i just finalized airline tickets for an 8 month vegas poker grinding trip, starting sept. 15. ive heard that vegas games aren't the greatest during these months, but im expecting there to be a few decent games available every day.

i expect to put in about 2000 hours during the trip. that's 9.5 hour sessions, 6 days per week. yes, i do have experience grinding this much.. even more. i have fairly healthy routines that include good diet, exercise, meditation, and sleep hygiene to help power me through the grind.

i have very low expenses and also have fairly frugal spending habits. no gambling (outside of poker), no night life, etc... just live healthy and grind poker is the only goal.

i will be starting with about a $15k bankroll. i think that's a shade light to play 2/5, especially if buying in for 1000, so will either start at 1/3 games and/or play 2/5 but buying in for 500 to start with.

i don't think skill level will be an issue. i have plenty of experience at 2/5 around the country, including vegas. ive studied and understand most of the material in Janda's books, upswing lab, etc..

aria is, by far, my favorite room to play in as for comfort. i also love The Burger Lounge and could easily get half of my daily calories for free with the $2/hour comps. however, i am willing to consider moving my action around to other venues if the compensation warrants it. other options ive been considering include: wynn 1/3 game that plays 500 buy-in as in intermediate level between a 300 max 1/3 and a 2/5 game... the venetian 1/2 game that seems to have more tables going recently... the 2/5 game at bellagio, which is only 500 max, so possibly less pro:rec ratio... and even considering playing the requisite hours at Flamingo/Planet Hollywood to qualify for their weekly free-roll giveaways (but haven't done any math to determine if that would be a good investment for hourly yet). assuming not running like ass to begin with, however, i expect the vast majority of my hours to be at the 2/5 level.

i also plan to be working out at Planet Fitness on East Flamingo three days per week.

financial goals: (silly to have them, right? is there variance in poker??)... would be a successful trip to average $25/hour. would be ecstatic to average $35+/hour

that's about it. see you at the tables starting sept. 16th ive read enough 2p2 threads to realize this opens me up to a lot of criticism and noise, but.... any comments/suggestions are welcomed

i forgot to mention that i expect the majority of my playing hours to be between 1pm and 11pm. i understand that the games are better after midnight, but im willing to sacrifice some EV for better sleep habits and health

Kool. Will be nice to read your updates here. You going to rent an apt. there? Where are you heading from? Why 8 months?

I’ll be staying at one of the furnished monthly options 1-2 miles from the strip. 8 months bc I live in New England and don’t want to miss the summers there.

Oh ok. Where do you play at currently?

GL dude, very ambitious volume target!

Gl! Subbed

I think there is a disconnect there .... re living healthy and 9.5 /6 indoors while grinding on burgers/fries etc

However, autumn is a pretty good time for poker in Las Vegas, with a slow December - January, and Spring pick-up.

GL.

burger lounge has great organic salads and the beef is grass fed not like wacarnolds and basically every other burger joint

both totally healthy options

We likely have very different ideas as to what constitutes a healthy diet, so I’ll leave that part alone (after stating that I think grass fed beef is about the healthiest food on earth).

My schedule will allow for 8 hours of sleep (mostly during hours the sun is down). I will be able to set my circadian rhythms fairly well with regard to consistency of meal timing, exercise timing, sleep/wake cycles. I will get plenty of sunshine. Plenty of exercise (both cardiovascular and resistance). And I will be spending time in mental/emotional training each day with my meditation routine and daily reading.


Perfect? No. Ideas on improvement?

Sounds like a fairly solid plan. Are you setting some time aside for recreation and social life/ dating?

Not really. Just setting aside a day per week to relax/veg. Idk about dating. Maybe if it comes up. Have considered putting up a dating profile that stresses I’m temporary in the area. Wouldn’t mind finding a partner to explore hiking in the area. Also wouldn’t mind learning guitar. Do you teach? ��

Yeah there are some great trails to hike. I wouldn't mind teaching, I started uploading a couple of guitar tutorials on my guitar channel awhile ago.

Do you play professionally already? Are you self employed?

You already pointed out you are sacrificing massive EV by not grinding the graveyard shift. Why are you so against it? Do you really think it matters what times of day you are up as long as you are getting 8 hours of sleep?

Study results on that range from 'extremely bad' to 'not super bad' to 'wouldn't be bad if you otherwise lived healthy (which almost nobody on graveyard shift does)'.

Solid read in my non-expert opinion from the website of the World Economics Forum:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/...obably-thought

Do you know many people who work nightshifts and like it? I don't know a single person who doesn't want to switch to the dayshift.

GL OP, sounds like a solid plan. I assume you plan on doing some outdoor exercise like jogging or cycling on the days you don't go to the gym? If you can find a nice (indoor) pool, adding a couple hours of swimming a week is a nice change of pace in my opinion.

This isn't a trip, you are moving to Las Vegas.

It would be interesting to see a study where they use light box therapy, total blackout shades for rooms plus earplugs and white noise for better sleep quality, and vitamin D.

Another consideration is at night the casino has more secondhand smoke.
https://no-smoke.org/secondhand-smok...ng-facilities/

But the stress and the sitting down for long periods is probably the worst health risk of all.

Since he likes spending summers in NE, he prefers to call it "an 8 month Vegas trip" every year.

Lol. You guys are funny. Yes. Moving to Vegas. I usually “move” every year. Although usually it’s only for a couple of months. Last year it was to Florida for February March and April.


Yes. I think timing of sleep/wake cycles matter to health. The closer aligned to sunrise/sunset, the healthier. We’ve evolved to be diurnal. As for outdoor exercise... my three days per week at the gym (for resistance training) will conclude with a 5k jog back.

Trust fund?

I work a graveyard shift and I actually enjoy it, I can wear whatever I want and listen to my own music blasting thru the speakers. No customers, bosses, or stupid co-workers to deal with. Just me and 2 others.

Hardest part is my 2 days off, my sleep is all jacked up and I end up sleeping all day.

I do agree it's an unhealthy lifestyle however I'm an overweight guy (I gorge) and since I started this shift a few months ago I find I'm eating WAY less. I also only bring fruit/nuts and some dark chocolate with me to eat at work. Usually some cereal when I get home.

Personally I think the plan is a good one and well thought out. Including the sleep schedule. I think that the "suckers play all night" concept is, to a large extent, more of a myth than a reality.

^ I don't live in Vegas, so not sure if it's something worth considering schedule-wise, but what about the drunks that leave the clubs and bars after 12am and go play poker? Not enough of them for it to be really positive EV during the week? I'd imagine it would be Thur.-Sat.

I'm an early person and found the 4-5am crowd that had been up drinking all night very willing to donk off chips.

this is an interesting consideration. im not sure id be willing to adjust my sleep timing enough to make it for this session. the other big obstacle is what happens when the game breaks at 7am? grind through the absolute worst times of the poker economy? or get hours in multiple daily sessions? neither option sounds exciting.