What's your pre-session routine?

Posted by DebtsNBooze

Posted by DebtsNBooze posted in Gen. Poker

Posted 6 years, 6 months ago

What's your pre-session routine?

I'd be highly interested in what everyone's routines are for preparing for a long session. I'm sure there are some things I might be missing and I'd love to hear what you guys to do to optimally prepare for a long grind.

Here's mine:
- Most important for me: My apartment has to be all clean and tidied up. I don't know why but it bothers me if there's something dirty, even if it's not in the room I'm playing in.
- Eat something good that I highly enjoy: As a vegetarian I'm lucky that most of the stuff I enjoy is not too unhealthy as well. And whatever it is that I eat, I usually treat myself with this awesome salad from my favourite Italian place as well. Eating something I love makes me so damn happy which can't be a bad thing for starting a long session.
- Plan and write down my MTT schedule for the session: I'm not that kind of guy who just registers whatever he feels like, I like to have a plan and know what my expenses will be.
- Set up my work space: Wire up my laptop with my screens, shut down all software I don't need while playing (especially E-Mail, FB etc.), get my Spotify playlist ready.
- Make sure my cats are happy: Nothing more annoying when you play 8+ tables and then there's this little furball that keeps on screaming cause he/she wants to be pet or fed, so I make sure they have plenty of food and optimally are tired from playing.
- Mental training: Sometimes I listen to a course on the Primed app, sometimes I listen to Elliot Roe's "Online Poker Mindset". Definitely wanna get into meditating as well, any advice?
- Prepare food and drinks: I mainly eat fresh fruits and nuts while playing, and drink water only, except for one cup of black tea with fresh lemon juice at the start of the session.

Once all of this is done I'm ready. Any suggestions? Would you do something different? Anything I'm forgetting?
What do you do for preparation?

7 Comments

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dannyboy6292 6 years, 6 months ago

I play live only.
My pre game process involves a studying the night or few nights before.
I make sure I get plenty of sleep and stay hydrated throughout the day
I dont eat a lot as I find the brain thrives when you are hungry- I want to "stay hungry"
I will eat a healthy meal several hours before
I ALWAYS work out the morning before
If I am playing an evening game I will take an afternoon nap
I always bring a sweatshirt with me in case I am cold. I always want to be comfortable at table.
I set an alarm on my phone for every hour I am playing. The alarm names will be something like Patience Position Privilege Poker. Meaning its a privilege to play poker for money, if you need to just sit there for an hour without playing a hand its better than being in a cubicle. The others are self explanatory. ( some will say BREATH)
I try and get a 15 minute meditation session in about an hour before to prepare my mind.
My final prep is a one-page handwritten note. It has my goals for the session and how I am going to achieve them.
Finally, on the way to the casino/game I listen to classical piano music in the car and breath deeply.
I ALWAYS think about staying mindful and anytime I wash my hands during a session I get transported back to my goal sheet and mentally go over what my objectives are and how I will achieve them.
During the game I am trying to stay relaxed, patient, calm and mindful.
Dan

DebtsNBooze 6 years, 6 months ago

Wow, definitely some good stuff in there. I especially like the alarm thing, I'll do that too from now on.
Also I had a few meditation sessions now and I'm pretty impressed by the effects. It makes me so calm relaxed.
Handwritten notes with your goals for the session are a pretty good idea too. Thanks for the input!

dannyboy6292 6 years, 6 months ago

My pleasure

Deactivated User 6 years, 6 months ago

Growing up playing 4 sports, pregame routines were like oxygen to me. That said, I have legitimately found myself as an outlier over time in that my best performances in anything competitive were when I did not plan out a routine and just "showed up", so to speak. I am an overly heady person and have learned to compensate for such to a large degree. Prepare and train harder than the competition, focus and visualize the night before, and then just show up on game day.

As for food: I don't eat much when I'm busy with anything. The metabolic crash just isn't worth it and if I'm legitimately busy - I'll just never stop and take time out to eat.