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Ace Speaks - Focus
by Rolf Slotboom

Some time ago, I wrote a couple of articles about strengths and weaknesses in limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha, my favorite games. I discussed 24 vices one may have, and gave an indication of the seriousness of the vice for the games mentioned. A while later, I basically combined these articles into a seminar which was called Strengths and weaknesses in poker. Once again, I discussed 24 areas in poker (like discipline, starting hand selection, reading hands, playing the players, tilt and table-selection), and gave an indication of the relative importance in most games.

After re-reading the articles and the text of the seminar, I concluded that I had left out one very important aspect in poker: focus. A lot of people that I see play a pretty good game of poker. They are fairly disciplined, know all the odds and percentages, don't tilt very often, pay attention to things like table-, game- and seat-selection, their starting hand selection is in order and they also know how to adjust to specific players and / or circumstances. And still they seem to perform significantly worse than people who are less proficient in some of these areas. The reason: focus. Just as tennis players like Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and in the past also Michael Chang have been able to outperform better and more talented players on a regular basis (because of their unwillingness to give up and their ability to focus 100% on giving it their all), so do poker players with lots of heart, intensity and the ability to concentrate totally on the task at hand outperform other - in theory equally skilled - opponents. (For those of you who may wonder what this task may be, I would say: always play your best possible game, in order to maximize your long-term results.)

What exactly is focus? I would define focus as a combination of concentration and the ability to perform under all circumstances, regardless of the possible distractions and negative influences around you. It is not an easy thing to acquire, though. Most people would claim that "you either got focus or you don't", the same way most people view things like heart, courage and true desire to win. For a large part, they are right: it is not easy to "learn" how to become more focused. Also, if you confront people who play a pretty good game but still can't get the results one would expect and argue that their lack of focus might be the cause here, they would probably dismiss your suggestion as nonsense, claiming things like "Don't worry, I've got as much focus as anyone else", or "Tell me, smart guy, who has ever won a pot by focus anyway." But the fact is that one's ability to focus can have a huge impact on one's overall results - even though it seems to be a somewhat intangible factor.

Example

I have a friend who is a pretty good poker player. While he thinks he is a very good player, I would say that he's a pretty good player - but there's no question he can play. He plays as often as I do (which is often), and he seems to be as knowledgeable and talented as me - in fact, I would argue that he might be even more talented. Yet he performs significantly worse than I do, and in my opinion his lack of focus is the no. 1 cause here. When I'm in a game, I am watching every hand; I look at each and every player's moves, his habits, his tendencies. If for some reason I have missed a few hands, I always want to know who has been winning during my absence, who has been losing, how they have been losing, who has gotten lucky, etc. etc. I want to know every single thing that may influence one's mood, seemingly unimportant things that may nonetheless bother someone. Then, I will try to combine this knowledge on some of my opponents' habits with my own high level of concentration, in order to play my best possible game at all times. Now, while I'm doing all these things, my friend is reading a magazine, talking to his neighbor, making phone calls, and just not paying any attention to the developments at the table - for the simple reason that he is not involved in them. And then, when he finally finds a playable hand or a situation that seems to be profitable, he doesn't know which of his opponents may be mad, hot, stuck or on tilt, he is unaware which players may be vulnerable because of recent wins or losses, and therefore he almost certainly won't be able to make the best possible decisions.

Some final words

Make sure this all won't happen to you. Try to focus on the game at all times and stay alert for every development that may occur, for each and every little thing that may be of influence to the game later. If you can do all this, and if you are able to combine this with a true desire to win and an unwillingness to ever give up, no matter how badly things may seem to be going, then you will have a big edge over your opponents - simply because of your better mental state of mind.