Louise: 5 Habits to Improve Your Poker Results

A Successful KO Series

In this blog I’m going to talk a little about my KO Series before sharing some habits that I’ve tried and believe could help any player improve their results. I hope these habits will help some lower stakes players out there to crush the series!

Grinding Online

Satellite Success

I’m not a big satellite grinder but a lot of my profit for April and May (2019) came from playing some great value satellites at partypoker. During the KO Series I  won a seat from a $55 sat to a $530 High Roller and finished fifth for $4,500. I also won a seat to the $5,200 Championship event from a $44 satellite and won $3,250 in bounties.

Satellite Fun at partypoker

I love getting to play higher buy-in events. It adds extra excitement to the regular grind! I read the Poker Satellite Strategy book by Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter a while ago. I’d definitely recommend it to any players who want to play the amazing satellites on offer at partypoker at the moment.

Changing Things Up

As I previously discussed in this blog, I felt burnt out and struggled to get enough volume in the first two months of 2019 and spent most of March going on live trips. With bills to pay and a bankroll to grow it was absolutely crucial for me to put my head down and put in the hours online heading into April.

I made some simple changes to my lifestyle at the start of April that helped me to have two successful months. I am not saying these changes definitely led to profit but I am certain they helped me play a higher volume and to concentrate better while I played.  Here are Five Habits I believe will improve your results over time. Hopefully they will help some of you during the upcoming Monster Series!

5 Habits to Improve Your Results

Meditate for ten minutes before you play

It’s been said a million times before but meditating greatly improves your ability to focus. Taking ten minutes to do a guided focus meditation or breath awareness meditation will clear your mind and make it much easier to focus while you play. This has helped me so much and takes almost no effort.

Write down three intentions for your session just before you play

This helps get you to focus your attention on the right areas. If you get distracted by social media or phone notifications while you play, commit to switching your phone on silent and not using an internet browser while you play. If you have been misplaying a certain type of spot, write down that you will consciously pay extra attention to these spots in-game.

Write down one thing you are grateful for before you play

My favourite is ‘I’m grateful to get to play a game I love as a way to make a living’ Acknowledging something you are grateful for before you play can help put bad beats and mistakes in perspective!

Commit to some simple habits that will improve your game

For example, commit to watching a training video for one hour before you play or running five ICM spots after each final table. Getting outside for an hour before you open up your tables also counts!

Set a sleep schedule and stick with it.

If you play full-time, creating a realistic schedule and sticking with it is a smart thing to do. For the last two months I have been sleeping 6am to 2pm. I used to have a crazy sleep pattern and go to bed a different times each night. Setting a bedtime that I can make even if I win the latest tournament I register for has helped me immensely. I fall asleep easily, get a solid 8 hours sleep and feel way happier and more energetic during the day.