But after a half-hour or so, I get lazy and stop.

I’ll start a session great, paying attention to hands I’m not involved in and taking notes on players every time a hand goes to showdown. Reading Opponents Discipline – This is one I need to improve on. If I get bored and want to check my e-mail or go on FTR, I give myself a break, or cut down to 2 tables while I do it.ģ. I still struggle with this sometimes, but when I start a poker session, I try to close all distracting programs on my computer, set up a long music playlist, don’t answer my phone or IM and just concentrate on poker. If I have my e-mail program open, am browsing FTR or IM’ing with friends, I definitely don’t play as well. Concentration Discipline – I either 6-table full-ring or 4 to 6-table 6-max and find it requires all of my concentration. And these should be adjusted UPWARD if you multitable, play 6-max, or play a laggy, high-variance style.Ģ. Better guidelines are 20 for ring, 50 for SNGs and 100 for MTTs. Guidelines vary, but you shouldn’t be playing ring games without 15 buy-ins, SNGs without 30 entries or MTTs without 50 entries AT THE ACR MINIMUM. Bankroll Discipline – This comes first because without it, the rest doesn’t matter. Hopefully some of my thoughts with benefit FTRers.ġ. I struggle with issues of discipline constantly, in both my poker and work life, and have thought a lot about it. Knowing the right thing to do is important, but if you don’t have the discipline to execute your knowledge, it’s useless. I’m want to try to give a little back to FTR by writing down my thoughts on the biggest obstacle to becoming a better poker player: discipline. If I hadn’t discovered this community of helpful, funny, passionate poker players, there’s no way I would have gotten to this point. Honestly, I owe most of my success to FTR. I’ve played ~75k ring hands in the past year, won over $8k and collected another $4k in bonuses and Rakeback. I started last February playing $10 SNGs and 25NL ring with a $300 bankroll and am now playing 200NL with a $8k bankroll. It’s been a great year for me, poker-wise. Anosmic’s Year One post inspired me to do something for my first FTRnniversary.

Texas holdem stop and go