Ah, focus. Focus is something that you either have or you don’t have as a poker player. When you talk about the greater world of online poker, it goes without saying that there are a lot of variations of poker to play. You can play Pai Gow, Caribbean Stud, Omaha Stud or even Texas Hold’Em. While we have a favorite, the truth is that if you really want to get good at any type of poker online, you need to cultivate good strong focus skills right away. You don’t want to be left with getting just any old poker strategy down pat. On the other hand, you might feel that focus isn’t really a big thing — after all, don’t you already handle things well in the world of poker?

If you’re not making the type of money that you really want to make, you’ll actually find that it goes back to a focus problem. There is something that’s throwing you off your game, and that means that any little focus hacks for online poker players that you can find will help you in the long run.

So let’s go back to that goal setting part — if you’re not hitting your poker goals, you need to step back and see why that is. Looking at your cards is really the first step, and we mean that you will need to look at the history of your past games. As you look through each of your statistics, you might want to also think about how you feel overall when you sit down at the poker tables. You don’t want to end up finding that when you’re trying to play online poker, you seem to always be on the phone as well. We don’t know about you, but we can’t talk on the phone and still play a great game of poker. Likewise with chatting — even if you’re going to chat with people at the table, chances are good that you’re also going to miss out on a lot of action. There’s nothing wrong with being social, but if you really want to play your best game you might want to think about saving the chatter for the message boards. When you’re trying to play poker you don’t have time to really be too chatty.

Let’s not forget that your outside life also plays a role on how well you focus on poker. If you don’t really think about it from all angles you’ll find that you are actually thinking about something that happened to you at work or at home. These thoughts can easily distract you from playing your best poker game yet — and why would you want anything to stop you from the best poker game of your life? It’s better to make sure that you are alert and focused.

Speaking of alert, we have to break for a moment and remind you that taking care of your life really does make a difference. Even though the media representation of poker players usually revolves around alcohol and long hours, you will want to make sure that you’re actually taking care of your body. There’s nothing wrong with making sure that you eat balanced meals and get enough sleep. As far as the alcohol, late nights, and other vices, you might want to keep those to a minimum.

Where you play online poker matters as well. If you play at home, you will want to make sure that you’re not trying to concentrate during a time where your family is also trying to get your attention. Since you can’t pause poker, you will have to either play or resign from the table. This can lead to a lot of tension and resentment that’s better avoided. Why would you want to fight with your family over your gambling habits? Just as you want to keep your gambling money separate from the other money in your life, you will want to make sure that you keep your gambling time separate from the time that you spend with your family. This will make your family feel a bit better about letting you go in order for you to enjoy a great night of poker — or a day of poker, if you’re really that lucky to get that type of opportunity!

Of course, there’s nothing that says that you have to change anything. If you’re satisfied with the poker action that you’re getting and you feel that your chip counts speak for themselves, then you’re definitely where you need to be. No one can ever force you to make any changes. However, if you find that your poker game could really use some fine tuning, then you’ve definitely made the right decision to improve — why not start today? You’ll be glad that you did!