Schnitzelfisch Q & A - Become a productive poker player!

Hey Schnitzelfisch,

I only signed up to PokerStrategy a couple of months ago and one of the first things I found was your life productivity guide and I am so glad I did!

I have put poker to one side the last week and concentrated on reading through your guide and watching your live coaching videos. This is something that I have craved for a long time! Some kind of system to organise my life with. I would say that I am at a low point in life at the moment but even so you guide has given me hope, a positive outlook and motivation.

So far I have done my vision statement, making sure I drink plenty of water a day, getting out of the house for twenty minutes walk/jog, making sure I take breaks at the right time, ordered an audiobook and I have just done my dream, monthly and weekly list. ♦

I want to start applying my productivity towards the poker now which is why I signed up to poker strategy in the first place! I have to say I am new to online poker and poker in general. I know the rules of texas hold em and have played quite a few times with my mates but it stops there. I only found out what a tilt was a couple of days ago!

So my question is can you recommend any books that explain what poker/online poker is all about? Also in regards to moving up the limits when do you think is the right time to attempt the next higher limit? For example I play sit and go's at the moment so would it be when I am always getting in the money positions? (top 3) or maybe earning a certain amount of money at that level?

I notice from your blog that you are visiting Birmingham (Which happens to be where I live) tomorrow so I understand if you don't reply for a few days. Its not the most glamorous of Cities but you will have a good time!

Hey there smoothwalker!

I'm really happy that you've had such awesome progress and look forward to your further progression :).

I have forwarded your questions to a friend of mine who plays SNGs, he will reply in this thread in a couple of hours. I think he can help you a bit better with them ;).

Generally, you should use bankroll management. So you should move up the limits when you for example have 30BI of the next limit and move down in case you only have 30BI of the previous limit.

I'm not sure what beginner BRM for SNGs is though, I will let my friend answer that :).

If you want to, we can meet up for lunch or drinks in Birmingham - just add me on my skype (in the signature) and we can discuss it in more detail there ;).

-SF

Hey again!

I've talked to my friend and he recommended that you just start with the pokerstrategy SNG articles - there are some bankroll management articles there as well ;).

Good luck!

-SF

Thanks for the advice SF!

I have been getting my way though the SNG articles slowly and I think the bankroll management idea is a very sensible option so I will use that.

Thanks for the offer of meeting up. However I have to go out tomorrow night for three birthdays. (Yes three birthdays in one night!) and due to lack of funds at the moment this is the only time I can go out this week.

Hope you have a good time though and look forward to any report that you write about it in your blog!

HI!

I already posted my question on your productivity guild section but you didnt answered, so i assume you are a buisy man and just missed it or forgot. (sorry for repostiong it if u just didnt felt like answering)

hello! long story short- im not satisfided with the session length im having at the moment. im playing 12 tables of 6max hyper turbos and i can play only 30min (playing stacked and draging out important tables (HU, bubble) ), after that i have to decrease table count as i feel like im going total zombie / auto mode... do u have any suggestion how to increase my productivity and ability to stay fresh longer? tnx

I hope you will find some time to answer

Hey, i'll reply when i come back from birmingham. Just been really busy travelling lately and haven't been online much.

Hey there vuciitis,

to solve your problem, we need to dig a bit deeper.

1. What does your day look like?
2. What does your nutrition look like?
3. Sleep pattern?
4. How much/when do you exercise?
5. Why do you think you lose focus during the sessions? Lack of energy or something else?

-Primož

1. well lets say its a free day when i have no job. i wake up, open windows for some fresh air for couple minutes, do my morning bathroom stuff and then browse little bit internet so my brain wakes up. after ~30min im doing my morning session. i play 12 tables stacked and after like 30min i start feeling like im loosing focus, my brain gets lazy- i dont want to think threw every decision, but just go for default push/fold ranges (as im playing hyper sngs), dont want to look at stats but just click those 2 buttons automatically. my eyes are getting tired like i would be sleepy. feeling is like i would just lack of energy. after the session im having breakfast with some tv show, after than another 30min session. then im going to gym. after im back from gym is basicly food / session / tvshow / food/ session... with like 3-5 30min sessions per day. days when i have job its like job / food / gym / food / session / food / tv / session... with like 3 x 30min sessions.

2. well i know a thing or two about food, im trying to have all needed food groups in my meals. mostly i eat meat and milk products with little bit vegetables and grain crops (if its the right translation) - rice / bread / pasta etc...

3. work days i sleep about 7h (00:00-07:00) / free days its about 8-9h (01:00-09:00)

4. i go to gym 3 times a week. with one or two days between each training days. i do some heavy muscle growing / strenght growing eexercises for 1.5-2hours per session. split muscle groups with 2 groups each training session, so i cover all body in 3-4 sessions.

