You’ll face them eventually, and probably already have. Distractions. They cloud your judgment and make your online poker game weaker, less focused, and more prone to mistakes (the deadliest of sins in a game where the man who makes the least mistakes wins).

So just what are these distractions that send you reeling into a state of losing your calm and cool persona, or your focused and intense concentration?

Number one is stress. As if the game itself isn’t stressful enough, bringing other stresses from other areas of your life only lead to more stress at the poker table. This stress that you bring with you breaks your focus, and consequently, breaks your ability to see the opportunities that you had before you, the mistakes you could have avoided, and the moves you shouldn’t have made until it was too late.

You may act compulsively under stress, as an instinctual reaction. But in a thinking man’s game, acting on instinct is only reserved when all the thinking is done and your poker (not your human) instinct is all that’s left.

I don’t want to start sound all newage, but it’s getting rid of this stress that will vastly improve your game. I experimented myself one time and realized that I played better when I was taking nerve medication. I’d been on it for the last four years, but I decided to take a few days off and play some poker. Needless to say, my game suffered as a result. My creativity in play was gone. I was playing mundane and robotically. I wasn’t mixing up anything, and I was so predictable. My bankroll lost 4 buy-ins that day, and another 2 the next.

Now I’m not advocating self medication as a way to get over your stress. For me it was prescribed. I just wanted to see how much an impact stress had on my game. And in conclusion I found that worry and stress does in fact influence your ability to play.

So whatever it is you have to do to keep your mind clear, whatever you have to do to distress, I recommend doing it before you sit down and play poker online. Not only will you have a clearer mind, but you’ll have a clearer perspective of the task at hand, and that task is winning. So distress, demuddle, and win.