'What Day Is It?' Maintaining focus and stamina are key factors in achieving tournament success

Well, I am smack-dab in the middle of the 2005 World Series of Poker, and I could not be happier! My goals for this year were simply to be as mentally prepared as possible and to play great poker every day. With the fields as large as they are, I did not want my goals to be unreasonable, which would set myself up for a letdown.



I live in Las Vegas, but I am actually staying in a room at the Rio for the entire Series. (I have a housesitter and a new alarm system at my home – so nobody should attempt to rob me again!) Staying at the Rio is something I decided to do to get myself as focused as humanly possible. I have not walked outside the casino since I got here! I know that may sound a little sick and exaggerated, but anyone who knows me or has seen me knows that is the absolute truth. Who needs sunlight and good food, anyway? I am just going to stick to my laptop in my room, the daily WSOP events, and my daily $20 cheeseburger.



Everything is going very well for me right now, both online and in my live tournaments, which is no accident. I have never been more dedicated to anything in my life. I have done everything within my power to put myself in good position to make money. My preparation has been a major factor in my success up to this point, and I hope it continues. Just in case you missed it, the success I am referring to is my runner-up finish to Allen Cunningham in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event at the beginning of the Series. This tournament started with more than 2,300 players, but that didn't discourage me one bit.



If you have been reading my columns, you know that my last one addressed beating large fields, and it was written before I started playing that tournament. If you missed that column, you can read it online at www.cardplayer.com. That tournament lasted three days and totaled about 40 hours of table time! There is little doubt in my mind that my preparation was a key factor in maintaining my focus and stamina. I also will let you in on a new little secret that I picked up once the WSOP started. It was time for the dinner break on the first day of the tournament, and the staff announced that we would resume play in an hour and a half. As soon as I heard that, I got a little worried.



First of all, it takes me only about 15 minutes to eat dinner during a tournament, because I grab only a small snack. I think it is a mistake to eat a full meal and run the risk of having stomach problems for the rest of the night. Just ask Johnny Bax how many antes he missed in the stud tourney after the dinner break. The other reason I eat light on the break is that big meals tend to make me tired, and the last thing I want is to be tired when I get back to the table.



Secondly, since it wasn't going to take too long to grab a snack, I was worried that I might become fatigued by just sitting around doing nothing. With the amount of concentration it takes to play poker tournaments, it is quite exhausting, and I knew that if I were to sit down and do nothing for an hour, I would likely fall asleep. This is when I got the bright idea to head up to my room and play on TheFishTank for an hour. I figured that playing online poker would be the perfect way to keep my mind stimulated and maintain my high level of concentration, so that I would be ready to resume play after the break.



When I got back to the table, it was like I hadn't missed a beat, and I was right back in the zone. This was a huge difference for me because in the past, I had always returned from the break with a little apprehension. It almost seemed like it was a whole new tournament after the break, and I can remember busting out a few times shortly after the dinner break and thinking that my bust-out was directly connected to the break. I felt like the extended period of time away from the table would break my concentration and get me out of the zone. Each night when it was time to take the dinner break, I grabbed a quick snack and hurried up to my room to play. I am totally convinced that this new revelation was a huge benefit to me, and I will continue to do it for the rest of my tournament career.

Needless to say, I am totally consumed by the game and have no idea what day it is. Writing this column is about the most time I have spent not playing poker the entire month.



But before I get back to the tables, I would like to congratulate Allen for his spectacular win in the first event. I must say that I can't remember ever witnessing anybody play better poker than he did during that tournament. I can remember hearing Johnny Grooms, WSOP tourney director, announcing the chip counts at the final table every hour or so, and Allen's stack was getting bigger and bigger while everyone else's was dwindling, and it seemed like I never got to see his cards.



To make things even more impressive, the final-table lineup was definitely the toughest I have ever seen, and certainly the toughest that will ever be assembled from a field of more than 2,000 players. We played for hours and hours and hours at the final table, and I was in total awe of Allen's performance against us. I was extremely happy to finish second to him. That tournament will air on ESPN in late August, but I am sure that you will get just the highlights of the day, which is a shame, because every player deserves to watch the entire coverage and learn from Allen.

Play online with Scott on his new site, www.thefishtank.com. Enter his referral code, scott88, for a bonus, and look for him at the tables under the screen name ScottFischmn!