You win the Internet POtD with this zinger. Well Done!

People who either play for a living now, or used to, especially those who were married or in a serious relationship, what kind of schedule ended up working for you? I’m trying to figure out if I should do something like 12-7 on weekdays, and then play nights on weekends. The alternative is to see my SO from like 5–8 PM when she gets off work, then starting my sessions at around 8:15. The late night schedule is nice for $$$ and weekdays but a little tougher for weekends since family/friends want to do stuff during the day and I’m still half asleep.

if u r playing 4 a living here is what I do

Here is how I personally approached it while raising a kid and married and the sole bread winner.

1. figger out how much u need to make and back into how many hours it will take. Add 20% just in case

2. Holidays (july 4, New years, presidents day, memorial day, etc) Are all work days imo. I did not spend NYE not gamboolin for a very long time

3. Big events - march madness, superbowl, that kind o stuff are work days imo

4. I then prioritize certain times of the year where action is going to be on depending where i am. Vegas = WSOP, convention season. Florida = snowbird season.

5 Also figure out where you can take a break/ decompress / recharge. Vegas = post wsop florida = summer aint bad to break

6 fill in rest of schedule to hit target hrs.

This worked for me.

More -

Playing day shift is fine, I spent several years playing day shift only cuz I wanted to be functional to hang and do fun stuff with my kid. It is not quite as proftiible but its zero problem if u r decent. BUT u got to get the hours in. Most do not seem to be able to do this and fritter away their time. For me I just treat it like im punching a clock

AKA the "freedoms" of being a poker pro.

I wish I could have a job where I have to work nights and weekends and all major holidays. I'm sick of being a slave.

I’d always play during the day and spend time with girlfriend at night.

I never understood guys that try and play graveyard and such. It’s like signing a contract to be permanently miserable for 20% more money

I just didn’t play it was great

For what its worth - being married with a mortgage and a kid requires significant effort to maintain a lifestyle in terms of commitment to any money making venture. Now that I'm single and the kid is financially independent the need to make $ ain't nearly as strong so I am more than happy to not play and share RG's sentiment

nice points sqwid wp

were your guys' week to week hourly totals similar at non peak times?

Like in February or October or year around in non tourist destinations like Texas.

40 hrs/week avg too steep wrt maintaining A game play?

did you play significantly more/less depending on how you were running?

mortgages + family is terrible strat if you want to put in marginal effort towards work.

proper strat for putting in marginal effort at work is to become middle management.

RTP - as long as I feel like I am playing good poker run good/bad had minimal impact on hours played. During my time in vegas I felt the wsop was a bonanza for poker. So I would ramp up my hours leading into the wsop and aim for 60hrs+/week during that time.

I personally believe building stamina is critical to playing well when u r trying to crank out hours kind of like training for a marathon you do not just show up and try and run 26 miles, you work your way into it. Same deal imo.

I think my biggest year was 2150 hours but I can no longer remember and that info is not handy at the moment. Not many "pros" hit legit 2k hours/year. I did year in and year out and it was no biggy. The reason being I HAD TO.

Post session self critique is critical to maintaining a+ poker. It is super duper ez to switch to autopilot and convince yourself u r playing kick ass poker. Maintaining laser like focus takes me time to be able to ramp up. I cant go from no poker to cranking out 10 hour sessions. I have not played live since march. When I start playing again it will take me considerable ramp up time to be able to focus for more than 3 hours (but Im old and have had my head bashed in a mirrion times).

i never played significant graveyard hours.

the only variable in my winrate was that it got higher during WSOP, which tends to be the opposite of what many vegas pros feel.

it's possible i just ran well in big games over the summer in my career cause its not enough hours.

Have you retired?

Yeah about six years ago

Edit: realistically probably four years ago

ossum insight

If you have the drive to be a successful poker player, you can make way more in the private sector and then dump money in poker games. All the big money was in private games prior to COVID and it's gotten worse.

The problem is once you get into playing cards it's nearly impossible to turn the clock back.

the only times I play poker when the sun is shining are the Superbowl and when I'm trying to get even .

In the latter case, when the old people sat down at 8:30am, I often think this game is boring but not nearly as dry as I thought.

you are 100% right and it took me a year or so to figure that out


you are definitely right, just not in my case but im very clearly an exception.

I've done several podcasts on how to transition out of poker. The key is pretty simple.

Just fail at some stuff before you find something that sticks.

Off the top of my head, some stuff ive tried -

1. Non poker podcasting/content (failed. similar to doug)
2. Coding
3. Youtube videos in the video game space.
3a. Had idea to try and do some stuff in fitness, never tried.

probably 2-3 ideas i explored and didnt like as well

You twitch stream gaming at all? I could see you getting paid to raid in Warcraft

I've done a good amt of research but app I'm bad at that... everything super scattered and not applicable for poker players. I see some good stuff in LVL but same thing.

Best way to accumulate rewards in Vegas as a poker player without table games?

Mlife? CET?

my friend gets 5 days at a time for free @ diamond tier for ceasers and that sounds good to me....

Across TX comps/rewards weren't really a thing afaik.

I'm going to do a podcast on how to make gaming coding video content on Youtube while you do push ups.

You're not getting diamond tier without playing table games or slots.

SPC dont table gambool, dont slot. She has been diamond 4 as long as I have known her strictly from wsop.com

I would also like to subscribe to your podcast, it seems to tick all of the boxes

Oh I didn't know you get points for online. I stand corrected.

Thanks for your pledge to subscribe. Be sure to smash that like button and turn on notifications so you don't miss any of my juicy content.

nah i never streamed games. i streamed poker for a bit but F the streamer life. i didnt enjoy it. much prefer podcasting

Never got paid but at the end of Legion, my guild was switching factions (alliance to horde) and offered to pay the associated costs for me to convert 8 characters ($230 or so) to remain a member.

I took a break from WoW in the last xpac, was traveling in thailand, korea and such.

I'll be back to hardcore now in the new xpac. Prepatch dropped yesterday