5. one problem im having is lazy eye muscles from sitting too much infront of the screen, i do some exercises each day to train eye focusing muscles and relaxing them with cold water between sessions. it helps and im doing pretty ok. the main problem is i feel lack of energy, like my brain could sprint but couldnt do longer distances. my guessing would be that im missing some vital vitamins in my body, but i cant figure out what excactly. iv done some multi vitamins but they dont change this feeling.

Hey again,

what does your job look like?

It might be that you spend way too much time in front of the PC, which drains your energy a lot. Watching less TV shows and going out of the apartment more to get some fresh air and recovery might help you improve your focus at the poker tables ;).

What happens if you play more or less tables? How does that affect your focus?

-SF

Hi Schnitzelfisch,

what is your attitude to doing breaks?

Do you think it is better to setup it like this:

i play one session 1:30 min, 15min break

i play second session 1:30, 15min break

.....

or: i play 6 hours from 7pm to 1am, and i take breaks whenever i feel i am not focused enough, lack of energy etc.

i tried both versions and i see pluses and minuses of both, the advantage of second version is that I listen to my body which i think might be better idea , it's more natural, when I am in good mode, the session is fine, i make good decisions and i am like +5BI (i am still results oriented and looking to cashier:() and there are a ton of fishes, i might play longer session, I have flow and good pleasure, and whenever i feel i do not feel good , I am not focused I can play like 30 min and say stop, etc.....

the second problem is, i play cash-games and after 15min break i am kicked from all the tables and i have to make table selection once again, sometimes is like.... you know, there is a really big fish, and do break or not...

Originally posted by Schnitzelfisch
Hey again,

what does your job look like?

It might be that you spend way too much time in front of the PC, which drains your energy a lot. Watching less TV shows and going out of the apartment more to get some fresh air and recovery might help you improve your focus at the poker tables ;).

What happens if you play more or less tables? How does that affect your focus?

-SF

about my job- im doing some construction works indoors, nothing too exausting, so i cant say that im doing my after work sessions with low energy. mby its not 100% as more than half day have passed by, but its not that bad to influence my brain power that much.

about sitting too much indoors and mostly infront of computer- as the spring is coming im really looking forward making some drastic changes and spend way more time outside. i guess i will start jogging every morning before my session, not too much, but like 20-30min so mu body fully wakes up before i start playing.

and about trying out different types of mixing session lenghts with table counts- ofc lowering the number of tables i play at once decreases pressure for brains. i can play 6 tables for hour or more and will not get that tired as i would playing 12 tables for 30min. the problem with playing less tables is that im too bored and because of that my game suffers, im just trying to force spots were is none. playing more tables give enough action not to change my game style.

i guess i should try to play that session with same table count every day for like 2min longer and see if my body adapts with the time... mby im just too rusty and need to push my selfe more

and one more thing, can u please suggest some products or special vitamin groups which should boost brain power?!

tnx for your time

Hey SF

I mentioned in my first post that I was at a low point in my life at the moment and one of the reasons for this is that currently I haven't got a job.

Would you be able to recommend any types of jobs to go for that are ideal for poker players?

I would love to make a living playing poker but I know i'm not at that level yet and obviously a regular stream of income is important to push on in life. I still want the time though to learn and play poker so i'm thinking a part time job between let's say 9am-3pm would be ideal. I would still have the time to learn a bit of poker and play on the tables in the evening when they are at their busiest.

I'm worried that if I get a full time job I won't have the energy or motivation to carry on with the poker.

I'm not sure if this is an area you can help me with but any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Smoothwalker

Hey Schnitzelfish,

Do you know drills to improve focus/concentration?

I'm having massive issues with this cause very often I can't at what i'm doing for even 5 minutes straight. This hurts my productivity in many aspects of my life

Originally posted by vuciitis

Originally posted by Schnitzelfisch
Hey again,

what does your job look like?

It might be that you spend way too much time in front of the PC, which drains your energy a lot. Watching less TV shows and going out of the apartment more to get some fresh air and recovery might help you improve your focus at the poker tables ;).

What happens if you play more or less tables? How does that affect your focus?

