Before I teamed up with Intertops Poker, I was your typical 9-5er. Life during the week was pretty routine. It generally consisted of some combination of work, gym, food, poker and sleep. If you throw in a few extra meals, a few beers with friends and a possible trip to the local live poker room; you would have my weekend. It was going pretty well. Making good money, training was on point, and I was on a heater in poker…Life was good. But I wanted more, specifically, more poker! So I decided to quit my job to take a shot at poker full time with Intertops. I wanted to live the dream! 
I was positive that all the extra time I would have from not working a regular job would skyrocket my results. I would have so much more time to play, to workout, and to study! It seemed like the smart move. So you can imagine my confusion when my results instead took a nose dive?! The heater was over, variance swung back, reality set in and I realized that there was a lot more to being a professional than I ever thought! I needed to really step my game up! Variance and “heaters” aside, the truth was that poker life makes it very easy for me to get out of balance. I quickly found out that it was way too easy to slack off when I didn’t have the rigid schedule I was used to. Instead of studying at my normal times, I was just studying when I felt like it. Usually the anticipation built up all day at work so when I finally got to play, I was excited and 100% focused, but now I was rolling out of bed, grabbing a cup of coffee and firing up the laptop or casually strolling into the casino! Not the best pregame strategy!? lol I needed to find a new routine to go with my new poker life. So I’ve tried to make a plan to ensure that not only am I playing my best poker, but also keeps the rest of my life balanced as well. Here’s a list of my most important pre game factors and how I incorporate them into my routine. Hopefully, by sharing a little bit of what I try to do before every session will give you all some ideas on how to set up your own routine to perform at your best! So let’s dive in!
- Sleep
- Proper Nutrition
- Exercise routine
- Meditation
- Mental Prep
- Grind Station
Sleep
Now if you have read my blog or seen some prior articles here in Casino World, you know I quit my 9-5 day job in Physical Therapy a while back. So the lifestyle of a professional poker player has taken me some getting used to! By no means have I ever been a morning person, but this is NEXT level night owl stuff we are talking here! Most of the players I met while I was playing the WSOP last year hated the new earlier start times of the tourneys, and it was only moved an hour earlier to 11 AM! Oh no, The horror! 😉 Now, I do enjoy my sleep, but these guys would be up til 4-5 am usually and sleep til 2-3 in the afternoon! I have found that no matter what, that schedule just isn’t for me! I feel like I’m wasting the daylight away and generally just feel like it puts me too out of touch with society. Unfortunately better games, for both cash and tournaments run later in the night. It’s just part of poker and if you want to make the most money, you better be playing them. So in order to play those I decided I had to at least meet somewhere in the middle, getting up around 10am and play no later then 2am. Obviously there are many times when tourneys go long and/or its tough to leave a juicy cash game, so Its been more or less a rough guideline. I do need to get better at this though, as I 100% believe that being more strict about this will improve my game in the long run. Sleep has always been difficult for me, even though I know it’s pretty much THE most important thing for improving both mental and physical fitness. So the first and most critically important step in my pre-game routine is getting a solid night full of Zzz’s on a consistent basis!
Exercise
Next up in the am is to hit the gym, or at least get some kind of exercise in for the day! I do vary from doing it either as the very first thing of the day or waiting a bit after eating a small breakfast, but I know getting it done early and before I play is the only way to go. I know myself pretty well at this point, and if I don’t do it beforehand, it’s probably just not gonna happen that day! l So not only does it give me a sense of accomplishment for the day, it doesn’t weigh on my mind while I’m playing at all. I’m sure if you grind online at all, at some point, you’ve had to deal with changing some plans in your day because of a poker tournament! Sure there are definitely worse problems to have, after all going deep in a tourney is the goal, right!? So even though missing a gym session might not happen, I choose to just get it out of the way and not give myself the option. Also, besides just getting the day off to a good start, it’s a great way to wake up my brain before my session! You know, just get the brain juice flowing! (however little I have!) Not saying you need to go max out in all your lifts a the gym, or hill sprint til you puke! Just get the blood moving in your body and shake off the morning brain fog! It doesn’t take much! A few days a week I will hit the weights at the gym, other days I’ll get a good HIIT style condition workout outside and some days just a little mobility work right in front of my grind station. I would even recommend, especially if you are just starting out exercising, to just get a 10 minute walk in before playing. It’s a great, easy, excuse free place to start. You will be surprised by how a little sunlight and movement will help your poker game and your overall mood for the day.
