This morning I got flat-called preflop after making a dodgy steal attempt from SB with T6s. On the flop my heart rate rocketted when I very fortunately hit trip of 6s.

I found this article http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/354725 which I think is both pertinent and worrying.

Now that I'm almost 38 - positively a geriatric in terms of being an online poker pro and although I'm reasonably healthy, heart problems run in the family, also it's quite draining having these highs and lows.

Anybody got any tips on how to keep control of your heart rate while still maintaining focus and concentration?

Working out/sporting will help you bring your 'base heartrate' down which should help keeping you more relaxed.

Maybe play more poker so you don't wet your pants everytime you hit a hand but it becomes standard?

Yip, that would certainly help. I get in a fair bit of walking but not doing much in terms of vigorous exercise I have to admit.

I I play for a living -so I've played several hundred thousand hands at least. My heart rate still increases greatly when it comes to pivotal hands.

Anyway on the exercise thing that's the good and obvious advice but even if I was in better shape I would still have the spikes of adrenalin on the big hands which cause this jump in heart rate - what I really am looking for is some technique/s to stop or lessen the physical responses I'm getting to these big hands. Perhaps there is a particular type of meditation or something that would help?

I have the same problem. What I've found to help is to put my hands away from the cards (on my lap or by my side), then take a deep breath in through my nose and exhale through my mouth.

The trick though is do this throughout the game no matter the hand your playing so that it doesn't become a tell.

I'm not even thinking about tells(I play 99% online), though that's a good point for live play. Me I'm more worried I'm going to keel over on the laptop from a heart attack .

Anyway it's something I'm going to really work on. Normally when I flop a big hand online I sit up right away in my chair and get nearer the screen and my pulse gets going - yesterday when I found myself doing this I stopped myself. Going to try to stop any fist pumping when I hit big - or any expletives when things go pear shaped also. Thinking of buying a heart monitor to eh monitor it.

It sounds like you have a heightened adrenal response. I have the same thing and I, like you, have played many hundreds of thousands of hands for income. I doubt you'll be able to eliminate it entirely, but you can probably lessen the effects. Getting in better shape in general is a good idea and +ev for life, but while playing you just have to develop a *detachment*, you have to actually mentally or out loud say to yourself "I've made the best decision I could make, and now it is out of my hands" (for all-ins). I also find it helpful to just bring up another table and concentrate on it fully after I've made my decision at the table with the big hand. Also take deep breaths at least once every few minutes.

Concentrate more on staying healthy, meaning that your weight is proportionate to your height, your blood pressure and cholesterol are within normal limits, and you get aerobic exercise 3-5x/week. I would also learn to meditate which will enable you to control your heart and breathing rate whenever you are in a stressful situation, whether it be poker of life in general.

How bout just breathing heavy after every flop? Then other players will think you have a breathing problem or something...

How bout just reading the OP?

This is basically the approach I plan to take now. I've ordered 2 books on meditation from amazon and another 3 or 4 on Zen buddhism. Health wise - I could be healthier that's for sure but I'm not terribly unhealthy either, I'm probably about 8% overweight. I gave up alcohol for good 5 weeks ago and I go for several walks a week now. I'm thinking of taking up a martial art too - I did Tae kwon do for a while in my 20s and found that great for fitness but i think any martial art would do. I'm also planning on buying a heart monitor for when I play but not so sure what kinda one i should get.

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Martial Arts is awesome, studied it about 10 years ago, but be sure that you get consistent cardiovascular workout which martial arts doesn't necessarily provide. I think that a heart rate monitor can be a great tool if used correctly. Using it while playing will probably just be a distraction for you. I would use it to make certain that you are getting the aerobic exercise that we all need. If you need help finding you heart rate target zone let me know. FWIW, I am a nurse and a fitness finatic. Also, just wondering how you came up with your estimation of being 8% overweight.

Cheers. I've actually bought the heart rate monitor now. It's more of a curioisty factor thing than anything else, the particular one I got doesn't bleep when I hit a certain heart rate - (at least I think it doesn't).

Regarding my thinking I'm about 8% overweight - that's just a ballpark figure I suppose. I'm 178cm and about 88 to 90 KG. That might seem like I'm a lot more than 8% but I've got quite a broad build. I know when I last lost a lot of weight about 5 years ago that I got down to about 78-79KG I was quite slim down at this level and I think i would have started to feel weak if I was any less than that. If I got down to 80KG I'd be happy so I guess in reality I'm more like 10 to 14% overwieght . Still if I got down to low 80s it'd be a big improvement. Even a 4 or 5 % drop would be great tbh.

