Distraction

Attention to detail is hugely important in every kind of work, and if you want to win a poker tournament it's essential. So don't let yourself get distracted. Focus Focus Focus. Watch every play, think about every hand, not just the one's you're in. Did the big stack bully on your right get those chips by playing well or sucking out on a flush draw where he paid over the odds ? Is the short stack on your left going to push any ace or is he playing so tight you can steal his blinds every hand ? Who's making mistakes ? Where are the opportunities ? Turn off the TV. If it makes you feel calm put some music on at a low volume. Stop blog surfing and concentrate on the task at hand, the blogs will still be there when you've won it, and if you want a real chance a winning it you'll follow my advice.

I write the above as much a reminder for me as advice for anyone else. You can take it or leave it, but I need the advice. I thought I'd pretty much eliminated distraction from my game but I just duffed up a tournament in terrible fashion and the mistakes weren't because I didn't know where I was in a hand, they were just silly, basic errors. I know that because as soon as I'd clicked fold/call or allin I felt dumb a millisecond after pressing the button. I was distracted by the book I was reading, thinking about the paragraph I'm involved in instead of the dynamics of the hand.

I'm lost for words really, it's, um... embarrassing, looking back on it.

There, that's out of my system. I can forget about the mistakes now and focus on the next one... with the TV off and the pages of the book firmly shut.