Right now, I am have been dealing with alot of negative/difficult things in life over the past year, and I've turned to poker as an escape and pursuit, which gives me something to look forward to. I first started playing back in 2004, so I am not new to the game. Recently, I have been playing every single day since early September 2021 for over 200 straight days.

I just finished playing all day today and I made $20. I looked at my Pokertracker stats since November 2021, and it shows over 1,500 hours played for over $5,000 for over $3.29 USD per hour. This doesn't include the bonuses I've earned.

It is nice that I was able to earn a few thousand dollars in the past few months, but for the amount of time spent, that feels like a loss in a way. If I include the fact that I'm being entertained during that time, that counts as a benefit. The improvements in my game and being able to climb stakes are satisfying also. But it does feel like a bit of a sting to the ego, to see that I'm making such a small return for my time.

I know that that most poker players are losing players. So there are people who are making an negative return per hour, while mine is positive. That is something to be grateful for.

Just wondering if anyone else is dealing with this situation as well, where you put in so much time and effort to play, improve, track your results in the game of poker, but the return on it is less than you would like. For me it is less than the return on a minimum wage job. I don't play for a living or anything, but I'd like to be able to earn enough from poker that it can have a positive impact on my life.

One year I grinded a bonus on a site and made about $86 profit in a couple days. A site that showed your profit ranking for the year on that site had me well within the top 10%. $3/hr is not terrible. In some countries you could live on that, and some poker players do. Many poker players want to win, but never can. You could continue to improve and get that hourly to $10 and maybe beyond. Those are all positives to focus on.

It sounds like you're making the classic mistake of playing just your cards. Also, if that $20 win was in $0.05/$0.10 and you played 10 hours, then that would be 20bb/hr, which is just crushing the game. That's why the total dollar amount is meaningless and bb/hr, or bb/100 is everything.

Now I haven't played online since stars went offline in the U.S. and I understand the games are nowhere near as soft. However, one basic principle still applies: poker isn't a game of cards played with people, it's a game of people played with cards.

I grant that that's easier to apply in a live setting, but it does apply online. Just listen to how DNegs talks when he's playing. He starts with the fundamentals and then ranges what he's up against based on what he knows about his opponent and what his opponent thinks of him.

I've been playing poker for a long time and once the fundamentals were second nature, which took a lot, studying my opponents' personalities has become both addictive and consuming. It's also where the majority of my profit comes from. It's why I can be card dead for a couple of hours and still enjoy the time and stay sharp.

Just to quantify the stakes and win rate, my ROI in Pokertracker is showing as 14% in the past 5 months. I play MTTs mainly with some SNGs, and my average buy in is around $8, as I play in games from $3.30 to $16.50. I spend around $250-$300 per day on tournament buy ins. A 14% ROI on $275 = $38.50 per day. I earn about $120 a month in bonuses. It looks like I'm putting in close to 300 hours per month lately.

I think the way for me to earn more would be to move up in stakes and try to maintain my ROI. I'd like to start playing in some of the $20-$30 MTTs, however with my current bankroll of about $4K, I'm not sure how I would withstand downswings at those stakes. Even though I'm a winning player at my current stakes, I had to overcome a $800 downswing that took a few weeks to bounce back from. Rightt now I'm just going to keep building my roll and fixing leaks. Hopefully moving up in stakes can lead to a higher hourly profit.

Clearly online play then. Unfortunately, for me, a HUD just doesn't provide the nuance necessary for much of the people play that I advocate. DNegs, however, does seem to apply it very well online. I would look him up on youtube. If nothing else, his videos are entertaining, if frequently long.

I suppose the only real question is: what is your long-term goal? If it's really that poker can have a positive financial impact on your life and you only play tournaments, then you should be looking at much higher buyins, like $100+. But then, variance is a *****.

Still, you seem to be doing OK. If I were you, I would keep my own council.

My ultimate goal is to make as much money per hour playing, while still enjoying the game and improving as much as I can. I'd like to easily earn at least $5-$10k per year, with out having to dedicate so much time to playing. I chose to go more of an MTT route, because the excitement of running deep keeps it fun. I have experienced the variance of it for sure which is why I like to be well bank rolled, in order to avoid stress from the downswings.

Alot of guys seem to be grinding cash. I did live 1/2 a few years ago, and that seemed to be the most profitable form of poker I've ever played. However, the live scene is dying in Vancouver, so online is just a more available game.

Online cash maybe a profitable venture and moreso that MTTs. I'm not sure though, and probably won't know until I try. It is definitely different areas to fine tune and understand compared to MTTs where there is ICM, stack size changes, etc.

If you have played 200 days in a row as an escape, there is something else in your life that is probably way more important to get right than your poker game.



Hey, I love the game. I get that. But balance in life is more important. Just my 2 cents.



OTOH, I have no idea who you are or what you may or may not be dealing with, so YMMV. Best of luck to you.

Hey man, you are right. I've been neglecting alot of things in my life for the past few months. I'm playing right now, and will play less today, but I think I am due for at least a day off, if not an extended break.