Hey,

was curious to know how long do you usually play cash games?
When are you starting to feel tired and stop?

There are quite a few threads on this so you can search for them as well as see what happens here. I can only really speak of live play but did play online long ago.

I think that session length is a function of each player's 'normal' window. I see guys who normally play at night for a steady 4 hours or so and then all of a sudden want to 'burn the candle' when they go to Vegas for 3 days.

You need to be self aware to when you start to 'stretch' or play or make bad plays.

1) Take a walk ... I have a few OMCs that take a whole orbit off every 2 or 3 orbits. Drives the table nuts!!

2) Always pick something that you are studying at the table to keep your mind working. 3-bettors, live tells, chip shuffling, who can talk during a hand and who 'can't' ...

3) Test yourself on what your hole cards were at the end of each hand. If you struggle to remember, then you aren't zoned in!!

4) Are you counting your chips/profit? This is big sign that I am ready to 'lock down' a win or need to do something to refocus.

5) If the game is good for you, you keep playing. If the game is not good then (tired or not) it's time to move on.

I still go back to gearing what your body is used to doing. And that can be different for each player. GL

I start to lose focus after 8 hours straight so I either eat, take a break, or pick up depending on how the games are and where I am profit wise (or stuck wise).

5hrs max.

Cool!

@answer20: What does OMC mean?

I used to feel I had to put in 8 hours. Of course, depending on how close the casino is, will make this a different answer.

Once they opened up a casino close to my house (25 minutes) , I started smaller sessions when I had a couple hours to play.

I enjoy long sessions maybe 5-8 hours. It kinda depends how i am running and table is good.

I haven't been doing it as much lately, but my standard is to play 10+ hour sessions.

It depends on a lot of things. My average session in a public cardroom is probably 4 to 5 hours.

At home games, however, it's probably a lot longer. Aside from etiquette considerations, home games are generally more relaxed and lower stakes, so it's easier to stay awake and on-point longer (as long as I'm not drinking, and I'm usually not).

Depends on my mental state and the makeup of the table.

My games go a few days a week so I'm usually putting in longer hours per day, anywhere from 10-14 usually.

I usually plan to quit after four hours, because I know that’s when I’ll start feeling tired and lose interest. (That my four hours usually ends around 1:00 or 2:00 AM might have something to do with it.) Conditions would have to be really special for me to play longer.

Unless the game is absolutely incredible, I rarely play longer than 5 hours.

If I stay too long, I'll lack motivation to come back tomorrow. By leaving after 5 hours, the fire is still burning and I am easily motivated to return the next day.

And of course, there's a limit to how long you can focus and play your best.

Also, there's nothing worse than playing a really long session and then leaving even or down after you were up significantly earlier in the night. Last night was such a typical night for me, and I feel few people would leave when I did. I was playing in a loose 1/3 game, and was down $400 very early in the session. Then about 3 hours into the session I was up over $800. After 5.5 hours I was up $500. At this point I evaluate my psychological EV. The stacks were deep and a big pot against anybody could cost me my winning session and completely ruin my night. The game was good but not amazing. At this point, I like taking the $500 win that I know I can feel good about, and coming back fresh and happy for another session soon. I'm fully aware of how awful I'd feel if my winnings now disappeared. Pro players I know aren't supposed to think like this but I feel there is EV In it. If I'm up $500 early in a session and it disappears, this isn't a big deal, I have all the time and energy to still hve a good night. But after 5.5 hours and having a good night locked up, I leave to avoid the risk of having one of those awful nights where you come home at 6am with no profits and only the memory of a big stack that disappeared. The fact that my stack had been trending downwards over the last couple of hours from +800 to +500 also plays a role in my decision making.

Cool read Carnivore! Are you playing pro?

Used to rarely play more than 5 hours. I lived close to the casino and had a lot of time off during days so it was convenient for me to get in a few hours when I felt like it. I'd play multiple short sessions a week.

