Handling the Slow Times

[voiceofjoe]

I've just comeback playing online Poker from a 2 yr hiatus, I got bored of the grind previously as ,towards the last few months, I was playing lots of Low Limit Cash, and the grind for return was a waste of life hours TBH. I did other things in the interim, which have given me a very nice float, and have now comeback online playing a few PL Games, and an added Value MTT (Of which there are very few around now I notice !!). Very occasionally 3 games on the go, but usually 2 and more often than not just 1. My problem now is keeping my attention, during the early stages and trying to keep interested - resisting the urge to push crap just because I've not played a hand for a few circuits. How does everyone else maintain interest during the slow times ? - Do I fire up more MTT's - of lesser appeal - to keep me interested ? - Stagger the Start Times so the latters stages crossover with earlier stages of others ? - Play bigger buy -ins in the hope that they require more attention ? - or just surf the net, listen to music, watch the telly etc whilst making the games secondary - thus missing capturing peoples playing styles etc - and ultimately playing poorly through lack of concentration - or can people do these things and still garner enough info on players to make good decisions ?? - I do enjoy the odd chatbox comment in the PL games, which keeps these more entertaining - but non PL games the only chat I see is abuse towards other players, which doesn't encourage other chat ? I'm not interested in solely Playing Cash, and found previously that mixing Cash and MTT doesn't work for me How do others keep interested during the slow times each tourney throws up ?

[Rivrd]

Re: Handling the Slow Times Interesting question Martin, will think that everyone will have there own way of dealing with early stages, but obviously you need to find the right mix that suits yourself. Depending how you fell on your own standard of play and how much attention to players you need and there plays some may not want to miss any value or how particular players are playing. Sometimes its nice to have music running in the background to relax with while the slow levels are going, firing more games up at different times may help depending how many you can handle at once, would say 4 is fairly comfortable to keep the mind ticking over. To be honest playing a bigger game again depends on what you feel comfortable with, would you play outside your normal buy-in ? therefore are you scared of losing the money, if you are then you might be giving the game your full attention. Personally i'm doing the same thing regardless of being a $10fo-$200 and thats checking emails, (writing this:lol ), surfing the net, pl etc, I would say mostly i play alot of chess in the background to help with my boredom, also I often late reg alot of games to miss a few early levels again some will disagree with this but each to there own. I'm own skype most times and always like to discuss with different players situations etc, that often relieves boredom plus also gaining valuable information at the same time (so if they helps just pm me and will give skpye details :ok) Good luck in your games.

[PokerWolf1]

Re: Handling the Slow Times I listen to music usually if I'm only playing one table although I have started reading, both novels and things like poker magazines. I know it sounds daft but in the 9 handed tournaments that have 1000's of players I can often read half the page of a book or a whole article in a poker magazine between hands - especially in the latter stages when people take more time. Stops me playing junk just because I haven't played a hand for a while and, whilst I'm sure I miss players styles, I find that it's pretty easy to just play ABC and make the money in most of the multi-thousand people tournaments anyway.

[ExcitableBoy]

Re: Handling the Slow Times Very interesting question, Joe. Like you I sometimes don't play for months on end. I was playing mainly SNGs but it is such a grind and difficult to make much headway I find. I have gone back tolow level MTTs (up to $5) but as you say the early levels are tedious particularly with the extended buyins every tournament now has. I tend to go on youtube or read but in order not to miss out on player styles I have just started to use tracking software (Tournament Indicator in my case as it was free) and I have to say that so far I have found it to be incredibly useful and have had a couple of top three cashes and 5/6 lower cashes from around 25 MTTs in 3 weeks. Doesn't stop suckouts but it does help avoid those silly plays when you have lost concentration or got bored. Having said that I must resubscribe to Its your turn chess.