The very interesting English snooker player, Steve Davis, apparantely holds real chips when he plays, and therefore has to put them down before he acts like in a real game.

That's interesting. I don't actually own any poker chips ... I kind of figure they might sit on a shelf gathering dust for the most part.

Agreed. I've been playing like this in MTTs for a while now and it has greatly improved my game. Between each and every mundane action my hand comes off the mouse....but I single table when I'm on MTTs so I can play slow.

__________________
"Ok, this is for the game. How you doin' over there? NOT TOO GOOD!"" -Bubble Boy

i have a note taped on my computer
it plainly reads

"Rules for online poker
-no stupid all in bluffs on the river when you know someone has a middle pocket pair and they should fold but they are still going to call.
-do not play underrolled
-you dont HAVE to play, but when you play, you HAVE to be patient, well rested, fed, and most importantly, mentaly clear, regardless of the stakes.
-you can have a losing day.
-you are not playing to beat other players, you are playing to make money. dont hold grudges on the text box or somones avatar"

this is a really old list but i still keep it up for some reason

Thats an awesome thing to do... I used to have a few post it notes on my screen saying similar stuff. Most of that has become route for me. I would suggest you read some of the Killer Poker series by Vorhaus TA, you might like a lot of the things he does.

__________________

Like irexes said you wanna be doing the pushing, not the calling

An update, if anyone's interested:

Tried my hand at the PS $5+.50 tournament today ... finished in the money, besting about 700 of 825 people. Sad thing is, I got rivered, and I only ended up cashing for $7.50 for two hours' time. I did learn a fair bit though, which will help me profit in the long run.

I also tried out the $3 one they ran this afternoon, cashing in that one as well, beating about 1000 of the 1200 entries. Again, sadly, I was driven out in the first level of the cash. I had AKs, again, with a mid-short stack. I pushed (didn't respond to a push), someone called with J5s, and they got a 5 on the river. The guy called my bet --- which was 1/2 of his stack --- with that, after I had been playing fairly tight. Couldn't believe it, and 7/10 times I'm going to win that hand, but oh well!

Irexes, I did try your method and am happy to report it saved my bacon at least once. Thanks!

ty i will look into it

I've recently taken to some advice that Bboy gave awhile back - I talk to myself while I'm playing. Someone raises from EP and instantly I start saying "ok he's got AQ-AK or 88+" or before I push all in in a tourny "what hands are likely to call me? do I want a call?" etc. basically anything you can do to slow down your actions and force some real thought and logic to bring you to the right decision.