By Mitch Rice
Most forms of online gambling do not require a great deal of concentration. If sports betting is your game, all you need to do is put a bet on and then go and enjoy the game. Meanwhile, playing online slots is a nearly mindless activity, requiring nothing more than hitting a button every few seconds. Online poker is an entirely different proposition – the ability to maintain focus and concentration for several hours is absolutely essential if you want to be a winning player, especially in tournament play.
Consider all of the different things that you have to think about whilst sat at the poker table; which hands should you play? How much should you bet? What is my opponent holding? Should I bluff? Am I being bluffed? Playing poker can be an intense experience, and one of the best ways to deal with the pressure of the situation is by paying attention to the music that you listen to while you play.
The Psychology of Music
Repeated studies have proven that music can have many positive effects on the human mind. Listening to your favorite songs is a great way to get yourself in the mood to sit down and play, but its even better at keeping you there in the moment during a poker online game that can often take several hours to complete. Ideally, the music that you choose should help to get you into ‘the zone’; a state of mind where you are probably unaware that music is even playing in the background at all – your subconscious eventually takes over, making decisions without the interference of those pesky conscious feelings of emotion.
One of the most important aspects of using music as a concentration aid is to stick to the music that you enjoy, as obvious as that sounds! Perhaps you have a playlist that you like to listen to at the gym, or during your daily commute. You created this playlist to fit your mood, allowing you to focus on the task at hand. Most of us have an emotional connection to our music, and theories suggest that music’s natural rhythm of highs and lows could help to balance out the similar waves that tend to occur at the poker tables.
What the Pro’s Listen To
Becoming a profitable player is going to take weeks, months, or perhaps even longer, grinding away at the tables – and away from them. What music could help to maintain concentration during a tournament that might last up to half a day? A surprising number of online poker professionals have declared similar tastes as far as the music they listen to whilst playing the game.
In fact, around 90% of poker pro’s have publicly stated that they tend to listen to some type of uplifting, positive, and minimally vocal music when sat at the table. The most obvious examples of music that fits this description include Trance, House, and Progressive. These styles of music all have a constant tempo, and many players believe that this helps them to maintain concentration and focus on the cards over a long period of time.
There is nothing to say that more vocal-heavy music won’t work for some players, but the majority of pro’s seem to believe that genres such as hip hop have a negative effect on their concentration – even if that is their preferred type of music to listen to for other more mindless tasks.
Artist Suggestions
I’m no expert on this music, so once again deferred to the professionals for suggestions as to which artists to look out for in the area of house, trance, and progressive. I have compiled a shortlist below, but one of the best tips seems to be to seek out the radio compilations that these artists produce on a regular basis. This will give you a constant stream of new music each week, further allowing you to focus on your game instead of searching for new music to listen to:
- Armin Van Buuren
- Arty
- Above and Beyond
- Ben Gold
- Ferry Corsten
- Gareth Emery
- Cosmic Gate
- Markus Schulz
You’ll find all these artists on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, or even YouTube, although a premium subscription may be required to remove the adverts from the mix – those are unlikely to help your concentration at the tables!
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
