I'm sorry but I completely disagree with u. The times u spend outside of poker while u play poker cannot be seen as a 'waste', as that is an unbalanced life. A person with an addiction or vice leads an unbalanced life, and yes, being a workaholic is a vice. Yin and yang. Those who balance their lives may not have the most profitability, but most certainly they'll have the most fulfillment. I urge you to understand the difference between 'profitability' and 'fulfillment' and then you'll hopefully see the need for balance within each and every person, body, mind, and soul. I can accept punishing focus and intensity for a short period of time, but long-term, balance is a necessity for most.

I honestly could not have put it any better than you did. Thank you.

I love poker. I also care about having healthy relationships, good health, an active social life. Allotting certain parts of my time to these things doesn't mean that I love the game any less.

The point of making it a marathon is to maximize results over the long term. Pushing yourself and being as efficient as possible in the fewer hours you spend at your computer. I'm sure there are some people who love the game so much (and don't care about stuff like a social life, health, relationships, etc) that they can just devote themselves 100% to poker and be totally happy with that. From what I have seen, most players do not feel this way deep down. Their constant pursuit of the next dollar and their neglect of every other aspect of their lives is what leads to their being so few long term success stories.

I have gotten to know myself very well through the ups and downs I've experienced in this game. I have also gotten to know a lot of other poker players. The common theme is that poker consumes lives and it leads to an unrealistic longterm lifestyle. Of course there will be exceptions, but I think it is the best approach to the game for the average player who wants to be successful for more than a couple years.

Already followed most of the advice you gave in OP, but nice read none the less

I don't pay much attention to HU, but you are one of my favs <3 Thanks for your contributions to the community!!

I looove shot taking and enjoy playing people better than myself. Maybe I sit you some day soon at Merge

your posts are really awesome and make me laugh to

Good to see we're on the same page!

i quickly read through it, because im pretty tired atm, but i dont see how this is applicable to anyone not playing poker 100% professionally, i mean, to me it just looks like superb luxury to ONLY have to worry about your poker schedule, i hope this doesnt sound condescending because its not what i intend to sound like.

Im just trying to ask, can you possibly elaborate how this relates or how you would implement such a routine-like poker thing in someone playing poker semi-professionally and with on the side having a "job" that has variable hours?

for example me, ive been paying everything from poker for the last year and then some so i guess i play for a living, however im so busy with university, and classes are just redic and get moved around all the time, so how am i supposed to plan my week in advance and make it totally poker based and not feel more stressed out? then just see how it goes and play 2 hours here, 2 hours there, just whenever i can? compared to putting myself under more stress, trying to stick to a schedule?

i hope i worded it right, pretty tired

i wrote the article for people who are playing poker for a living and have the flexibility to create their own schedule.

i do think that some of the main concepts can be applied no matter what you do: if you push yourself constantly and never rest you will burnout and under-perform (school, any job, poker, gym, etc); you need to be willing to adapt as new opportunities arise; life balance is important to most people no matter what they do; etc.

i haven't been able to stick with a set schedule for since Black Friday for any more than a week or two at a time. i spent a month in texas, 2 weeks in mexico, a month in italy, and about a month in virginia...now 2 weeks in spain. i travelled so much and plans changed way too often to be able to setup a specific volume schedule. so my schedule was far less structured, but i still made sure to rest after pushing myself really hard. after the barcelona camp ill be back to my old predictable grind and will be able to fall back into a more structured routine...i'm looking forward to it (that's when i operate at my best).

i miss only having to worry about my poker schedule. can't wait to get back to it. i definitely see it as a luxury. that doesn't make it easy to play lots of poker endlessly and never burnout though. maybe you can play more than when u have other responsibilities (school, etc) - but everyone will reach a point where they burnout and their game begins to deteriorate. you can avoid this with scheduled periods of rest.

you completely misunderstood my post, the point i was making was not about spending more or less time on non-poker things but rather in which way this time was structured into certain time periods.

Also how do you 'disagree' with me? i was merely asking how HOKIE would go about refuting a certain view, i never said it was my opinion

I find the title very ironic. "Playing Poker for a Living: It's a series of sprints, not a marathon." would be way more fitting.

Awesome post. Heard almost every successful person talking about the urgency of having a well planned schedule, here´s another example.

If this view is not your opinion then we have no argument. I can only argue with the person whose opinion this is, and whom might that be?

