The Skill of Focus

Here‘s the uncomfortable truth: most poker players aren’t able to perform at their best on a consistent basis.

When they sit down to play, their mind is often preoccupied with other things.

Although they try to focus on the action at the tables, distracting thoughts creep in and concentration wavers.

A few hours into their session, they often feel tired, which makes it even harder to focus. Despite their best efforts, they soon accept that focus is not under their control and that they simply don’t have the energy to play their best poker today. They either continue playing sub-optimally or cut the session short, hoping that tomorrow will be different.

This frustrating cycle repeats itself all too often.

Players catch glimpses of high performance when they feel fully alert and locked in, but these moments are fleeting and seem to happen by chance.

And so, the question every player asks at some point is:

“Why can’t I focus?”

A quick note before we continue:

If you’re serious about taking your poker performance to the next level, applications for The Poker Athlete Program are now open.

This is my signature mindset and performance coaching program where we work together to train the eight core skills that separate elite players from the rest.

Applications close on September 12th, and the program officially starts on September 15th.

What Focus Really Is

Sounds simple, right?

But here’s the problem: the default state of the mind is not be distracted.

By design, your brain is always scanning the environment, looking for anything that might be new, interesting, or important. This constant scanning was useful for survival in the past, but in modern environments it leaves us vulnerable to endless distraction.

To direct your attention where you want it to go requires energy.

And to sustain it requires even more. The players who struggle most with focus are often those who haven’t yet built the capacity to channel and manage that energy consistently.

The Components of Stable Attention

To train focus properly, it helps to break it down into three core skills:

1. Intentionally directing attention: Consciously choosing what to pay attention to. At the poker table, that might be the action on your table, the bet sizing, or your opponent’s body language if you’re live.

2. Sustaining attention: Holding that attention long enough for it to matter. Your mind will naturally drift. The skill is to notice it quickly and come back before mistakes are made.

3. Adjusting the scope of attention: Sometimes you need to zoom in — for example, calculating hand ranges in a complex spot. Other times you need to zoom out — noticing how the dynamics at the table are shifting over the session. The best players know when to do which.

Focus Is Like a Muscle

Most players don’t realise that focus is a trainable skill. Just like your muscles are strengthened in the gym, you focus muscle also gets stronger with training.

The process looks like this:

• Give your mind a focal point

• Spot when your thoughts have drifted

• Bring your attention back

• Repeat

Every time you complete this loop, it’s like doing a rep for your focus muscle. At first, you’ll drift quickly and often. But over time, your capacity to stay present will grow stronger.

Meditation is one of the most effective forms of focus training outside of game, because it rehearses this exact process. You get used to spotting when your mind has got lost in thought, and you retain your attention to your breathe.

Each rep on the meditation cushion carries over to your ability to return your attention at the tables.

Spotting and Regaining Focus

Here’s the reality: you will get distracted.

No one has perfect concentration.

The skill is not in avoiding distraction altogether, but in how quickly you notice it and come back.

Internal distractions can be thoughts, emotions, or fatigue. External distractions might be noise, notifications, or even a bad beat at another table. By training awareness, you shorten the gap between drifting and refocusing — which is the difference between making costly mistakes and playing your A-game.

Optimising Focus in Play

Focus is not just about what happens at the table. It’s about how you structure your energy and environment around it.

• Work with your natural cycles. Your body operates in ultradian rhythms of about 90–120 minutes. After this, your focus dips. Play in cycles, use breaks wisely, and recover before jumping back in.

• Prime your mind before you play. A pre-session routine — whether it’s meditation, reviewing hands, or even a short workout — signals to your brain it’s time to lock in.

• Measure your focus. Try rating your focus 1–10 every hour. Just this awareness builds the habit of checking in and noticing when you’re slipping.

• Reset intentionally. If you feel your focus dropping, don’t just push through blindly. Step away, reset, and come back sharper.

The Payoff

When you train focus, you stop leaving it up to chance. You no longer rely on “good days” where everything feels easy. Instead, you build consistency and the ability to execute what you already know, every single session.

If you would like to spend some time training this skill and the other 7 skills needed to play your best poker, then listen up.

I've seen the importance of dedicating time to work specifically on these skills in the right environment.

So I will be taking on a new group for the first time this year for my 8 week Poker Athlete Bootcamp, where I will be personally guiding yu through each of the 8 skills.

You can apply for one of those spots here.

I hope you enjoyed this new style of email.

Stay tuned for more coming soon.

Adam