who says you cant think and listen to music?

Perhaps you can. Myself I find it a little difficult to focus intensely. I guess it depends. Sometimes I do listen to music while I grind. It's just very critical to keep to the mindset of poker is business not a game. You're not 'having fun'.

sure, everyone's different, but i agree the point that keeping the right mindset helps, i find that music helps to avoid tilt.

depending on what kind of player you are, whilst players that make a living playing poker treat it seriously and as a business, there are also amateurs that want to have fun and ideally combining the 2 makes the process far more enjoyable! who wouldnt want to make money whilst enjoying every minute of it?

same for me, feeling relaxed and not tilting definetely helps my game

unfortunately, im doing crap on 25nl atm, profitable but crap, and the tilt factor is a tough one to remove, even with music when in only 10 hands you lose your stack despite getting it in good like 5 times..!

if youre not playing too many tables then definitely have to listen to music! but if you have like 9+ tables it depends on the music and yourself.

For me personally, when i have like 11+ tables, I turn my music off so I can concentrate more, or just put on classical music...

+1
too many tables with music is no-no for me as well
4 or 5 is ok when i feel on top of my game with some good music

depends on the music

yep

i tilt off stacks listening to stuff that gets me revved up but couldnt see stacking without music, id tilt out from boredom

David Bowie.

That thread helped my anger issues A LOT.

I am playing mtt's and 180 man turbo sng's and unbelievable beats and coolers is something i deal with every now and then (10-14 tables, so it happens very often). I read this thread and tried playing while listening to the whole discography of The Beatles.

Well, despite John and Paul don't affect my favourite kk vs aa at near final table stage cooler guest appearence, I definetely smash my keyboard less often. Very very healthy for your nervous system, I recommend it to all grinders.

i usually listen to trance dj tiesto, armin van buren, and hip hop alot of jay-z usually getsme into a zone. good post i was thinking bout posting something like this cause i noticed a huge difference myself.

also if u are playing live, u dont have to listen to the annoying people that seem to know it all!

I'm not sure. If i don't listen to anything i'll definitely end up outfocused at some point. On the other hand lstening 2-3 hours to music while playing can also lead me out of focus as well.

Its got its ups and downs with me. It definitely helps with tilt control, but at the same time i miss some tells i should normally pick up on. So i do it based on feel at the time. twitter @mikekuczewski