For the past 3 months (july, august, and sept...) ive been studying/researching poker (theories, hand histories, examples, posting etc...) for at least 2 hours (minimum when i first started i was addicted doing it for like 5 hours+ at libraries/coffee houses). At first it was fun and i always set my self a goal each day to complete a certain task or learn something.

Now most people say you should study and play poker in even ratios
ex: play poker online/live for 10 hours
study/research for 10 hours...

But for me its a bit different... i do more studying/researching then i do playing but when i do play i tend to do really well/very confident in my decisions and i just destroy (like when you spend 10 hours studying for a test and you ace a test no problem lol).

Lately ive been really busy with school and havent had the time to study as much and im worried that im just not putting enough effort in reviewing my notes and research etc... and when i go to play i will feel like i was back where i started and just be spewing money by auto piloting (well not spewing but ive just got to much on my mind).

I wanna fkn make it so bad and sometimes poker just feels like a job and not a passion and idk if i should quit and come back later or just man the fk up
I literally have no life atm all i do is play, study for poker and work + school

Who says this and what's their theoretical basis for making this claim?

The 10,000 hours rule suggests we need 10,000 to achieve expert performance in a chosen discipline. However, even if you wanted to learn a much more complicated mental game such as chess, you wouldn't split that down into 5000 study and 5000 practice. To surmise, there is no substitute for practical experience to enhance your critical thinking and once you have a fundamental understanding of poker, your main work away from the tables should be analysing your own play to try and find leaks and better/more creative lines you can take.

I would suggest an 80/20 ratio is far more realistic and productive than 50/50, and in my case it was more like 90/10.

I think this is the key - if you are able to find more balance in your life poker will be more fun
You may even become a better player but even if you don't how much do you really want to make it in poker if it's become a chore to play?

Its not like i have a choice poker is my top priority atm im limited in what i can do that and im w/o car coz my parents sold it.
Go ask a homeless guy or a dude working min wage (coz he has no other option) if he can find more balance to his life. He is limited in what he can do its not like he go traveling around the world. Time is money the older you get the sooner you realize, i dont want to achieve my goals in 10 years when im old as fk, i want to achieve them now w/e it takes.

When your a kid/younger you could pretty take that advice to heart (coz you just focus on school but when you get out life fkn hits you hard) but now its different some of us are gonna make it some of us aren't.
Fk the stupid kids in my high school that said i would never make it im better then all of them including the arrogant ones who got into the ivys and pretty much most of them are getting drunk, smoking pot & going to parties while im trying to fkn make it man its so hard
(i've never done either and not going to plan to until i see them again and laugh when they are working their shtty 9-5 job while i do what i love, hopefully working on a racetrack/cars pretty much and play poker on the side if its still profitable in the later years).

Chore or not in the end you either succeed/make it or you fail. I can say ill take time off but what im really saying is im too much of a fkn btch to keep going especially when im not doing anything else important

Not everything in life costs money, and if you're at university I'm sure you have access to societies or sports clubs that enable you to take up a new hobby or interest at a fraction of the RL cost.

In addition, in my experience the students who do well at school don't work hard, they work smart. Same applies to poker. I've read max 10 books on poker (in 10 years), and only 3-4 on PLO, which is my bread and butter game.

I'd also question your motivation as well. If you're only working your nuts off to show how much better you are than other people, how are you going to feel if/when you fall short? You'll soon find out in life that there is always someone smarter than you or better at poker than you, however bright you are. There are numerous studies that have shown that concentrating on your own performance, and doing the best you can is better at increasing performance and improving your mental health than constantly comparing yourself to other people. Considering what you have written above, I'd strongly advise re-assessing your motivation.

Never ever ever allow yourself to go on autopilot. If you want to watch all your hard work deteriorate like it's been dumped into a vat of corrosive acid, then autopilot is the ticket. Whether you have studied recently or not is no excuse for whether you autopilot or not. That's like saying that because I haven't taken a driving test recently that I'm going to attempt driving to the store with my eyes closed. Autopiloting is a choice. Its up to you to make the conscious decision to think through every hand you play, regardless of how simple. You can't play to the best of your ability if you don't take at least a second or two to think about every decision.

Word.

There's a long thread in the Health and Fitness forum about anxiety and depression here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...ession-653443/

This isn't a poker problem.

I'll make it i promise

take a break man. u will be surprised when you come back to it how natural it will feel, and how much knowledge has stuck w/u. I think it is kind of like cramming for an exam. you can study all night and ace the test, but you really don't know what you have learned until you forget about it and the topics re-arise a few weeks later.

It dose sound like you are burning the candle at both ends.

now.. first I have to say that IMHO priorities dose not equal hours spent on something.

I do believe school should your priority as it is the prudent course to decent living. It dose sound like working is essential requirement for study (financial reasons I guess?).. so that should be your second priority.

Having a some degree of life should be your third because if you burn yourself out it affects poorly to your ability to perform at school/work/poker. I would recommend (by default) to invest at least 3h / week for having a life/social interaction. I do understand that you are hard pressed for time but I do believe that 7h for poker and 3 h for (just an example) a brisk walk in a park + coffee with a friend can give you a much better results than putting 10h on poker. (added benefit that the 3h will also boost school/work performance.. not just poker)

You might have extra challenges if you live in harsh environment/ have limited options on activities. Living up north (?) dose have the added challenge of lack of daylight during winter (causes mental stress).

take care and good luck

Update:

My "1st poker year" is almost over for me...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...99/index5.html

It's been fun and not so fun to say the least it's stressful to play if it's basically ur only source of income.

But tbh this year has maybe been the best of out of my entire life maybe... once high school ended for me it felt so good knowing that i wouldn't have to try and fit in or w/e or try to make friends with people (being a loner in high school is a horrible strategy btw def -EV, i wouldn't say i was a complete loner but i really had no close friends). A lot of ppl gave me sht in high school even a lot of teachers hated me (prolly coz i wasn't academically smart or w/e).

I'm prolly still thinking short-term and i don't have the dream of playing poker full-time still working on finding a stable type job income thing on the side that i am passionate about as much as poker (i figure getting into photography got most of the sht out of the way lenses and dslr).

Next update to come soon thanks 2+2

True words!

I literally have no life atm all i do is play, study for poker and work + school >
Sounds like a real nice life to live op be grateful for whatcha got bro

GLGL