Hey Guys,
I was doing well in a recent live tournament but when it got down to 14 players my energy level dropped off at a time when large betting was ramping up. I got up a couple of times to stretch, drink some caffeine and down a snack, but it didn't help much and dealing with my situation was distracting my mind from the game.
Just so you know, I think players who intentionally take long breaks or play passive to avoid busting out or getting dinged before the final table are hurting themselves both in the short and long-term. But in this case, I knew I was at 75% mental/physical strength and that wasn't going to be close to good enough to possibly outplay my competition for another 2-3 hours.
I busted out a short time later and realize it's laughable to reason (after the fact) that it would have been better to take an extended break and get totally out of the building to get some exercise or power nap. My thinking being, whatever I stood to loose on blinds would have been far less than what I stood to loose playing tired against good players with lots of chips.
I'm very curious to know what successful pros like yourself do late in tournaments when you have a big stack and realize you've dropped from your A-game to your B-game? Hypothetically of course. Lol
Thanks