Is listening music good or bad thing while playing? Music might be a distraction, but it could also help you to maintain a good state of mind. Some people probably find it helpful and some don't.

It can be good and it can be bad. It's going to be different for each person. You need to experiment. From my experience, music can be very good, but a few things I've learned (keep in mind this is for me, all of this might be different for you).

1. I don't want my music to be new while grinding. I will get caught up in the novelty of the new music and focus too much on the music. So when grinding I might play a playlist with songs I've heard 1000's of times. That way the music is more like a mantra in the background, it will inspire me and keep me flowing, but don't take me out of focus with poker.

2. Experiment with different types of music for different and how the affect your emotions. Emotions play a huge role in all of this (look up the elephant and the rider analogy from The Happiness Hypothesis -- fantastic book!). So maybe if you have been playing too timidly, put on something that will get you a bit jacked up. If you're spewing a bit, put on some classical piano .

3. Experiment with playing songs on repeat. I love putting on a song that I've listened to 1000's of times that fits with the emotional state I'm trying to create and then I put it on repeat. I might listen to it 20 times in a row. This way it will inspire, but will definitely become more like a mantra and in the background, like I was talking about above.

4. Check out www.focusatwill.com : I like this and use it sometimes. It's worth the small fee. They also have a lot of good info on the site that explains some of the science behind all of this stuff.

What about audiobooks or podcasts? Do you listen those while grinding? And if so, is it distracting you? In other words, are you able to play as well as you can when not listening anything?

I personally stay away from this. I'll either miss the content in the podcast or I'll miss something going on in the poker game. Although, I have heard of writers putting on a movie in the background -- without sound most of the time, but sometimes with sound -- Again pick a movie you're super familiar with. I do this with writing and it's awesome, it can take away a bit of the loneliness because there are some people around, well in the movie at least :)

So I guess you could try an audiobook that you're very familiar with that isn't too deep. Experiment!

I totally agree about proper music selection while grinding. I often find that if I have done a good job selecting music, I will reach the end of an hour long album and feel as though I had just put it on five minutes ago.

I find music with lyrics quite distracting when grinding. I mostly listen to smooth jazz or classical music (piano works are preferable to symphonies or concertos) because they are relaxing but not overly disturbing. Also, I particularly like the sound of rain and often mix it in by going to rainymood.com :)

You cannot listen to music and focus on poker at the same time. Podcasts are the worst idea while grinding--I admit I've tried it but it forces me to autopilot and not play anywhere near my best poker. Basically what benji said--you will miss things in the podcast or you will miss things on the poker table, and most likely both. That said, sometimes I use this: coffitivity.com

I also might try benji's focus@will and midori's rainymood.com suggestions; I hadn't heard of either but both sound interesting.

I made a relaxing playlist for grinding :

Relaxing Playlist

Enjoy !

Personally I love rainymood or just regular youtube videos about waterfalls, rain, forest sounds and stuff like that. You could also search for concentration music videos on youtube. They're pretty good.
But definitely don't listen to podcasts and probably also not to songs with lyrics especially if you like to sing along :) It's going to distract you and you'll miss out on some important things on the tables. There are better times to listen to audiobooks/podcasts.
If you play poker make sure that there is as little as possible to distract you.

Thanks guys, good stuff. I'm pretty sure music is distracting me at the moment, I'm definitely the type who likes to sing along :D

I will try to play without music or with just relaxing sounds or something and cut out music with lyrics.

In my case, I like to listen smooth jazz, and fusion jazz. These make me relax. When I'm relaxed, I can think better :)

These are examples I listen to.

Mezzoforte - nightfall
T-square - Away from home

Listen to TheSuicideSheep youtube channel. Cannot go wrong

If you are very familiar with the song with lyrics usually it is fine to listen to it.

On instrumentals I've been listening to Bixiga 70 lately.

It's different for different poker players.

I've got some advice. don't play the rocky soundtrack, makes u play like an overly-aggresive donkey. Make ur own playlist for poker, play for an hour with play money chips to test if you can concentrate. Its about balance too because anything trance or background sound might do the opposite of help you concentrate and literally put u in a trance. Just a thought.