To answer the title of the thread: Yes.

In Vegas games will be worse because you are mostly dependent on tourists as the fish. I think in other parts of the country games will get better though.

Not being able to play poker hasn't changed my quality of life at all. Being unemployed, not being able to find work, and having just purchased a house is a lot scarier. Not being able to go out to bars and restaurants has probably helped my financial situation though.

I miss the money but I definitely don't miss most of the people I played with- especially brokeish grinders.

The last time I played live poker was March 10. After almost three months I guess I can post an honest answers to this question. First off, I don't miss poker at all. I have always been fairly active so not playing hasn't changed that one way or the other. The games at my local casino were slowing down in any event. I'm sure people were leaving poker for a variety of reasons. But whatever the reasons they were leaving. The folks left were a decidedly unsavory bunch. And before anyone states the obvious, I am well aware that those folks could say the same thing about me. I wonder if when live poker returns I'll even have that much desire to return. Are the only people left going to be the folks who post open the casinos at any price. . .I need to play. Who cares if the next guy gets sick. I don't really want to spend my time with folks like that.

And let's face the facts poeple: The live game is dying. I'm not saying it's going to disappear. That's foolish. But I remember when going to my local casino on a Friday or Saturday night was any exercise in futility unless one got there early. 1/2 and 2/5 lists were regularly 50 or 60 deep. This is not an exaggeration. The last years one could walk in at any time and get a seat after at best a short wait.

So to conclude. When the casinos open in my area and I consider it safe (probably not till the end of the year at best) I'll probably return. But it won't be with my previous frequency. I won't say my life is better without live poker, but it certainly isn't worse.

What area are you in? In Maryland the games are still good with waiting lists on weekends and MGM at least. But this is an area where people have a lot of disposable income and the casinos are in convenient locations. That said the action slows somewhat after a few years because no limit is so punishing if you are terrible (and deeper buy in structures can exacerbate that as well as people who don’t make the games fun). Back in the day with limit games it was rare to have a bad table, the games stayed good and there was a clear trajectory to move up from 10-20 to 20-40 to 30-60, 50-100 and higher. So if recs and regs got on a run they moved up, when they got cracked they moved down and even bad players could go on monster runs (before of course losing a lot). If you are horrible at 2-5 with 1k buyin it will be hard to win even a few sessions in a row unless you hit and run. But the poker players have spoken and prefer no limit, it is what it is. But while there are fewer games, games like 20-40 and higher limit, mix, etc. are still good and the players are more social, have fun and don’t get as irritated when losing. Depends how people want to gamble I guess. I play no limit now often but other games when I can like big o, high low limit games, sometimes limit hold em when available.

On the broader question, I miss poker and will be happy when it is back and I am comfortable enough to play.

Jeffage, I'm in the Chicago area. The two big rooms are Horseshoe Hammond, Indiana and Potawatomi in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From my location Horseshoe is closer. All the better because Horseshoe is the better room. Potawatomi is really no fold 'em hold 'em, which is great if one can remain patient. But it can get frustrating when one plays correctly and is beaten by the guy who played 3/8 because it was suited. But that's poker, right? LOL.

All I can say is what I said above. There are few players coming to Horseshoe. I'm not saying the room is empty, just that the crowd is noticeably smaller. It makes me wonder what the room will look like when it reopens.

The other thing people discount is higher rake. When I started out in AC it was 4 bucks max and no jackpot drop. Now it’s 5+2 here in md. While the jackpot money goes back to players you probably won’t get it so consider it rake. That’s seven a hand coming off vs four in a game getting tighter as the years go by (and structured in a way to not punish tight play). Time games that are six or seven an hour jackpot are eminently more beatable. Or the plo games that are five max with no jackpot. Generally I try to avoid jackpot drop but sometimes I play it too. All of this is money out of the poker economy and it means fewer break even players let alone people who win significantly. And the rake can only go up whole stakes don’t go up to match. Tough cycle.

Im from Europe, so COVID restrictions are getting better, but its still not a lowed to gather more than 15 or around that people, and casinos are not allowed to work. How ever my local poker place organised a first cash game event since early march, so it have been exactly 2 month without live poker. The action was amazing two full 9 ring tables. We played 1/2 NL but everyone was super deep. People were drinking and willing to have a good time, so money was flying, a lot of players were playing ridiculously. I can proudly say that I booked nice winnings. Next monday we are playing again and Im super excited. I think this time put us in the situation where we can see from other perspective and appreciate things which was before guaranteed.

