OK, I know my data might be LOL not enough hours... but I've spent a year tracking my limited play and just want to put it out there.
History: struggled early, but learned to beat heads-up SNGs 2007-2008ish (solid sharkscope scores
) eventually regularly beating the $100 level (we all bumhunted though). Then switched to HU Cash on pokerstars.. some wild variance, but consistently made money up to 200NL. Started playing live cash around 2010, then exclusively live cash after Black Friday 2011.
Live cash history (some 1/2, mostly 2/5): single parent w kids 50/50, have always worked 9-5 FT job...from 2012-2016 played a LOT live but *never* tracked winnings/winrate. Probably at least 40 hours/month, sometimes 50-60. Often used poker cash for groceries, etc, to support my work/life roll.
2016-present: achieved some balance in my social life... started to date, have a girlfriend past 18 months, so my 50% of time without kids is not nearly as available for poker. Noticed that my financial life suffered... credit card bill going up, can't use poker cash to pay for things as not playing nearly as much. This sucks, but it made me realize that my 'win rate' was probably pretty damn good when I played regularly.
Nov 17-Oct 18: I love poker, and hope to use it as semi-retirement someday, or let it give me some flexibility if I decide to switch jobs, etc. Decided to diligently track my sessions (use Poker Ledger, very basic but easy to use, reliable so far).
This data includes all live cash play. So, only averaging about 10 hours/month, sadly. Of the 120 hours
- 77 at local casino throughout the year
- 34 in Vegas Nov 2017
- 4 hour home game ( + $400 1/2 session lol)
- 5 hours local card club
1/2 - 30 hours at $38/hour
2/5 - 82 hours at $35/hour
5/10 - 8 hours at $317/hour (lol some nice variance but should be noted that this is almost exclusively 2/5 tables that converted to 5/10, when I ran pretty well)
Mostly weekends days/evenings, but a few days of 9-5 at the casino 1/2. Note my Bellagio 2/5 win rate... my last night in Vegas was a Monday I'll never forget - won pot after pot for 6 hours.
Of course, this will be much more relevant when I get to 500 hours, 1000 hours... but just wanted to share. Thanks for reading..