & Staying Physically Fit / Active
The benefits of staying physically active and maintaining a healthy diet are tremendous. These benefits can directly improve one’s results at the table. From my personal experience I know that practicing this in my everyday life helps with staying motivated, reducing stress associated with the variance in tournament poker, and staying mentally focused during long sessions of play. A few quick and simple ways to start improving in this aspect of your life include; drinking plenty of water throughout the day, eating breakfast daily, stretching, beginning sessions with a healthy meal (ex. fruit smoothie), and eating small snacks every few hours during longer sessions of play.
2. Knowing When to Play More / Take Breaks
The second key is realizing when to play. Numerous factors go into making this decision and can include such things as, recent results, emotional mind frame, strength of field, personal time constraints, bankroll status, and current stress level, as well as many additional circumstances. A good starting point in deciding whether or not to play on any given day is if you have been playing well with good results, continue to play. If not, take a session or two off to refocus and clear your mind. It should be noted this is not to be judged on a daily basis because of the high variance involved, but rather after every few sessions. Other great times to take breaks to avoid playing poorly is when the fields seem overly tough, your emotions or stress levels are higher and tilt is more likely, or when other responsibilities will add pressure if sessions last longer than normal.
3. Maintaining a Social Life
Building from the second key to improve your game beyond the table is maintaining a positive social life. This is something that seems to affect tournament players more directly because of the nature of long sessions and set times of play. It is common for tournament players to log many hours in just a short period of time. For example, making a semi-deep run in any late starting tournament (within your session) could possibly add four or five hours to a normal session length. This type of play can be very taxing on the mind as well as the body. Without enjoyable time away from the table to relieve some of the strain and focus involved with tournament poker, results can be negatively affected. One of the best ways I have found to avoid this lack of a positive social life is to simply plan an evening out with friends and stay committed to your plans. This planned time off is not only positively affecting your play, but helping maintain a positive social life away from the game.
4. Good Study Habits: Reviewing Personal Play
Studying and constantly learning is extremely crucial to improving one’s game. For that reason I have divided my last two suggestions into two categories, both focused around the topic of studying. The first is reviewing one’s own tournaments and hands. One of the quickest ways to learn is by correcting personal mistakes in order to avoid similar results. This is no different when it comes to poker. Some ways I like to review my tournaments and important hand histories is by reviewing all hands that result in being knocked out of the tournament (as well as losing a majority of my stack) and all final tables. It is my belief that the best time for this is prior to beginning the next session. Not only will this remove any emotions attached to the results in order to optimally critique, but also help in preparing for the next set of tournaments.
5. Good Study Habits: Videos, Forums, Blogs
The second important study habit is learning from other successful tournament players. This can be done through watching videos offered by training sites, actively discussing various topics and hands on forums, and reading blog posts written by active tournament players. Two major benefits are gained from this type of studying. The first is seeing how other players think about their hands and strategic concepts and the second is staying up-to-date with the trends among winning tournament players.
For the greatest benefit these five suggestion should be used together and practiced on a regular basis.