Anyway since I've acknowledged I need to keep myself from getting excitable while playing poker I think I have already started getting a measure of control over it.

It'd be great if it's not too much trouble for you to tell me what my heart rate target zone should be.

When you're actively and strategically thinking about the hand in progress, you'll notice that your heartbeat will slow down, or not speed up in the first place. A lot of it is in your head. I expect my opponent to make certain moves all the time. If the opponent acts differently than expected, then you re-evaluate and you're thinking again. If you're afraid of anything at all, whether it's losing the pot, being bluffed out, or being outdrawn, you'll get nervous and anxious, and then your heart speeds up.

Fear no one.

I'm very much a thinking player - don't think I could win online if I wasn't - my heart rate still shoots up when I'm on a pivotal hand - it doesn't necessarily have to do with fear either - if anything it's more likely to happen when I'm holding a big hand and want to get paid off. I think I have that heightened adrenal response that JustaPlayer mentioned - I'd prefer to have your constitution in the game but it doesn't apply in my case I think. On the fear no one bit - hmm a bit of healthy fear is good I think - or at the very least respect.

Anyway I got the heart rate monitor working better today and I got it to bleep when I hit 105 bpm or higher. My resting bpm is varying from about 63 to 81. When I'm playing Poker it goes up a bit but not hugely. In one early session today just about everytime I was in a pivotal hand today I went above 105 - hitting for the most part around the 110 mark - what really set me racing though was when I saw our dog had run out on the road and I had to get her back in - I think I was up to about 140 or something .

Anyway in that session I was very happy with the way I played - I lost but it was due to beats - later on I played another session - I wasn't quite in the humour for it and I made one very dodgy and in the end costly play. What was interesting from my point of view was that my bpm hadn't gone above 102 bpm for that whole session.

Don't want to be drawing too many conclusions but perhaps the higher bpm of the 1st session was showing I was intense and focused. Is Poker just basically an unhealthy occupation period then?

I'm inclined to think there's no real way of avoiding these jumps in heart rate and perhaps they are even necessary - all perhaps I can do is get as fait in body and mind away from the game.

Well, a hardy constitution and stone-skin can be developed over time, but I wouldn't recommend subjecting yourself to the conditioning of it.

Respect is important, but the fear is unnecessary. There's a difference between, "hm, he's been showing down strong openers and seems to be more cautious when playing deep" and "this guy has me covered and can bust me easily."

Yeah there sure is, for me personally I don't suffer from the latter - well hardly ever. I did choke a few months ago when the bets got massive in a 10/20 plo game and I made a costly fold - but then again 10/20 is too high a limit for my bankroll so shouldn't have been in it in the first place.

Anyway getting aaway from the whole fear thing I think

Getting back on topic I think for me having these spikes of increased heart beat is a good sign pokerwise... it shows I'm up for it. The flip side though is I think there's a price to pay healthwise. Perhaps if I could get very fit I would still have these spikes but instead of approaching 110 bpm they would be more like 95 to 100 which wouldn't be as bad.

It has nothing to do with your level of fitness. It's the fight or flight response that releases adrenaline and the stress chemical, cortisol, which in turn causes your heart rate to rise.

Yeah I realise that, that natural fight or flight response is what I'm trying to get more control over - though perhaps it's not realitic to expect that. But the point I was getting at, though I could be wrong, was that if I was fitter, I would still have the jumps in heart rate, perhaps even the same 30 - 35% rise in heart rate, but since my overall heart rate would be lower, perhaps when I get that fight or flight reaction, that 30-35% increase would mean I'm hitting 95 to 100 bpm instead of 110. Anyway that's just my best guess.


I'm planning on doing a good bit of testing on it over the next few days.

3/6 NL or PLO is my 'normal' level. I'm going to see what my rate is like at this level. Then I'm going to test it at maybe 2 lower levels. Say 1/2 - where I'm still playing for stakes I care about but not as much as my normal level and where my stress and excitement levels should be less. And maybe a very small level for me that would be something like .1/.2.

Then I'll test it out at a high level for me 10/20.

I'm guessing that there should be a noticeable difference between all levels. I'll test it out across different games too, NL, PLO, SNGs and Limit.