I miss live but online boomed, so the trade off is fine with me. I look forward to doing both at the same time though.

I stopped playing online bc I’m not a fan of only playing acr. It’s a joke
When they host great gtn mtts and then everything goes down during a series (Moss, oss, etc) bc they are too ambitious and run a bunch of tournies with k’s of players and they can’t handle it.

Ugh, I mainly play live mtts and travel for them so I’ve saved some vacation time from work and money from mtts I may have busted. I’m actually kinda happy about this break bc I’ve saved a ton of money in my 401k and personal investment accounts as I have played live mtts. It’s nice to have some time to build my life roll and saving now is easy as I can’t really spend money at bars/ restaurants/ travel which is cool I guess.

I miss live mtts though. I’ll probably dabble in some online mtts soon and for rest of this year however I’m looking forward to live poker coming back. I’m hoping it can come back this fall or winter but honestly not sure it will. I wanna say parx is closed for poker the rest of the year (I think I saw that somewhere so not 100% sure). I’ll be worried if we don’t have solid live mtts by next spring or a wsop Vegas next year. Highely unlikely but can’t wait till live mtts are back.

No live poker has given me the time to decide what I really want out of the game. I am retired and a casual rec player. I play maybe 4 to 8 sessions a month. I usually just fooled around and played 1/2 NLHE with whatever disposable I had at the moment. Maybe win $100-300. Maybe lose the same. More of an entertainment thing than trying to make money to pay bills. Just the kind of player you guys love.

The shutdown has given me an opportunity to get serious about winning without the distraction of just playing for the social aspects of the game or playing with no clear goal. With the shutdown, I decided to get serious about studying and get a few hours in every day. Reading and Youtube videos mostly. I thought I knew something about the game until I started peeling the onion and found just how much I don't know. Now I practice calculating SPR, ranges, blockers, bet sizing and a dozen other concepts I used to just give a nod to. Found out I was playing too loose in some places and too tight in others making for a pretty hit or miss type of session.

I have never had a dedicated bankroll to give 2/5 NLHE a real shot. I played a few times just to see how it felt and was not comfortable due to being under funded. I did okay, but I would not consider myself a winning player. Break even at best. I was playing "scared money". There was no way I could withstand an extended downswing, so I didn't really care for the game with that in the back of my mind.

So, I had a talk with myself and decided to began building a bankroll since I have nowhere to go and nothing to spend money on. I am not tempted to stop at the casino for 4 handed NLHE, so a spur of the moment decision to play is not there. My goal is to build a $20K bankroll and really attempt to get my poker house in order with solid play and tracking my results. I believe most of my shortfalls are due to lack of self-discipline and not looking at poker as anything more than a diversion or entertainment. With all the social distancing rules in effect I have no desire to play short handed or behind a plexiglas shield, so if I don't play for a year, I'm okay with that.

Enjoy your day!

^^ Solid post!

Sounds like you're on your way/intelligent comments! Best wishes...

I'm a purely recreational player that has been playing live pokers since 2006 (zero hands of on-line). I'm fairly certain I haven't gone more than 2 weeks without playing a session in that time, and I average about once a week. 40.5 hours shy of 5K hours at live 1/3 NL, at about 7 bb/hr (which has admittedly been dropping steadily over the years).

It's been 3 months since I've played a session.

Not sure if I'll get in another session this year. Casinos are last on the re-opening priority list here. And I'm guessing poker will be last on the casino priority list and who knows how long it will take to return to a form that I'd find enjoyable (the only reason I play in spite of the decent but overall relatively meaningless money I've made playing it).

I can appreciate what OP was getting at. I've been able to concentrate a lot of hours on a backyard project due to having no other recreational activity distractions. I've also enjoyed the more time I've been able to spend with the wife and last-stepchild-who-hasn't-left-the-house-yet; we cook and eat the majority of our dinners together, hang out, and have a TV show we watch most every night. As we're slowly returning to our more normal busy schedules I find that's the thing I'll miss the most about the pandemic times.

As for poker, in spite of playing it ~once a week / ~550 hours a year for the last 15 years, I haven't missed it in any burning desire / leaving a huge void sense. I simply miss it on the same level as the other things I'm currently not able to do, in the sense it would be nice to do. I'll happily return to poker when (if?) it returns in the form I enjoy, but it's not as if I'm anxiously awaiting a circled date on the calendar.

