Let me kick this off by saying that I have been a rec player for a little while but mostly as a hobby rather than trying to make a living off of poker! However, I am more and more convinced that now I have a solid foundation that I am able to win consistently at the tables, BUT (big BUT) only if I could somehow manage to force myself to play.

See, I love playing not because I get the urge to play cards or something -- that part is actually pretty boring as I see it as some typist kind of job that's all too repetitive, for my game selection that is -- but because I have recently picked up my IB HL Maths book and decided to study variance and standard deviation in order to handle the swings.

My sample size is 'round 10k-ish SnGs, with an average ROI of 5%, which definitively tells me I am winning. Yet it's taken me very long (over two years) to get to this kind of sample size. I wanted to get a rough idea if my game is good enough (it could be better but remember I am a rec).

So in short, the math is behind me. And instead of encouraging me to play more, I can't seem to get in the habit of putting more volume daily (even when I have the time). I just can't. I don't know why but I've built up some kind of nasty habit of only playing a fixed amount of tournaments and I would like to see if I can get to this long-term faster without being affected by burnout when I do manage to play for longer period of times.

So I would like to hear from some experienced players who have done this as a part-time or full-time job...how were you able to keep grinding each day, full-on without being affected by rapid swings?

P.S. I am not results-oriented and never was, but the very nature of poker and its repetitiveness is killing me.

I think what is lacking here is having a real incentive to put in volume.

Here's some things to consider:

1) Are you in regular contact with other players that are doing well in poker?

The influence of a single person close-to-you who is smart, playing a lot and doing well can have a massive impact on the way you approach poker. This is really worth having.

When you look back at a poker career and the transition from a hobby to a professional you often find it's the players closest to you that helped you along - https://losingstress.com/2019/11/07/...ks-in-reality/

2) Have you considered playing another type of poker? If you have, what precisely is preventing you from doing so?

Is it the fear of being out of your comfort zone? A reluctance to have to adapt and learn more knowledge?

Overall, it's worth discovering how practical it is to look into the real issues for yourself. That is, specifically, investigating your own habits and patterns in the mind.

From looking clearly the 'solutions' become apparent.

resourse? chiggs, first rule of inbound marketing is to establish yourself as an expert. resourse doesn't help that cause

@OP i wouldn't worry about it, 5% over a sample like that is nice but not super profit or anything, it'll still be one hell of a grind unless those are nosebleed stakes

you also gotta factor in you're already bored as hell doing it in spare time, to ramp up volume is a death wish for you, furthermore, with increased volume, your edge will get shaved down a bit, just the way of things either through extra tables or more time playing tired/bored etc

just keep it as a source of side income and you'll likely earn much more money, have a significantly better social life and be much happier as well

i know those aren't quite words of wisdom, so I'll leave you with a nugget of wisdom

"me jumpin up an down, i'd blacken both my eyes" - Dolly Parton