An athlete of any sport knows the importance of a warm-up routine. Be it a physical or mental sport, a warm-up is an essential activity of every athlete. Today, we look at ways to introduce a poker warm up routine into your lifestyle and stay mentally fit for a long grind of the grueling skill based mind game of poker. First things first, you got to be sleeping right folks! There’s no ignoring this elephant in the poker room; a good night’s sleep is what we need, not puffy eyes camouflaged by our sunglasses. Get yourself those eight hours of baby sleep no matter what, after all the sport does test your mental stamina. So, it’s important to rest your grey cells.
Also See: How To Play Poker
Refresh your mental state
A poker warm up routine should ideally begin with an activity that helps rejuvenate your mental state. A long day of online poker games can cause fatigue and emotional stress that will reflect on the felts naturally. So, make sure you try and get in some meditation for at least 10 minutes a day or any other activity that helps you bust some stress. Meditation is considered to be calming for the mind, something you need to take down that multi-tabling tournament night!
Eat right
We can’t say it enough, but you are what you eat! Binging on those chips and soda is not going to help the cause. Eating a healthy balanced meal and importantly on time is all it takes to nail that game of online poker. Time your meals according to your online poker tournaments and watch the difference. If you’d like to step it up a notch, let’s turn to the one and only Daniel Negreanu a.k.a. Kid Poker who is a dedicated vegan. While the animal cruelty was the key changing factor, the diet he follows certainly played an important role in his poker games.
Exercise
There’s no escaping this one, we all know it, exercise is a key ingredient in your poker warm up routine. A great session at the local gym, a quick jog or a game of tennis will certainly elevate your mental state and help you focus better in the next game. The fact is successful poker players are not just winning right but they are living right! Your body is meant to move, so don’t be sitting in the danger zone for too long.
Revise
As professional poker players in India, it’s important to be constantly evolving, learning new poker strategy, fixing gaps in your game and analyzing your player notes to keep up with this competitive game every single day. With more and more players learning the game, things only get tougher and you need to stick to a poker warm up routine at all costs. So, take some time out every day to revise a tad bit of what you studied, maybe do a light read or go through your hand history and take notes.
It’s all about the space
It’s important to treat work as work if you are playing it professionally. Professional poker players have designated playing areas that include a great desk, an ergonomically spectacular chair, their handy laptops, screens for all that multi tabling and a good pair of headphones for some bass! If you happen to lack this, take time out to clean and carve out a dedicated space for the love of poker. If you already have one, ensure it’s not cluttered and add that to your poker warm-up routine.
Get rid of all those distractions
A game of poker is all about paying attention. You can’t be ordering food…. (Ahaha, caught you, eat before you start your game), catching up with friends, have the TV chatting in the backdrop or entertaining a livid better half while figuring out your pot odds! Keep away all your distractions so that a WhatsApp ping doesn’t get you tilting! Let’s keep that focus spade sharp.
Now that you are all zoned-in for a great game, good luck guys. Let’s ship it!