Glifetilt:stuck$1in2020(forrealz)G

I would say that if you play for recreational purposes, then your life probably is still the same, because poker did not affect your life in a major way, but if you play - I dont want to say all the time- but lets say = most of the times, then yes, your life would dramatically change since you dont play anymore.. But my life hasnt changed, I play when I want to, have time and money for playing.. So, if I dont want to, then I dont play. The key is to recognize the times when its not appropriate to play.

With no live games running I got the itch to start playing online again. So basically just plan to continue trolling the micro tables until the card room opens back up. We did have a home game 2 weeks ago which was fun, but with friends it's not really about the money.

I miss the adrenaline rush and cant wait to play full ring again.
and using the downtime to study the game and learn more has only increased the desire to get back to the battle

I really miss my best enemies.

I miss watching unlikable fish lose and fun players make the game into s magical and oftentimes absurd gamble-fest. I don’t miss playing ridiculously long sessions hoping to get even or staying in a juicy game too long.

I think overall I miss the poker room, but it has driven in me a desire to go back to school and finish my degree so it will probably end in a net positive for me.

I would say no for me. I live a pretty tedious life and playing live poker tournaments are the only thing I look forward to. I don't go on vacations to just relax/ see new places. I vacation/travel to play live poker mtts.

I won my first WSOP circuit ring in March (not a brag- it was a small $400). Not going to lie, I'm dieing to get back on the live tourny grind and feel like I was just getting into a solid groove playing live. Played probably 60-70 live mtts in 2019 so felt I finally have gotten into a solid swing where I can play as many live mtts as I want (in my bi range which is low but still probably crazy to the non gambler). ex; when I was in college, playing a $200-400 mtt was a lot of money and now its like if i lose $400-600...... I really could care less bc i'm set in my career/life.

I'm dieing for live tournaments to come back right now. I don't expect live poker to be back soon (maybe it will be around in 2021 but idk). At the moment, I would play live tournaments and could care less about covid worries honestly (I already had it in May). I do think games would be bad now though bc i feel most of the fun players probably won't be playing and a higher % of serious grinders will be playing.

I have saved a lot of money though. Have maxed my 401k so far this year and have put a ton of money in the stock market. This break from poker might actually be good for me bc I have put a ton of money away for a house which I should probably get soon (i'm in my early 30s).

Also I could care less if cash games come back. I see maryland live is running cash games. I would much rather play a tournament vs a cash game. I feel cash games wouldn't even be juicy now and they just don't excite me.

Damn you maxed out your 401K and put a ton into the stockmarket but you still miss the gambol gambol lol donkaments so much that you can't say your life has gotten better.

Having not stepped foot in a casino since mid-March, I suited up with mask, gloves and plexiglas and played a 7 handed 1/2 NLHE game. Buy in was $300 max and I noticed only one other player had more than that. Everyone else was somewhere between $100-200. I bought in for the max and intended to sit back and let the cards come to me until I got a feel for the game. Played pretty tight and the first hand I won was with a set of 4's on the button.

I played maybe 15-20% of my hands and most held up using some bet sizing and aggressive play. Using my new found smarts, I was tight aggressive. I rarely limped or called. The results were amazing with preflop raises and C-bets. I had a lot of run-good and everyone paid me off. With their stacks, a few times. After a while, I was able to really see how bad some of these players are and took full advantage of their passive play and only calling when they had the nuts. It was shocking. Everyone wanted to limp, but that wasn't happening when I was in the hand and I stole a bunch of pots with late position bluffs and reraises on the flop. I was also hitting the flop more than my fair share, so a couple guys were always trying to outplay me, but when they did try, I had the goods which really helped my table image.

I'm really stoked about how much more I saw at the table after studying and paying attention in school. It felt at times like I knew what someone was going to do before they did. It's almost like learning a visual and math based language. I can almost hear people like Brad Owens and Alex Torelli whispering in my ear. LOL.

Yesterday after about 4.5 hours, I cashed out +$595. Today, 4.5 hrs +$218 after a couple brutal beats.

I know this run ain't going to keep up at this pace, but I'm enjoying the new found knowledge and the confidence that comes along with it. I'll probably get to dance with that evil *****, Miss Variance soon.

Sorry to drone on, but after 3.5 months of just thinking about stuff, to see it actually in motion makes me smile.

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

My income has been cut in half (well a bit less than half actually,.but whatever). My casino is still giving us benefits and doesn't seem to be rushing back until safety considerations are taken care of.