Staying Clam
Dave et all,
How in the hell do you guys stay calm during a game. Funny thing happened to me yesterday - I had to speak at a press conference and before my turn to get up - my heart felt like it was going to pund out of my chest. The first thing I thought of was poker. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to get focused and finally settled down.
Any tips for staying calm and trying to keep that heartbeat down while in the middle of a showdown?
How in the hell do you guys stay calm during a game. Funny thing happened to me yesterday - I had to speak at a press conference and before my turn to get up - my heart felt like it was going to pund out of my chest. The first thing I thought of was poker. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to get focused and finally settled down.
Any tips for staying calm and trying to keep that heartbeat down while in the middle of a showdown?
Comments
Dave gave me some advice awhile back about simply spending time in the trenches and going into your game with a plan. I have found that the more I play 'live games' and the more I think about what my plan is, the more relaxed I am.
I try to keep a delicate balance in my head of "i'm the best player out here if I stick to my plan" and "anyone here can beat me, don't underestimate them".
Hope this helps. One more bit of advice, don't clam up.
Yep bad joke.
stp
Regards,
all_aces
LoL
Goms
Cheers,
Goms
My heart is racing
By: Dave Scharf
Poker is hard on the nerves. As you bet and raise – whether on a pure bluff or with the titanium nuts – the stress of the game acts upon your heart and respiratory rate. Some players are “poker terminators†and seem able to belie any reaction whatsoever. Others are emotional wreckage and are seen to sweat, pant, and writhe under the pressure of a $1-2 kitchen table hold’em game. How does this effect you? First, learn to watch your opponents’ heart rates, and learn to interpret what you see. Second, work on controlling your own physiology.
What to watch for
Recently, at a small local no-limit hold’em tournament I was observing a player who I had never seen before. This was his first live poker tournament and he was nervous, that much was obvious. In particular, I noticed an artery in his neck pounding. Not always, but every now and then his pulse would take off and it would be obvious to anyone bothering to glance at the side of his neck. He was playing a lot of hands and bluffed a lot.
In the middle stage of the tournament this new player limped in from middle position. There was no noticeable neck pulse. I limped behind him with 4-4, the small blind folded, and the big blind checked. The flop was K-T-7 and again there was no noticeable pulse. The big blind checked and the new player fiddled with his chips for a moment and then bet the pot. Suddenly, there it was. His heart began to race and it was really obvious: Thump-bump-thump-bump-thump-bump. I reasoned that since his own hand wasn’t that exciting (no change) and the flop wasn’t that exciting (no change), that his bet was the exciting and stressful event. Why would his bet be so stressful? He was bluffing. I called with my remaining chips (I was short stacked). I was right, he had A-9 for an ace-high bluff. Unfortunately for the bluffer, and me, the big blind had 7-7 for a set of sevens and I was promptly eliminated.
You are not watching to see if someone’s heart is racing, you are watching to see when it starts to race. What event – what moment – caused a sudden acceleration of heart rate (or respiratory rate)? Have you ever been late in a major poker tournament and peeked at your cards to discover A-A? Thump-bump-thump-bump. Every limped in on the button to a multi-way pot with 6-5 suited and had the flop come 4-3-2? Thump-bump-thump-bump. Chances are, as soon as you see those aces or that straight you will experience a jump in heart rate. Consider the reverse. You limp in with 6-5s on the button (no change), the flop comes K-7-2 (no change), it is checked to you (no change), and now you decide to bluff (thump-bump-thump-bump). What has your opponent seen or done that is causing his heart to race?
What to do about it
Generally, your heart rate increases as a response to exercise. Your sympathetic nervous system and adrenal glands located near the kidneys release adrenaline which stimulates the heart and increases your heart rate. Situations other than exercise also activate this response. Ever try skydiving? Thump-bump-thump-bump. Public speaking? Thump-bump-thump-bump. Playing Phil Hellmuth heads up for the World Series of Poker Championship? That’ll make your heart race without exercising. You cannot overcome increasing your heart rate due to exercise; even the fittest athletes in the world undergo increased heart rate when exercising. But, you can learn to control your heart rate in non-exertion situations like poker.
As a side note, I have bad news. The next time you flop a set of aces and your heart starts racing, you will be disappointed to know that you are not getting a workout. During exercise, your increase in heart rate is due to the increase in oxygen delivery to the skeletal muscles. It is this increase in oxygen consumption during exercise that is related to improving aerobic fitness. Despite an increase in heart rate during poker, the increase in oxygen consumption is only minimal because the muscles aren’t utilizing any additional oxygen. Sorry, you can’t substitute poker for a jog or a trip to the gym.
So, how do you learn to control your non-exercise heart rate? There are, in my experience, two ways.
Time in the trenches
There is no substitute for experience. Review your own poker history and this will become immediately apparent. Remember your first ever trip to a traditional poker room? Chances are your heart was racing before you even played a hand. Now, after several sessions or several years, simply putting your name on the wait list is no longer heart quickening, it’s pedestrian.
The more you play, the more routine that various situations will become. You will have experienced the joy of picking up aces many times. Soon, simply laying your eyes on aces will not be enough to give you that shot of adrenaline. It’s like aversion therapy. The more your expose yourself to a stressful situation, the less stressful it becomes. Join the Toastmasters and emceeing your cousin’s wedding will not be a problem. Play a lot of poker and flopping a set will not even make you blink.
Visualization
If you cannot gain direct experience, you can imagine it. Professional athletes have long depended upon visualization as a useful training aid. Studies have shown that basketball player can improve their foul shooting percentage simply by visualizing being great foul shooters. You can apply those lessons to poker.
On May 27, 2003 I set the 2004 World Series of Poker Championship as my goal. To help keep me focussed, I kept a $1 Binion’s Horseshoe token in my pocket. That token reminded me many times every day to stay focussed on my goal. It helped me visualize staying calm and playing well among the toughest, most seasoned players in the world. I cannot offer specific empiric evidence of the success of a year’s worth of visualization, but I can offer my impression of how much it helped. I do not believe that my heart rate ever had a noticeable increase at the WSOP. I was calm throughout. In short, I get a lot more nervous in small local tournaments than I did at the WSOP and I believe that visualization is the reason for my calm demeanor at the WSOP.
This past July, I wore a heart rate monitor at Casino Regina’s Diamond Poker Classic No-limit Freezeout. The morning of the tournament resting in my hotel room my heart rate was about 80 beats per minute. During the tournament, my resting heart rate was about 90 beats per minute. And, in a couple of big hands my heart rate rose to 120 beats per minute. At 120 beats, I could feel my heart pounding. The lesson is, I suppose, that I need to start visualizing staying relaxed in major Canadian tournaments as well.
The broader lesson is, watch your opponents’ heart rates and practice controlling your own.
Thanks for your help Dave and sorry about the waste of time - I should have remembered reading that!
Goms