Poker and concentration

I play in a private table SnG Tuesday nights with some guys at PS. We have about 7-10 players and we play for practice. Its a $10 SnG. So, last night I log in and start playing. I had two beers before the game at dinner, I was in a hotel room where I had to sit at the desk to play, and I was distracted by anything and everything. Do I need to tell you how this turns out? Of course not. To make matters worse, I will now hate myself all day today for my poor performance. Which begs the question, "If you can't concentrate, why sit down at the table at all?!"

I have heard it said that a good poker player has patience. I think that's a sympton. The actual skill is concentration (which breeds patience). Like the old sports cliche, "being in the zone." You need to be in the zone to be playing well. How does "Al Can't hang" (http://www.alcanthang.com/poker/) manage???

I remember that scene in Steve Martin's classic film, "The Jerk" where he says "today I found out what my special purpose was for". Well, today, yes just today, I found out what "the hammer" is. I expect to get some mileage out of this at my next game.