How to Play Poker Tired
I once remember a scene from the ridiculous and far-fetched ESPN series Tilt (buy the DVD and see what I’m talking about) where the main bad character was telling the protagonists about playing through the fog. Basically his message was that there will be times in a poker player’s career when they’re sitting with a bunch of donkeys and know they can take the donks’ money, but they are too tired. Thus they must fight off the fog and hang in there to take that money.
I suppose the message was one of the few useful things I got out of the series (besides learning how to throw people over balconies when they owe you money) as playing tired is a relevant concept in poker. After all, you can’t always be fresh when at the table so you’re going to have to know how to play tired.
When you are playing tired definitely play tighter pre-flop so you don’t blow money by playing the hands that can end up costing you a lot of money. Another thing to do when you’re tired is get up and walk around frequently so you stay avoid the temptation of falling into a lull at the table.
You’ll also want to avoid buying into a large multi-table tournament since this will cause you to expend too much mental energy in order to cash; chances are you’ll bust out early and waste your money. One more thing to do when you’re tired is avoid talking to friends or others at the table since this can be twice as distracting for someone who is extremely tired. Follow these tips and you just might be able to play as well tired as you do when you’re fully awake.