I feel like although I knew much less ten years ago about poker I had a physical/mental advantage; I could think clearer. I had less stress in my life, less physical tension in my body, and fewer financial worries to taint my decisions (I'll leave financial goals for another thread some other time).

I've been thinking for a long time and I would like to set some goals off the table, to help improve clarity and calmness. I feel like right now more than my lack of understanding of the game, my personal habits and the way I feel is whats holding me back, and I want that to change. There are certain activities/habits that make me feel and think better and I suspect will significantly improve my poker game and pretty much all my endeavors and relationships.

PHYSICAL GOALS OFF THE POKER TABLE
. 7-8 hours a sleep every night
. Stay hydrated (drink water regularly and eat raw fruits and vegetables)
. Exercise semi-daily (stretch) (Join/start a soccer game/team)
. Avoid heavy/processed junk foods



7-8 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY NIGHT - (avoid playing poker when you haven't had a good nights sleep) I've always had a fondness for the late hours of night but I have a day job now and less time to play poker and its not really working out for me anymore. I got to sleep, so my dayjob goes better, and come quiting time I have the energy to spend the evening playing poker.
[Naps are helpful too - those ten minute breaks in poker tournaments are really nap time; I read that you don't need to fall asleep to become rested. Your eyes drain the most energy of any organ (I think thats true) and shutting them for even 5 minutes helps the human body regain energy]

STAY HYDRATED - drink lots of water (when your urine is clear like water you are well hydrated), dehydration is the precursor to anxiousness and physical discomfort. The human body loses about a gallon of water a day in sweat and urine so you have to replace that with pure water and/or with high water content food.
. drink water throughout the day
. eat AT LEAST one full serving of raw fruits or vegetables a day

EXERCISE SEMI-DAILY - I used to run cross country in high school so I can attest to the value of exercise on mental ability, in particular clarity, memory, and calmness. And sweating is a very efficient way for the human body to rid itself of toxicity accrued. Specifically I want to start playing soccer again at least once or twice a week, and maybe join or start a team with friends.
[stretching is awesome - stretch at least twice a day - 15 to 20 minutes, in the morning and evening, if anything at least the hamstrings for improving circulation through those major arteries)

AVOID HEAVY/PROCESSED JUNK FOOD (especially before you are about to play a session) - Stuff that makes you tired/puts strain on your digestion and bowel movement/negatively affects your emotions. I remember watching a live player over the course of a few hours. He was playing solid until he finished a large meal of steak and potatoes at the table. His discomfort was soon apparent, legs jittery, frequency of preflop bets intensified, and one cigarette break after another, until within an hour or so his chips were gone. Know how food affects you and don't let a heavy meal be the reason why you can't play well.



All of these things are activities that I have at various times engaged in throughout my life for extended lengths only to haven given it up at some point (most of which I gradually gave up when I started working 9 to 5). I would also like to find an acupuncture place again, which I did every week for 8 months a few years back when I lived in Santa Barbara and was very therapeutic in addition to helping me finally heal a collection of soccer and biking injuries that had plagued me for a long time. I am going to try continue this thread as a sort journal reflecting on progress. Feel free to post here if any poker players are trying to get into a better physical state as well or are doing things to feel better playing poker.

Good luck! I'm going to take a long break from smoking weed. Think about how smoking affects you. It definitely interferes with staying hydrated, exercising and eating junk food too probably.

Man if you really like to start taking care of how you look, feel, think, eat. Then you have to start eating clean - only RAW fruits and veggies. this is the way to go and the only food for humans! just spend your 8 min and watch this: http://youtu.be/Jo0i4tXdM94

For more info ask me

GL OP! I am also trying to do something similar and hoping it will help me focus better at the pokers.

thanks.. same to you.

I played a couple days ago and got my ass kicked. Lost 4 (0.5-$1.00) buyins getting kind of unlucky I guess but at least half if not most of that loss due to playing poorly. It was one of those nights where I was watching the WPT on TV and feeling overconfidently inspired to take a late night shot. I wasn't playing terrible at first, but I went on tilt right away when I lost with to a guy with the same hand as me. We were both open-ended with J9. I had a flush draw on flop and bet it, he caught a flush draw as well on turn and called my decent all in of about $70 into a $50 pot. That just pissed me off and I proceeded to lose with trip tens getting reraised all in and just not wanting to see the obvious (sometimes there is nothing else then can really have besides a better hand or a bluff and allins usually not a bluff). The only good thing about my session is that I cut my losses there and quit when it was obvious I was steaming and dumping excess money, which is a shameful thing to do.

Now I played last night for about 3 or 4 hours same stacks 2-tables and I kicked ass. I won about $270, almost covering my losses from the previous losing session. The cards were working out for me too of course. I was betting out with a ten high flush draw and hit it on river and cleaned out a the full stack with the 4 high flush draw (which was a pretty loose play for me since I normally only play A high flush draws for this exact reason, hitting and losing with a weak flush). But I was folding too, whenever people were raising at me and its so clear that they have a strong hand. I'm on vacation in New Jersey visiting. I don't have to be at work, I've been taking walks and paddling on the lake, its been nice and relaxing. Most importantly though, I don't have to wake up at any time and go to any job right now, which looking back, I think is probably the main reason why I was so impatient last session, bc I had limited time and was cutting into precious sleep time to try to squeeze out a win. Which is dumb. I know you should really only play when you have no where to be and nothing else pressing to do. I wrote this down because I want think about this dichotomy between good and bad sessions. And not good and bad necessarily as far as results, but in terms of how you feel physically and your attitude about the game. There is a lot more depth to the game and I got a direct sense of that last night and I felt like I did when I first started hitting up the live casinos, just very much at peace with the game and my opponents, and that's really my goal, to feel like that all the time and incorporate activities into my life the things that make you feel good. I think last night I saw a glimpse of that potential, and I've been there before, and I think there is a good likeliness I can and will get there again, maybe sooner or later.

You suck