Here's my second round of advice and Lesson 5). This deals with WHEN you should be and when you should not be playing poker. First rule of thumb, only play when you feel like playing. If you are bored or just have nothing to do, don't jump onto the computer and start playing for real money. You will not be properly focused for a typical ring game. Instead, if you just really want to play, play in a cheap tournament or cheap sit n go prior to playing your normal limits. You will soon see that your impatience of being bored will lead to some piss poor decisions that will knock you out quickly. You can then be thankful that the 10 minutes you wasted only cost you 5 dollars instead of 50. This happens to me all the time, I'll be lying in bed and can't fall asleep, then I hear the click, click sounds of betting and raising so I decide to play a few hands. My brain is tired and not working properly and because of this I am not calculating proper pot odds and implied odds which will be covered on a later date. I seem to call down way more hands then I should be which is costing me lots of money. This also applies for just waking up in the morning. Definitely do not jump on your computer. Have sex (or masturbate), take a shit, shower, and then eat. Your brain will have proper time to wake up and you will feel more alert which will cause you to make better decisions.
Another time that you should not play is when your mind is occupied with something else. Do you have a test, exam, meeting, date, or anything at all that is occupying your mind. You might be fighting with the girlfriend or wife and playing way to aggressively. You might be thinking about an exam you have the next day or anything like that. All of these things take away brain power that you should be using to make money. If you aren't thinking completely clearly, don't play as you won't maximize your profit.
The final time that you shouldn't play is when you should be doing something else. Has your girlfriend / wife / mom been nagging you to mow the lawn for the past 3 hours. Obviously you don't want to mow the lawn, but subconsciously you know you have to do it. This will make you play over aggressively as you want to win as much as possible as fast as possible as you know you have something else that needs to be done. If this doesn't make sense to you, try playing next time you know have to be somewhere at a certain time. Let's say that church is at 10:30 on the Sunday morning, you've woken up, had sex or jerked it, shit, showered, shaved and eaten and it's only 10:00 o'clock. You decide to play a few hands of online poker. Watch how your game changes as you know you only have a limited time span. If you're not careful you will play hands that you normally wouldn't play to try to maximize that 15 minutes of free time you had.
****** Only play when you WANT to and have nothing else on your mind. The best way to play is semi-relaxed and completely focused. Follow these guidelines and you will be well on your way to becoming a better player******
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