I see what you're saying. That's a rich person's problem the way I see it though. Carlos Boozer can sleep 10 hours a day, who cares, he has $120M in just salary earnings since Duke. If the Bulls cut him, whatever. Jabari Parker has $0 in earnings, he'd be best off right now sleeping 3 hours per night. I don't expect everyone to agree with that, but I'm a workhorse. 5% of my sessions are 18+ hours, 15% are 12+ hours, 46% are 8+ hours.

If you knew a whale was going to be playing at 6pm Monday, I wouldn't make an all-nighter of it on Sunday. But almost always, I play the huge sessions when the game stays good all night, it doesn't happen that often so when it does I stick around. And you just don't play the next day, or sleep for 15 hours and then play again.

371 logged sessions. Average session length is 6.25 hours. 65% win percent. Hourly 70 per hour. Mostly plo. Biggest downswing is like 22k (this week, lol)

Standard deviation is a touch over 1000 dollars per hour.

I win online and I don't play a lot live game so I'm thinking about starting low stake and up in stakes after a while.
I'm asking when I have to move up in stake...

Here my last 2 years graph (In Italy rake is huge I pay like 7bb/100 at nl200 so the rakeback is also huge)

I work at 0630 a lot so my sessions currently run super short because I
ve to get up early or hit the wall early. It's a little frustrating. That being said I don't have to worry too much about B game because I'm forced to quit after 3-4 hours. Say I do get a long session in. I'm beginning to think its profitable to stick a 45 minute dinner break in around the 3-4 hr mark just to reset my brain. I'm thinking the profit lost in that 45 min might be made up in better play in the final 3-4 hrs. Anyone else do this?

Yes, take a dinner break for sure.

Meh, I only leave the table for bathroom breaks. Eat dinner at the table, imo, and just practice playing longer sessions.

If you want to take a brain break, just zone out during some of your folded hands.

GimoG

Ah, my mistake. If that's true I think you should start at nl500 at the lowest, play 100-200 hours to get comfortable with live dynamics, then move up to nl1000.

I say just play 1/2 enough to get your bearings in live play. There's an adjustment period for everyone so do it as cheaply as possible. Then jump up ASAP.

ty all

Before it seemed like you were saying to stay in the game for a long time even if it wasn't that good (this might not have been you saying this, but someone said if you rate to win $20 over the next 4 hours, that's still $20 in your pocket or w/e).

Agree stick around when the game is good, but again that's still talking in terms of opportunity cost. If the game is good, the expected profit of sticking around a long time is larger than the opportunity cost in being forced to stay in a casino for hours on end and not sleeping etc.

In fact pretty much everything you just said refers to opportunity cost:
- Knowing a whale will play the next day means not sleeping represents higher cost
- Good game going currently = greater chance of negating the opportunity cost

Anyway, not trying to be a stickler or whatever, but I think it's a relevant concept in a lot of situations. I've played a lot of sessions for a lot longer than it made sense to given the cost/reward, so it's not like I'm claiming to be perfect about it lol. But I def think that thinking about it in that way can help people make better decisions.

Play all night, keep an extra dress shirt, a tooth brush, and deodorant in your car. Just play till 5:45. Quickly change, brush, and spray then head to work. You are not a true degen till you have done this.

I haven't done this but I am thinking about doing it soon.

It sounds fun but you will regret it the minute you do it. Go home, get a good nights sleep, go to work rested, play poker later.

When evaluating how much value there is in playing a game, most players simply look at the other players in the game. However, that is only half of the equation. The other half of the equation is how well you are playing. I often get to the casino at midnight or later and it's crazy how bad players start playing when they are tired. Even good players often start making silly mistakes and the craziest thing about it is that they often don't even realize they are playing poorly.

while this is true, there is going to be a point where hours played will decrease your win rate to a point where it is just not profitable enough.
I see so many live regs playing 14hrs+ 6 days a week when they could be playing ~10hrs/5 days with the same profit (imo).
not only is it bad for your hourly, its so fkn bad for your health.