As for this view, fwiw, it does clearly mention the supposed artificiality of trying to balance life, and that is non-poker related things.

I think the "mental game" is overrated. Once one understands variance in poker, they should be able to draw a conclusion that solves every mental game issue. If one cannot see that, they prolly will never solve their "mental game".

I've read this new book that Jared Tendler wrote, and I didn't like it all. I've read reviews that this is the best book evarrr, but I think it's not.

I think a book that speaks about all aspects variance & statistics will be much more valuable solving mental game stuff.

But maybe I think differently about this stuff... but when I started to understand variance & statistics about poker... I pretty much solved my mental game.

the reason this topic is so interesting to me is because i strive for a balanced live.
i care about to many things (gym, poker, girls, socializing, etc..) to just focus on one, so i did several times as u posted, organizing my schedule and making sure i balance my life

problem is that by doing such, i lose my focus and my goal, for example when im doing poker alone and that is my only focus, i think about poker all day, i talk to a bunch of poker players, im super curious about learning new stuff, i actually enjoy playing a LOT and think all the time about my life and future plans how/for when i move up

but, when doing lots of stuff, for example whilst it seems that i'd be less inclined to be bored from poker just because my life os balanced, for me its the exact opposite, just because my goals (dreams/all i think about during the day) shifts easily

i've been doing BJJ for a month, and now i cant stand playing poker, its just plain boring, my mind is on how to improve on my bjj game, reach 450lbs deadlift, win bjj competitions on the future etc etc

it just seems to me that to be rlly good at something u have to think about it all day, dream thinking about it, and it has to be your life goal, and for me its very hard to do that if im doing all kinds of stuff

Interestingly for me playing a couple thousand super turbos seems to have really helped my tilt issues. I always "knew" variance blah blah blah but to experience variance and know the only way out is to get to the long run faster has somehow helped. I somehow felt more entitled to win when ROI was higher.

^^^ understanding variance is definitely a huge part of mastering mental game issues. i do think there is a lot more to it for most people though: reasons they avoid shot-taking, quitting sessions early, performance anxiety, etc.

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you for that, HokieGreg
B+M players often mention the problem of managing their life outside poker, due to the lack of hands/hr they get there. After Black Friday hit, I think it may have helped many prioritize and set what you call their "life balance" but some also trudged deeper by trying to grind 2/5 or 5/10 live cash games. I hope for their sake, when you come across that smelly guy in the casino, calculating his bb/100 on some iphone app, and proceeding to not toke his $1 because of it, you can remind him that there are important aspects to life outside of that table and direct him to this thread

Thank you for the post, very relevant and something that is often not discussed well/at all. One of the hardest things I find mentally is not wanting to grind every promotion on the planet, though this has been easier without full tilt around anymore. Before black friday though, as an mtt player it seemed like there was always another promotion around the corner or something that was like "well, I can't skip ftops, nor miniftops, nor double guarantee week, nor usacoop, nor scoop" etc. etc. and I definitely was trying to get into a more structured schedule.

This is something I definitely need to work on better in the future, but it always scares me that i'm not going to have the motivation i have today, since there have been periods in my career where i flat out don't want to play so when i actually want to i always want to devote 6-7 days of playing/70-80 hour weeks.

I will say there are exceptions to needing balance, and my example here will be Ivey who in every interview mentions he tries to play 60 hours a week minimum. Durrrr, nananoko, azntracker, and shaun deeb are other notable long term examples of players who just grind like crazy year in year out with great results and i doubt their results would improve/they will have more longevity in the game from playing less. I guess the best of the best can always just keep grinding and even their B and C game will be so far ahead of the competition that it won't hurt them as much.

I don't know why I stumble upon this just now, but it was a very good read, made me think a lot and might make me actually DO something for once.

Thank you.

Great post! Thanks

Epic post, well written and highly motivational, thanks

I honestly don't know why I haven't read/commented on this earlier. I remember starting to read the day you posted it but for some reason or another it has slipped my mind.

Such a high quality post Gregory, but wouldn't expect any less from you given the time I have spent and what I know about you. I have learnt a TON from you not only about poker but just talking about mental game and this post really highlights how strong your mental/life game is. Thanks heaps mate! GLGL.

glad to hear so many of you enjoyed this article. thanks for the kind words.

This really does make sense... I think im going to add a schedule like yours to my game... instead of relentlessly grinding every day.

Help grow the mental muscle!