I always seem to score extremely well early in a series. The results stay decent, but as the series goes on I am more likely to become (internally) agitated by bad beats, less attentive to finer details, etc. I am not sure yet if it affect my play, but I really wouldn't be surprised if I am giving up 1-10% of my peak performance a month into a series.

I realise there are physical elements to this and my plan in most longer series is now to take the occasional day off, get some sleep/rest, improve diet.

But is there anything y'all might recommend for giving yourself a physical or psychological boost as you are getting to the end of multiple weeks or months of a series?

Thanks in advance for your input

A good question to ask yourself:

Are you really interested in this? Or simply after a 'magic' formula or activity?

If you are genuinely interested in this then this implies you're generally interested in understanding the source of this issue you've described. That is: you're genuinely interested in understanding how your mind works and how this fatigue is created.

Hi,

As you mentioned I think that sleep is a critical factor on feeling annoyed at bad beats etc. By scheduling the series so that you maybe miss 1 or 2 of the worst events for you that series and get some additional sleep will have lots of benefits.

Also I believe that making you sure you spend some time away from the tables and are not constantly thinking about poker during the series will help.

Exercise before and after a long session can be a great way to clear the mind and "wake yourself up"

Best of luck,
claynuts

Obviously a magic bullet would be ideal - but fully willing to get into the theory if that's what it takes, I have a medical science degree so maybe could short cut a little of the basics from whatever biochemistry/biology/anatomy I picked up along the way (hopefully I still remember enough), if anyone wanted to send me to a resource.

I was just checking to see if anyone had anything anecdotally, too, which helped their focus that I could try as a more instantaneous magic bullet.

Thanks Claynuts. I actually used to get quite an edge from being extremely fit and could grind much more. Having started back after a very lazy 6-7 months, I found myself instantly feeling better (was 1 flip away from picking up a live 1st the day I began the exercise, which probably also helped my feeling of well-being ).

But I am definitely going to take the pre-session exercise seriously, even if it is just a token 10 minutes, then a shower as a regular practice.

And in regards to taking some of the crap events off, by coincidence this upcoming series, I am taking wifey away for a concert on the other side of the country, will be good to see this in practice.

This is a fairly complex thing to go into. And would require a lot of time on my part to lay out an adequate response, which, unfortunately, I do not have right now.

I do think the following is beneficial though for all poker players travelling to play:

https://losingstress.com/2019/01/24/...trip-mentally/

thanks for the link. I'll attack it in my study session today

Play less

When you take your "Day off" try not to work, not to play. Even with your mind, just clear it, tell yourself- today I am not gonna think about anything that makes my mind go crazy, this is the day for me. A great way of making yourself not to think about anything is running. Take up running. Exercise, read a book. Cook for your mother or something else that will keep your hands and legs busy, but not your mind.