-SF

about my job- im doing some construction works indoors, nothing too exausting, so i cant say that im doing my after work sessions with low energy. mby its not 100% as more than half day have passed by, but its not that bad to influence my brain power that much.

about sitting too much indoors and mostly infront of computer- as the spring is coming im really looking forward making some drastic changes and spend way more time outside. i guess i will start jogging every morning before my session, not too much, but like 20-30min so mu body fully wakes up before i start playing.

and about trying out different types of mixing session lenghts with table counts- ofc lowering the number of tables i play at once decreases pressure for brains. i can play 6 tables for hour or more and will not get that tired as i would playing 12 tables for 30min. the problem with playing less tables is that im too bored and because of that my game suffers, im just trying to force spots were is none. playing more tables give enough action not to change my game style.

i guess i should try to play that session with same table count every day for like 2min longer and see if my body adapts with the time... mby im just too rusty and need to push my selfe more

and one more thing, can u please suggest some products or special vitamin groups which should boost brain power?!

tnx for your time

Hey,

do you have specific goals to focus on during the session? Like to especially focus on improving 3betting preflop etc. If you have those during each session, you should be bored less often :).

As for the products and vitamins, there are some but none of which I have tried are really worth the money. You can maybe look into nootropics and test a couple of them out for yourself ;).

And as for focus in general, you can take a look at my article series on improving focus (1 more article coming in the following days), and perhaps you will find some additional things that you can improve.

How is it going nowadays btw? Spring is here, have you made any changes/improvements to your life?

-SF

Originally posted by yro77
Hi Schnitzelfisch,

what is your attitude to doing breaks?

Do you think it is better to setup it like this:

i play one session 1:30 min, 15min break

i play second session 1:30, 15min break

.....

or: i play 6 hours from 7pm to 1am, and i take breaks whenever i feel i am not focused enough, lack of energy etc.

i tried both versions and i see pluses and minuses of both, the advantage of second version is that I listen to my body which i think might be better idea , it's more natural, when I am in good mode, the session is fine, i make good decisions and i am like +5BI (i am still results oriented and looking to cashier:() and there are a ton of fishes, i might play longer session, I have flow and good pleasure, and whenever i feel i do not feel good , I am not focused I can play like 30 min and say stop, etc.....

the second problem is, i play cash-games and after 15min break i am kicked from all the tables and i have to make table selection once again, sometimes is like.... you know, there is a really big fish, and do break or not...

Hey,

for the first problem, I think that the second option is better but the issue with it is that we perhaps don't realize that we feel tired soon enough, so we do some more spewing before taking a break. Perhaps you could try setting some reminders every 15 minutes or so for yourself and asking yourself what your performance is like, should you keep playing etc.

as for the second problem, make shorter but more frequent breaks then :).

-SF

Originally posted by smoothwalker
Hey SF

I mentioned in my first post that I was at a low point in my life at the moment and one of the reasons for this is that currently I haven't got a job.

Would you be able to recommend any types of jobs to go for that are ideal for poker players?

I would love to make a living playing poker but I know i'm not at that level yet and obviously a regular stream of income is important to push on in life. I still want the time though to learn and play poker so i'm thinking a part time job between let's say 9am-3pm would be ideal. I would still have the time to learn a bit of poker and play on the tables in the evening when they are at their busiest.

I'm worried that if I get a full time job I won't have the energy or motivation to carry on with the poker.

I'm not sure if this is an area you can help me with but any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Smoothwalker

Hey,

this largely depends from a person to person. The best advice that I can give you is to sit down, take some uninterrupted time and really think what kind of a job you want to work in. Then find ways how to get it (you can use this post for some guidance).

I can't recommend you which job you should choose because something that I might enjoy you might not. And I think it's crucial that you enjoy what you do, or else you will be burned out by the job and won't be motivated to play after it.

You could also play poker in the morning before the job... :).

-SF

Originally posted by Riverdiver
Hey Schnitzelfish,

Do you know drills to improve focus/concentration?

I'm having massive issues with this cause very often I can't at what i'm doing for even 5 minutes straight. This hurts my productivity in many aspects of my life

Hey,

I suggest that you figure out the causes for the lack of focus. Again, you can take a look at my focus article series and find some ideas there.

You can also take a look at this video for some focus drills.

-SF

Hi,

Is it ok to eat pizza? I don't really see how it's bad with cheese/tomato/vegetables but maybe I'm wrong.

Thx

hey,thanks alot for ur stuff.

i'm a poker pro since 7years, i always played like 50-80hours per month.80 was always like pretty draining to me.though i wanna play 100hours per month.would love to hear any advice.

Originally posted by w34z3l
Hi,

Is it ok to eat pizza? I don't really see how it's bad with cheese/tomato/vegetables but maybe I'm wrong.

Thx

Hey!

Depends on what your goals are. In any case, pizza dough is usually the problematic part, and maybe large quantities of cheese aren't the best either. I would avoid pre-made tomato sauces as well as they tend to have a lot of crap in them.

If you want a relatively healthy pizza, try making one at home yourself, with whole-wheat dough and healthy toppings :).

-SF