by SMT

Created on: February 19, 2009   Last Updated: February 20, 2009

Any veteran poker player knows that there is a time when staying away from the table is the best way to keep both your sanity and bankroll intact. Having a cavalier attitude about when you should or should not play cards can dangerously affect your ability to win. Personally, there have been many times in my career where I have sat down at the table and started the session off and nothing went right. Sometimes I got stubborn and pulled out a win. Other times I got slaughtered and wondered why I just didn't get up when I knew it was going to be one of those days.

BASIC PHYSIOLOGICAL REASONS
Playing poker when you are tired or have been drinking will dramatically decrease your cognitive abilities to play an effective game. Because playing good poker is centered around thinking strategically and analytically, being tired or under the influence will impair your judgments and decisions. If you play poker on a regular basis for cash, you should always go to the table sharp, fresh, and ready to play.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS
Being on tilt is best described as experiencing an incident at the table that adversely affects your play. Maybe you suffered from a bad beat or a verbal altercation with another opponent arose at the table. Whatever the case may be and regardless of what resulted, being on tilt causes players to play erratic with the end result being a diminished chip stack. If you are so upset that it is affecting your play and you are having a hard time getting over it, you should consider getting up from the table and at minimum taking a walk or possibly calling it quits for the day.

If you have played many sessions in a row and are feeling burned out and it is adversely affecting your play, take a few days off. Card players will inevitably go through periods when their game is not quite right. For example, last year I had a month when my problem was not making bad calls, but bad folds. Every scary board prompted me to find some ghost and muck my hand. I was afraid of losing and failure instead of focused on playing good poker. If you get to the point when you have over done it, taking up to a week off and engaging in normal activities outside of poker will have an enormous benefit on your game when you return.

THAT'S POKER & IT'S NOT YOUR TURN
When I first learned poker I frequently confided in one of my best friends that taught me how to play. Getting upset and frustrated was a common occurrence as a newbie and his replies were frankly never sympathetic. The

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