Live tournament preparation.
Sunday, December 7, 2008 - Debo34
I believe one of the most overlooked, underrated factors in poker is preparation.
I’m sure the majority of players have fell victim to this more than once in their poker life. After all some of the places we play are exciting, fun and full of distractions. Take for example the Aruba Poker Classic, or the current tournament I am at in Nuevo Vallarta Mexico. The night before a main event, I always plan on getting a full nights sleep.
Doing this for several years now, I have developed a bit of a routine that helps me to be prepared to take on the multi day tournaments that lie ahead. First off I always try to arrive at the venue at least 2 days before the main event starts. I like to have some fun, check out the sites and hopefully have a full day to do nothing before the tournament starts. I have arrived to several tournaments the day of, or the night before and find I don’t seem to play well. I have been prey to the “night before parties” and ended up feeling bad the next day wishing I were still in bed. These are hard to resist, but I recommend attending with the idea of not staying out too late and keeping the drinking down as much as possible.
Rest is obviously the biggest factor in preparation, but what are some others? I’m sure it’s different for each player, but here are some of my routines.
• Make sure the ipod is fully charged.
• Get my seat assignment the night before.
• Research the players at my table if possible. Usually you can only do this before day 2.
• Have a good meal a few hours before I sit
• Go for a long walk an hour or so before I play.
I know a lot of people that like to play poker the night before a big event. I am not one of those people. Mostly because I feel I am a lot fresher the next day if I don’t. Many of the tournaments hold a super satellite the night before the main event. Many times I have played these for lack of something better to do. There is nothing worse than grinding in one of these until late in the night only to come up a few spots short. It makes coming out focused the next day tough for me. I normally try to avoid any kind of poker the night before.
Of course a lot of poker players are superstitious by nature and do a lot of the same things in preparation. I would say I fall somewhere in the middle of that group. If I find I’m doing well I usually try to keep the same routine. For instance I ate the exact same breakfast in the same restaurant 4 days in a row this year in Aruba. I don’t think this thrilled my wife too much, but she understands to a degree and humors me.
I would recommend doing anything that makes you relax and feel good about putting in a battle that could and hopefully will last several days.
Debo
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Tags: Aruba Poker Classic, Debo34, Poker Strategy
December 7th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
2 Questions Debo: When researching players at your table, what kinds of info are you looking for and how do you get it? Can you give an example of how you’ve found some info on an opponent and were able to exploit it?
Also: what tunes do you load your ipod with???
December 7th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
[...] Fred aka TwoBlackAces wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOf course a lot of poker players are superstitious by nature and do a lot of the same things in preparation. I would say I fall somewhere in the middle of that group. If I find I’m doing well I usually try to keep the same routine. … [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Paulo, Say for instance i made day 2 of a live event. Usually that night the list will come out with the day 2 seat assignments. you can usually grab a copy and then get on a computer to check out the people at your table. I use cardplayer, ore the hendon mob poker database to see live results for these players.
Debo
December 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Also paulo, typically i just use it to get a general sense of their experience level. I try to get a sense which players really want to cash and which ones are players who are playing for the win. I will usually try to exploit the ones who will fold hands close to the money to cash.
Debo