No matter which poker book you read or which top pro advises you, there is a resounding communal opinion that when you are playing poker, actually watching the play and concentrating on the action at hand is a key part of winning.
While card rooms have a number of elements that could take away from the focus of the players, such as sporting events on TV or the appearance of attractive drink servers, there are relatively few distractions possible compared to what many online players face at home. Family members and friends about the house are usually not nearly as concerned about the game and can often be disrupting with conversation. Events like dinner, unexpected guests and phone calls can all prove to be very damaging to your poker results.
Even when the household is otherwise empty, we are often tempted to use poker playing time to simultaneously catch up on e-mail, reading or household chores. Most of us live a fairly fast-paced lifestyle which does not allows for as nearly as much free time as we would like. In order to compensate for our lack of fun time we often start multi-tasking and combining activities. While watching TV and folding the laundry may not...