Concentration

[Talking Poker]

I'm sure my multi-tasing costs me something at the table... it has to. But I don't know how to quantify that number.

For some reason, I find playing just ONE tourney or cash game online boring, and I prefer do other things at the same time: watch a movie on my pc, keep up with the forum, email, surf, get a little bit of low intensity work done, pay the bills... that sort of thing.

I've always had a problem sitting around and doing just one thing (especially if it's for recreation and not with other people - like watching tv) because for some reason, it makes me feel really unproductive. I feel like I should be doing something more important. So I do my tv watching while I'm doing other things as well... or to wind down a bit late at night after playing too much intense poker. I haven't "read" for leisure in years. It's simply too expensive. I should be playing poker or working instead.

This goes way back to my childhood, btw.... as a kid, my mind would wander if I was doing JUST my homework. I would be sitting there miserable, thinking about all the things I would rather be doing. If I had the tv on and was half watching Cheers (for example) while doing my homework, it was no problem. I guess years and years of that made me turn out like this.

Now that I've rambled on forever, back to the topic at hand. What my lack of "poker concentration" costs me is reads on the players at my table. But if you think about it, it helps me too... by not allowing myself to get bored, I don't loosen up my game prematurely (far too many people do), and I don't overanalyze specific situations and make bad decisions. I always pay attention when I'm in a hand, of cour se... it's the in between hands where I tend to drift off a bit. Does the negative outweigh the positive? My guess is yes, but like I said, I don't know how much. I imagine it depends on the game. For limit cash games for example, unless I am so distracted that I am making errors (this has happened to me before, but it's extremely rare), I don't think it hurts me at all. Limit poker is more about playing like a machine than getting fancy with big reads on your opponents.

Two more notes to finish off this ridiculous rambling post:

1. When I play in live games, I do concentrate on the game - a LOT. I guess because I know it's not practical for me to be doing anything else, I have no problem staying ultra focused.

2. When I won my Aruba satellite, I was playing in another MTT at the time too (and posting here). I didn't think I'd realistically have a shot at the Aruba one (162 players, 1 winner), so I hardly paid any attention to it until I was out of the other one, hours later. Only when we were down to the final two or three table range did I really give it my full attention.