It's also bad for your personal life.

Done similar for work. Stayed at the office working all night, grabbed some deodorant from the car, took a 30 min cat-nap at my desk, and stuck around for most of the rest day. Sucked donkey balls. It really screwed you up.

I'd actually be tempted to sleep in the afternoon after work for 6 hours, get up at 9pm or whatever, and head to the poker room for an overnight session. Basically just rotate my whole schedule.

I have played golf many times after not sleeping at all though mainly for non-poker reasons. I don't think it would be too big a deal to work after a full night of poker especially if you are young and your job is not too mentally or physically draining.

I work for a children's hospital so that's not really an option.

The day games are proving to be pretty beatable anyway just in a different way. Super lag is fun!

Hello all, to start off, I apologize if this belongs in the bankroll/finances thread.

Onto my question, I am trying to get back into the live poker scene on a limited bankroll by short stacking at a local casino that has poker pro tables. I have previously been able to successfully pay off 2 semesters of university by playing 1/2NL with a decent bankroll (started with 2k, ended up using around 10k all from winnings in about 1200~ hours, although it wasn't all tracked).

Since I have spent my bankroll on school, I find myself some-what broke attempting to once again build up a roll, but I'm having a rough go at it. Since I started to try and build a roll (that wouldn't need to be dipped into for life expenses like school again) I have played about 150 hours in the last month, up 700$ total, but break even the last 110 hours. I have a part-time job that I use as spending money (150~ weekly), but I have also been dipping into my "bankroll" when money is low.

Basically, my question is whether or not that strategy I am trying to implement here to build a roll is worthwhile or if I am fully just wasting my time/money. Does anyone here have any experience shortstacking live low-limit that can offer any advise? My current bankroll is roughly my winnings (600~) and I currently buy-in for 60-80$, and find the games to be relatively soft w/ low rake.

Lastly, saving up $$$ for a 2-3k roll again is a long shot for me in my current job and do not see myself looking for anything full time in the near future. I enjoy playing poker and would love to be able to build a bankroll again, but the high variance nature and lack of post-flop play of shortstacking is getting overwhelming.

Any advise would be hugely appreciated, thanks guys.

Buying in for less than 30bb is never worth it long term. 30-40bb will be very high variance and your winrate is severely capped. Having said that, it's still possible to have a positive winrate with those stacks. You would want 30 buyins or more though, with 10 buyins is a good chance of going broke. Also you will need to be able to play only 10% of hands or so. This will be very difficult if you're not used to it.

This is a problem, I find myself playing 25%~ of hands with a 30bb stack, defiantly having a huge effect on my win rate.

I'd buy-in for $300 and just play ultra-ultra tight aggressive poker. If you're a winning player and you get lucky, you might never need more than $600. Just go for it with full buy-ins. It will keep you ultra-focused on the game. Play super tight pre + don't played scared when you decide enter a pot.

I think it was Mike Caro that said you should be aggressive in your position because it's easier to replace $600 from the real (non-poker) world than it is if you had a $3,000 BR and lost it.

I have way more experience playing 1-2 on a tight bankroll than I probably should. Im talking 1 or 2 buyins. Just buy in full and hope you dont hit a downswing. It can be done. Dont take thin spots, and after a couple good sessions, if you can avoid beats and coolers, you will be comfortably rolled.

Edit: I can't read.

If you are using money from poker to augment your life income and you don't have enough money to pay for your bills and other expenses I would strongly encourage you to take a break from poker and pick up a second 'real' job. Something with a steady pay check that will not have the potential to lose your hundreds and thousands of $'s a day / week.

Having said that, if you play, buy in for $150 or so, play tight, get value from your value hands, and fold marginal hands. Buying in 150bb deep ($300) is good, and it can be more profitable, but if the majority of other players are the table who are 150bb+ deep with you are just as skilled as you or better than it does you no good to be deep with them. If all the bad players are buying in for $200 or $150 or $100 then you just need to cover them.

Regardless, good luck, don't buy in for $60. Short stacks are cowards.