I'm having trouble with that topic. If a tournament starts around 8pm and takes 5 hours, then i am concentrated only for the early stages. But when it really gets interesting after, say, 3 hours, I start to tire out, and make possibly bad mistakes. What do you do in such long sessions to regain your concentration?
I know, i could simply play smaller tournaments, but I don't know whether im still winning at a faster blind structure.
Go outside for a few minutes. The fresh air will refresh your mind.
Also, if it gets boring, observe the players. How much they are betting, in which position, what hand do they play, make notes of all these details.
You can also watch a movie if you're playing online 
Well i wouldn't call a 5 hour tournament a long one. Most MTT's on sunday last 6-12 hours and start 5 hours apart from each other so you could easily be doing a 12-15 hour sessions on sundays if you run deep.
Imo the most important thing is not to play way to many tables. Mass multitabling tires your concentration at least twice as fast so personally i don't like to load up more then 12 MTT's and once im down to under 6 games i start watching TV shows 
My problem is not so much that it gets boring, but that i can't concentrate even if its interesting. I'm trying to follow the game then, but my mind drifts off and i cannot focus unless im acting myself.
Also, I play only up to 4 tables, and usually am down to 2 or 1 after 2 or 3 hours, when it becomes more interesting. So I guess I cannot cut down on that.
But thanks for your tips anyway. ATM I cannot complain about how i run (4 final tables in the last 10 tournaments, 40$ spent and 280 $returned ~ 700% ROI) but when i run bad i might decide to move to different sites with faster structure
take amll breaks if u have a good number of chips and sitout for 10- 20 minutes and refresh yourself
Increase your concentration by meditating. Worked for me. If you don't think it's stupid and wanted to try it let me know I can help you
Hey there
since the most obvious tips have already been given I will try another one:
Quit MTT's!
If you are not able to concentrate for longer periods of time MTT's are most likely not the right choice for you. I would suggest SNG's or cashgame instead.
In tournaments it is essential to concentrate for 10hours+. Otherwise it doesn't make sense in my opinion. Furthermore I would not suggest to sit out - that's just the wrong way of doing it.
Regards,
Asaban
All right, thanks for the advice. I decided to cut down a bit on university, so I have more concentration for poker.
No, seriously, I changed poker sites, and play faster tournaments (<3h), MTSNGs and SNGs now.
I think thats a good compromise, and from time to time I can still play a longer tournament (for fun, not for EV)
Proper exercise, nutrition, drinking water, proper breaks, avoiding caffeine... will help you retain long-term concentration as well. Read those sections in my guide (in my signature), they should help ;).
-SF