Meditation
Wait! Don’t stop reading yet! lol I’m not gonna get all hipster and granola on you! We don’t even need to get close to any kind of Zen and poker discussion (but it is a good discussion ;)) I know meditation isn’t for everyone, and I know that because I have been one of those people for a long time! And I can’t even try to preach to you because, honestly, it’s still a struggle for me! Sitting still and purposely trying to do nothing for any amount of time is tough, especially when I know there’s so much poker just waiting for me! But there hasn’t been a session or a day for that matter, that meditating didn’t improve somehow. It just simply works for me. It calms my anxious thoughts and focuses my brain. I can’t recommend it enough. What poker player couldn’t benefit from lowering stress levels while at the same time giving an mental boost? After trying it, I know you will agree. Like I said though, its still a struggle, so I use an app called Headspace to help guide me through and keep me on a schedule. There’s plenty to choose from though, and I know Elliot Roe at www.pokermindcoach.com has some MP3s specifically for poker players. I might try his stuff next, since its obviously made just for us! If neither of those are for you, then just sit still and quiet for 5 minutes before you play and zone out! Whatever option, the point is just try it! It can’t hurt!
Nutrition
I was on the fence about including this in the article, with it being such a huge topic, but my blogs called 2Fit2Fold, how could I not! lol Plus, the more time I spend at home grinding online, prepping meals before playing, the more important I realize this subject is. Mostly because I feel like its so overlooked! How can something so critical to our performance, both on and off the tables, be such a small topic among players? There’s several articles we could make on this, but I’ll try to keep it short and on point by just talking about what I do for pre-game. My preferred meal is a mix greens salad with tuna fish and a small piece of fruit. I use extra virgin olive oil mixed with balsamic which makes for a tasty dressing, as well as, a brain boosting healthy fat. I also mix up a teaspoon or two of coconut oil in some black coffee for a pick me up that will last a lot longer than traditional high fat, sugar laden desserts that most people drink! During play hardly eat any starchy carbs, unless its an very long session or my options are really limited (say 2am in the poker room lol.) I’ll drink water and Green Tea throughout the session as well. Pretty simple, but effective stuff you can try out yourself and see an immediate improvement in your focus and health. It’s not rocket science guys, eating healthy is easier than ever now and you know will improve your game, stop making excuses! Now, I know there’s plenty of very UNhealthy players that are very good at poker. I would actually say most of the “pros” we look up to are out of shape, to say the least, but imagine how much better they would be if they had the proper mental fuel to play! I think there’s at least a trend right now of players “trying” to get healthy though, so at least that’s a start! But even more reason for us to step our game up. Stay ahead of the curve people!
Brain games and session review
Just like it sounds! I use an app called Elevate and recently have also started Luminosity. They are quick and a lot of them involve math, which I basically have always been awful at until I got into poker, so I always still need a little prep work to get that part of my brain working. I don’t think there are gonna turn me into Albert Einstein, but taking ten minutes of my day to improve my brain health and get my mindset right for session is another “no brainer” (lol See what I did there?;)!? After that I usually do a quick session review on either my HUD or hand histories. Nothing crazy in depth, but just look for some spots I think I could have played better to get my “poker brain” ready and give me some kind of “leaks” to focus on improving. Sometimes I’ll also use Jonathan Little’s Poker Coaching site, for a hand quizzes or watch a video on Doug Polks Upswing site. One last thing I do specifically for online, is to make sure my HUD is running properly and take note of every players stats before playing. Seems simple enough, but as someone who is “technologically challenged” like me, its a must lol. Making sure everything I need is running properly before I dive in, goes a long way in the battle against tilt. Also, making a quick note of their stats is always a good habit that translates well into “profiling” players in live games.
Grind Station
Last, but not least is the all important grind station! Right now, I have a sweet dual 24 inch monitor set up in my office space, closed off from all distractions. It’s running off a 15 inch beast of a laptop, set up on a custom desk that gives me extra space when I need it and the ability to adjust from sitting to standing while playing. While I know its not the craziest set up, I’m far from challenging ol’ Elky lol, it is pretty bad ass to me! Maybe some day I will have a WALL on monitors like him, but I doubt my ADHD could handle it anyway! Usually 3 screens and 8-10 tables is pretty much my max whenever I play now, and I think that’s as high as I ever need to go. Anymore than that strains my eyes and my concentration too much. Of course, you don’t need anything that elaborate to step your game up! It doesn’t have to be super fancy or expensive, just know that having a good work space will, without a doubt, enhance your focus and comfort. I don’t know about you, but after a few hours of staring at my monitors, clicking those buttons, I need all the extra focus and comfort I can get!
So there you have it, my basic warm up before I play! Hopefully you enjoyed some insight into my daily grind! I know it might seem like a lot, but it’s worth it. And, of course, I don’t always get the entire list before every single session, but hey, some kind of plan always beats no plan! So just try to apply them the best you can and see what happens. I’m sure you will see the positive difference they make very quickly, not only in your poker game but also in your everyday life!
Good luck at the tables! If you have any questions about any of these or want more info about my poker and fitness routines, hit me up on social media at 2fit2fold, or come check out my Twitch stream at www.twitch.tv/2fit2fold ! Be sure to stay tuned to Intertops Poker for some big things coming up soon!
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