Useless Knowledge?

I don't study poker as much as I should.  When I learn something new, I don't like to think that it's useless knowledge, even if it's something that I can only use once every two or three tournaments.  When I'm able to play more than 200 tournaments per year, either live or online, applying that bit of information can add up to real money.  At least that's the way it should work, but there are two problems.

One problem is that I don't play enough tournaments that a small improvement will matter over the course of a year.  That won't happen until I have control of my time and put in 50 or more hours per week.

The second problem is more immediate.  Since I don't have many chances (tournaments) to apply new things that I learn, trying to add new things to work on at the table is messing up my concentration, and therefore my play.

Poker has a lot of variables.  One of the most popular poker sayings is:  The answer to any poker question is, "It depends."

When I have to make a decision on how much to bet, it can depend on how many chips I have, the current tournament situation, how close I am to making the money, a tell I have picked up on someone, and many other factors.  I understand in general how all of that works, though I have a lot of work to do on some of the math in those situations.

Live poker tournaments have a lot of things that always need to be monitored, and that's the problem.  When I play online, there are numbers on the screen.  Playing live, if five players are in a hand, I have to keep track of all the bets and know how many chips are in the pot at all times.  I also need to keep track of everyone's stack size (how many chips they have), what percentage of hands they are playing, and how close the blinds (forced bets that increase thoughout the tournament) are to going up.

I can't keep track of all of the mechanics yet, and as I learn more and more things that I should be watching for, (for example, the motion a player uses to put chips in the pot can be a tell, especially if it's different that his usual motion), I get so overwhelmed trying to apply everything that I've learned. that in my last tournament, several times I didn't know it was my turn to play until the dealer told me.

If I was playing several tournaments a week, I would have more times to try out the new things I'm learning.   But for now, as counterintuitive at it seems, I have to forget some of the things I know.  If I'm not keeping track of another player well enough to know that his small stack size might force him to go all in on the next hand, then I have no business giving myself more things to think about, such as what kind of tells I should be watching for from other players at the table.

I was overwhelmed during my last tournament.  I managed to cash in third place, but I have to wonder if being confused during the last half hour cost me a chance at first place, which would have been about four times what I won.

In my next tournament I have to keep it simple and concentrate on the mechanics.  Once I can keep up with the mechanics, I can add something small, like watching one or two players for tells.  I have to dumb it down--and that's really hard to accept.  I'm 58 years old.  I don't have 20 years to wait before I start making serious money.