{"id":36556,"date":"2014-05-09T00:24:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T23:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/?p=36556"},"modified":"2021-07-01T15:39:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T15:39:16","slug":"partypoker-exclusive-jared-tendler-maintaining-focus-long-online-tournaments-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/partypoker-exclusive-jared-tendler-maintaining-focus-long-online-tournaments-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"partypoker Exclusive: Jared Tendler on ‘Maintaining Focus During LONG Online Tournaments: Part 2’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jared Tendler is a mental game coach to over 300 professional poker players and the author of\u00a0The Mental Game of Poker\u00a0<\/strong>as a regular guest to the partypoker he’s here to talk about how to focus especially for the LONG GAME. And incase you missed it you can read Part 1 right here.<\/strong><\/a> Enjoy:<\/p>\n

Winning poker tournaments is why you play them. The only problem is that many tournaments take hours to complete and can run late into the night. Playing poker for over 10 hours straight can be a daunting task and really put a strain on your skills if you\u2019re not used to it.<\/p>\n

In my last article which you can\u00a0read here<\/strong><\/a>, I gave a handful of proven tips to help you maintain your A-game throughout a long tournament. But, people are unique and so here\u2019s another batch of advice that may do the trick for you.<\/p>\n

Changing Gears<\/b><\/h3>\n

Think of focusing throughout the tournament like shifting through the gears of a car. When you are engaged in a hand that has to be your only focus; you\u2019re in 5th<\/sup> gear. However, when you\u2019re not in a hand you don\u2019t need, and moreover, can\u2019t maintain such intensity. A lot of people, especially early in a tournament, are too jacked up.<\/p>\n

They try to focus on every tiny detail right from the start and they end up burning themselves out. They\u2019ve revved the engine, but not achieved anything productive. You can\u2019t learn something definitive about someone that quickly, and if anything might read too much into things. Therefore, you need to have a looser focus at the start. You still need to engage with what\u2019s going on, but not as intensely as when you\u2019re in a hand; get in 3rd<\/sup> gear. You will see many pros start a tournament relaxed because they know they can\u2019t do it all on the first hour. They\u2019re prepared to gradually move up through their gears and settle in for the long haul.<\/p>\n

Overexcited<\/b><\/b><\/h3>\n

As I just mentioned, many players start a tournament too excited. Although excitement can keep you going during a tough grind, it can also cause you to play poorly. If you\u2019re too <\/i>excited the part of the brain responsible for high level thinking can actually shut down. Excessive levels of all emotions, whether it\u2019s anger, fear, or excitement, has the power to shut off your ability to think. Lots of players get overexcited at the start of tournaments, and just give away their chips. Don\u2019t be one of them. Plus, even if you\u2019re able to control your excitement and play well at the start of the tournament, you burned up so much energy that you\u2019ll get tired at the end\u2014when you need it most. Rather than let your emotions get the best of you, remember that you can\u2019t win a tournament in the first level, but what you do in that level can make it more likely for you to lose it.<\/p>\n

More Energy<\/b><\/h3>\n

Poker in not as physically demanding as sports tend to be\u2014poker rooms aren\u2019t really full of \u201cathletes.\u201d However, that doesn\u2019t mean that being in good physical shape isn\u2019t important. There is an ever growing body of research that points towards a strong link between mental and physical performance.<\/p>\n

In my latest book The Mental Game of Poker 2<\/i>, physical energy is cited as one of the fundamental components of getting into the zone consistently. The reason is that physical energy is the foundation to mental energy. It doesn\u2019t take a genius to figure out that when you\u2019re exhausted physically, you\u2019re also not in the best mental shape.<\/p>\n

Well, on the flip side, getting your body in to better shape gives you extra energy to have your mind function even better. That means you\u2019ll read the action, make decisions, and focus with greater ease. These are all things that need mental energy. With more of it, you can do them better. Getting in better physical shape can be done simply by doing slightly more than you are currently doing. For example, try going to the gym one more day per week, or go for a 15 minute walk every other day.<\/p>\n

Mental Endurance<\/b><\/h3>\n

Many players do not realize that mental endurance can be increased in similar way to physical endurance\u2014steadily over time. Sure you may be able to play a 14 hour tournament once, but unless you\u2019ve trained that level of mental endurance eventually your mind will break down if you don\u2019t get enough rest. This breakdown is the same thing that happens to the body if you overextend yourself for too long. If you plan on playing tournaments regularly, try playing shorter tournaments or SNG\u2019s that can help you control the length of time you\u2019re playing. If you can maintain high quality focus for 4 hours, for example, then push yourself to play for 30 minutes longer for the next several sessions. If you find the quality of your play dipping in those extra 30 minutes, work hard and push yourself mentally to keep the quality of your play high. Afterwards rest like you would after a tough workout. When you can do those extra 30 minutes and<\/i> play well more easily, add more time. Then rise and repeat this process to keep building your mental endurance.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if you want to play great throughout a tournament you have to fight for it. If winning was easy and playing high level poker for 10+ hours straight was a breeze there would be no reward in it. If you make it to the final few table of a long tournament, whether you won or lost, and you\u2019re not exhausted you didn\u2019t work hard enough. Winning takes a little luck, and if you don\u2019t win, but did everything you could to come out on top then you can consider that a win.<\/p>\n

Jared Tendler is a mental game coach to over 300 professional poker players and the author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2<\/b>. Both books are available in book stores worldwide, and available for free on audiobook. For info on his books and coaching go to: <\/i>www.jaredtendlerpoker.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

The brand new partypoker\u00a0Sunday tournament schedule!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The all new partypoker has introduced\u00a0a new Sunday tournament schedule.<\/strong>\u00a0The key changes are the addition of an action-packed fun $10K Super Bounty and a wide range of new low buy-in tournaments featuring the best of the old but also new speed, rebuy, add-on and PLO tournaments \u2013 a great Sunday mix if you want to win top prizes and have fun playing tournament poker.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the all new partypoker!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Get all the latest partypoker updates from your favorite social media outlets. You can\u00a0Follow us on Twitter<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Like us on Facebook.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jared Tendler is a mental game coach to over 300 professional poker players and the author of\u00a0The Mental Game of Poker\u00a0as a regular guest to the partypoker he’s here to talk about how to focus especially for the LONG GAME. And incase you missed it you can read Part 1 right here. Enjoy: Winning poker<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":36558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2182,300],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[6401,8434,30261,20806,7431,3596],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36556"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139010,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36556\/revisions\/139010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36556"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=36556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}