Here is who you find you target heart rate zone:

First find your maximum heart rate (MHR) by subtracting your age from 220
Next multiple (MHR) by 0.60 = lower end of the target heart rate zone
Next multiply (MHR) by 0.90 = upper end of the target heart rate zone

So what that means is, let's say that you are 40 years old. Subtract 40 from 220 which equals 180. You maximum heart rate while exercising should not be consistently above 180. If it is, you are in what is called an anerobic zone as opposed to the desired aerobic zone.

Next multiply 180 by 0.60 = 108; Now multiply 180 by 0.90 = 162;
This means that when exercising you should have a heart rate between 108 and 162 for at least 20 minutes, 3-5 times/week. Your heart rate monitor is an excellent tool to make sure that you are acheiving that goal.

I converted your height and weight to the US system, making you 70 inches or 5' 8" and your weight 198 lbs. A rough estimate of what you should weigh is 156-160 lbs, if you look at simply weight according to height. Also feeling weak has absolutely nothing to do with your weight, it has to do with what you are eating. My guess is that in order to lose weight or to keep it off you were not eating enough therefore feeling weak. Not to be rude, but please don't kid yourself into thinking that you are 30-40 lbs, or 14-18 kg overweight due to being broad. Sincerely, that is a lot of extra weight to be carrying around and that would be my first concern over your heart rate increasing during a time of stress, whether it's good stress or bad stress.

I think that you are asking a lot of great questions and starting to take a hard look at your overall health. I would encourage you to learn more about exercise and eating healthy. I would google The Real Age Test, take the test and then you'll have a better idea of where you are.

Good luck with poker but especially with your quest for better overall health. If I can be of help in anyway don't hesitate to PM me or post in this forum again.

Donna

70" is 5'10" btw which is what I am and I know i'm 5'10" btw independent of knowing I'm 178 cm. I'm from Ireland originally - probably one of the few countries that use both the old British imperial measures and the metric system (actually I think it's almost exclusively metric system there now). Anyway I'm 89KG at the moment and that's 196 lbs. So I'm not quite as overweight as you make out. No way am I 30-40lbs overweight and that's not in any way me looking through rose tinted glasses. I think dropping 20 lbs would be ideal. As I say I know from past experience that there is hardly any fat on me at that weight. Still I agree that I'm still carrying 20 lbs more than I should be so it's a good idea to get that down. I was actually up to 95 KG = 209 lbs a few months ago so the pounds have been gradually coming off.

Thanks for the advice Donna, very much appreciated.

Barry - I only met you once, but I remember you as 'stocky' rather than overweight, fwiw.

Lots of good advice in this thread. I've been running recently to try to shed some weight and gain some fitness, with intentions of joining the gym - but what I think will really help me is a weekly tai chi class I'm starting in 2009. This and/or yoga would really help someone in your situation imo, especially if you get into it.

Unless you're getting palpitations, I wouldn't worry too much about the heightened heartbeat. If nothing else, it's a sign that even after playing poker for a while, it still gives you a rush of blood, and isn't that what we want from our chosen career? It's much more of a problem if you're a regular live player.

A good indicator of your general levels of health, mostly cardiovascular, is your resting heart rate. At your age, a resting rate of 55 would be that of a top athlete, while 85 is that of someone quite unfit. The best time to test is when you've just woken up, and still test three days consecutively and take an average.

Regular exercise is important for a few reasons. There's the obvious immediate heath impact - feeling fitter - the long-term health benefit of being less likely to get ill; more important for our poker career, though, is that regular exercise allows us to think more clearly, for longer stretches of time, keep our concentration at higher levels, and generally perform better at tasks that require objective analysis and so on. The holy trinity of exercise, diet, and sleeping patterns is all-important for athletes and poker players, and there have been numerous studies that correlate 'happiness' with these facets of life. I guess it's like never playing drunk, tired, tilty, or angry, and using the tools available to us - we're giving ourselves the best possible chance of coming away with a win before we've even sat down - life can throw a curveball at us but we're prepared, and when the good times come in we're in a position to make great strides.

wow this is pretty funny actually. That being said, I hope no1 has a grabber because they are so excited about a poker hand online. GL

Sorry about the height. That's what I get for doing math in my head. Good luck!

Dunno if its been mentioned before but Beta Blockers are great, not for everyone they made me feel seriously depressed but a guy could put a loaded gun to your head in a robbery and i doubt your HR would go over 90bpm

I used to do push-ups during big all ins late in tournaments. It didnt really slow my heart rate down much so i just stopped going deep in tournaments, that seemed to have done the trick