How do you teach patience?

lol s13 and welcome to the forums

might as well tell you that one of my notes on you from 10 min of playing you and a little bit watching you play J0NAH one of my notes on you was - "impatient - exploit". It is something that we all have to deal with - however good we think we are - me included.


and god 8 plus hours of poker a day that is my idea of hell Xtra - are you a pro? There is no way most of us can play anything near our best for that long. Even making a stab at going pro i would only think of 6 or so hours a day max. But play those six at the most profitable times for 1) when I play best 2) get opponents that I can exploit the most

I would also add that impatience will often be caused by breaks in concentration. If you discipline yourself through playing limit or in some other way (see what crapshoot says). and will comment on this further.

I would adjust Crapshoots advice on reading strategy slightly. If you read it and it makes sense and ties in with how you play then it can emphasis concepts and give you a confidence boost great but if not - do not experiment when on the virge of tilt - it can be costly to your bankroll - ask Jones T

To improve concentration

1) play less
2) get fit/fitter there is a real link between physical fitness and mental fitness.
3) pratice things that test/strengthen your concentration - it is difficult to keep focus for online poker - that is an exploitable difficulty in others but an impediment in profitability in yourself. Find some other way to train your concentration. Chess matches (3hours or more of complete focus) and live bridge competitions ( again 3+ hours of almost full focus) heightened my concentration skills
4) try to play in an uncluttered distraction free environment. Always allow plenty of time for games e.g. dont start a 3 table multi sng with less than 3 hours to spare - winning it will normally take round 2 hours 30 min but you need a decent leyway.
5) sometimes multitabling can force you to play fewer hands on each table and focus entirely on poker rather than typing stuff in this forum, browsing the internet, watching TV etc. On the verge of tilt though as CRAP rightly says that can be dangerous. Also multitabling is more taxing/ tiring on the mind.

6) try not to tax your mind too much during tourneys - you might be able to multitable, do the crossword etc for much of the time but that will undermine your ability to focus in 1 hour or so. This may sound like it goes against point 5 but both are true in many ways - one short term one long. Playing in lots of pots can also tax your mind - lots of chips etc being in the balance each hand can drain your energy somewhat. Music can be distracting but it can equally keep more distracting activities at bay.

7) I struggle to keep focus for all of a big MTT and i get round that primarily by not playing in them very often. Thats why I make my home with multi table sngs. I think i spoke to you xtra during the THF league round 2 and you said MTT's were your strength - so your ability to consentrate must be reasonable anyway.

8) make sure that the outcome of any money game matters to you. That doesnt mean play outwith your bankroll but if you dont give a damn about the result of a 5$ sng dont play in one (more relevant for sng's than in general perhaps) but also in a 5$ MTT you should only sign up if you are committed to playing to the hard end if need be and think you have a real chance of making big money otherwise you could easily find yourself not caring too much and that leads to you concentrating less and can lead to impatient play.