Playing With Music

[AimHigher 0]

Hi guys,I am not sure if this is "strat" worthy, but does music help you focus or do you find it to be a distraction? If you do use music, what music do you find tends to coax you into playing your best game? Do you like music that invokes feelings of aggression? or do you prefer something calming?

[Sheiky 0]

I don't think i've ever played online without listening to music, i find it far too boring doing most things on a computer if i'm not listening to something.

[Zach6668 513]

I just have the TV on in the background, but if there's nothing on, or I just feel like it, I'll put music on.Anything that isn't pure silence, lol. Ambient noise ftw!

[HollywoodAFD 0]

Online...no music. IRL tourney play...always have my Ipod...not always on but always have it. It comes in handy when a really annoying person is yaking away.Songs? I shuffle through the 2500 songs...or watch a movie.

[BudBundy 0]

I find TV very distracting while playing poker.I usually listen to chill out , lounge and that sort of music while playing. Fashion tv albums , Buddha Bar , Jazzanova , Cafe Del Mar , Gotan Project , Tosca , Telepopmusik , Sade , Norah Jones , Madeleine Peyroux.Download a couple of these albums and give it a try.

[Frez 0]

I bought a card for my BlackBerry and loaded all my fav rock tunes onto it. Usually, but not always, use it live. I enjoy it because casinos are noisy and I can't stand the noise slot machines make. I also think it may make me harder to read - nodding my head and tapping to the music that no one else hears. It also helps drown out the voices. The voices make me afraid.

[pbwl11 0]

God how I wish our B&M would let us wear ipods! Listening to some of those players drone on and on about bad beats, bad players, how they folded the winning hand, etc is enough to make me want to stick a pencil in my ear!

[RabidTortuga 0]

I tend to go for silence when playing online. Music affects my my mood too much, for better or worse, and at the very least I find myself paying attention to a song when I should be watching a hand and taking notes.I've often heard that listening to classical music increases productivity and brain activity, and there have been studies done that show a relationship between improved focus, concentration, and memory and listening to classical music. I've been thinking about trying it while playing, but I don't own any, and have no idea where to begin.

[breathweapon 0]

IRL, a lot of an opponent's tells come from their speech patterns and voice intonations, so I'd take the time to look for/pick up on them before I put them on, and I would always take them off before I play a hand. Online, I'd just open up another table or change games if I were bored. I don't know if it applies to poker, but when I was playing chess semi-professionally, the worst players were always the players wearing head phones, while the best players either never wore them or only wore them against a worse player. It's always nice to have the option, but it's not something you should rely on to keep you entertained or allow yourself to become distracted with.

[mattb5 0]

i enjoy watching/listening scrubs while playin on the internet. its funny, relaxing, and keeps me from goin on tilt.

[StilettoNole 0]

I like scrubs.While playing poker its usually quiet for me because my wife is sleeping. But, I'll sometimes watch TV in the background or listen to my iPod. I like to listen to albums that aren't chppy. Stuff were the songs flow into one another. Bands like Mars Volta, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, MeWithoutYou, Sigur Ros... stuff like that.I have never listened to music playing live before, but I would like to try it sometime because I really, really hate listening to stupid people talk. But I am afraid that I'll miss a tell or something.

[thecartel 0]

Hi guys,I am not sure if this is "strat" worthy, but does music help you focus or do you find it to be a distraction? If you do use music, what music do you find tends to coax you into playing your best game? Do you like music that invokes feelings of aggression? or do you prefer something calming?

The truth is, the more stimuli that you give your brain the less resources you'll have to think about poker. Our brains aren't very good at multi taking, and if you do anything that requires any concentration (even listening to music takes some effort) you won't play your best game. If you want to play 100% the best poker you possibly can it would be optimal to play in silence, with nothing to focus on but poker. That being said, you might not need 100% of your mental resources to be a good sized winner in some games, so listening to music wouldn't hurt you that bad. I would do anything more than that (surfing the web/watching TV) as that will take enough away to have an affect on your winrate.

[DelftDragons 0]

That isn't always true though. For me music can help me concentrate and prevents me from being distracted by other background noises.

[jmh06 0]

I'm probably the worst. I don't need just music or sound, I actually have to have a TV or something to flip over and focus on sometimes, just a hand or two every ten minutes or so to clear the mind. If not, I find I play too many marginal hands just looking for action.

[ROBBBIGG 0]

1-2 tables: tv3+: musicbig hand: silence

[rainns 0]

Ah guys, I find listening to Rounders really gets me zoned inn and it also depends on the day

[RiscaRod 0]

Playing music in the background helps to fill the spaces in between hands. I doubt it makes much difference to my winrate. A bit of DevilDriver probably increases my aggression factor though.

[sennin 0]

Doesnt make much of a difference for me as I already know the correct play for sngs. I only screw up when I start browsing forums or talking to people.

[AimHigher 0]

Doesnt make much of a difference for me as I already know the correct play for sngs. I only screw up when I start browsing forums or talking to people.

If that is the case, you should come post in Tourney strat.