Now I will rarely play less than 6 hours. The casino is over an hour away, if I go in the afternoon there will be a wait, and I'm busy during the week so I can only manage one session a week.

Undoubtedly, my play was a lot better with short sessions. I'd leave before I got tired or went on tilt. I felt that I could leave immediately if I was off my game or if none of the games were good, since I wasn't too far from home. Now I feel obligated to play in games that might barely be profitable so as not to waste a 2:30 round trip.

I'm getting better at playing longer sessions without spewing but it's a skill that takes a lot of work and it's my only option if I want to play poker at all. And it's pretty exhausting being out for 10+ hours, which is why I can only play one day a week.

If you have the choice I recommend being really conservative with when you decide to end a session. I think a lot of people underestimate how much their winrate tanks when they are below their absolute best. One loose preflop call, one missed steal, one missed value bet -- these things are all worth one or more hours of profit each. If you are making those mistakes (even rarely) you aren't making money, you are just occupying a seat.

Good post Carnivore -- let's be honest, few people are really good enough to not care at all about things like that. If staying longer and losing is going to make you feel salty and not want to play the next day you are costing yourself EV even though on paper it shouldn't matter.

Yeah, I recently started driving to a room 45+ minutes away because for some reason the room 10 minutes away has turned into a nitfestival.

My session yesterday was another one that fit my pattern. I was really card dead for about 4 hours, and was never up or down more than $150. Finally, late in the night I won a few hands and was up $450 ish. I continued playing but started to lose that momemtum, and 5.5 hours into the session, still up $290, I decided to take the EV of happinness, and go home with another respectable win. At 3:30am there seems to be more to lose by staying, especially when a stack trending downward is so often a recipe for tilt.. By leaving, I now feel like I can't wait to get back to the poker room, and will probably try to book another session tonight. I doubt I'd have any of that enthusiasm if I had stuck around until 6am without winning significantly more. And even if I had, I might be too burnt out to follow that session up with another tonight.

Well, that's what makes the 3:30am games good. But if you're doing that too, you're not making money.

This is definitely the right thinking. If I think the game is really that good, I will stay. And maybe you're right that I should be staying while the game is breaking down. At 3:30 am last night we were down to 6 handed on the only table still running, and 2 or 3 of the players were straddling but nobody seemed to be playing terrible. Maybe if I was down or up nothing or up 700 I would've stayed. But that precarious point of being up about 100 big blinds, where the win is pretty solid but very vulnerable to being gone in one pot, I'm currently happy to take the psychological EV of walking out with a decent win.

Anything short of 6 hours for me is short. Im heading to Vegas in 2 weeks for 5 days and plan on playing for as long as I can. 30 hours has been done before. One would generally need a shower at that point though

I would also add that if you are a recreational player Like I am, it is ok to play longer hours. We dont get to play as much and dont rely on poker to pay the bills. If you are one who relies on poker to keep the lights on then I would say playing longer than 6-8 hours a day would not be good.

Agree with all this. Have fun poker binging in Vegas!

2-3 hours max. Even if I am on a 5 day junket at the Borgata, I break up the playing day into 2.5 hour segments with at least 2 hours breaks between sessions. And I live 1 hour from the Sands in Bethlehem and Mount Airy in the Poconos, so I can drive in, play 2-3 hours, and leave.

I take my cue from other human competitions. Most do not ordinarily stretch beyond 3 hours since most humans can't execute most competitive activities at a very high level beyond 2-3 hours or so.

I don't really care how long you play, you do what makes you feel best. However, I think comparing 'competitive human activities'(things like football, tennis, baseball, hockey) shouldn't really be compared to a competitive game where one just sits on his ass the whole time. A better analogy would be comparing poker to a desk job or any typical 9-5 career job where the person is required to use his brain (first and foremost) vs. the career that requires mostly physical demands. So imo, an 8 hr. day at the poker tables shouldn't really be that tough, unless of course you're used to working 2-3 hrs at a time and/or you simply don't have that strong of a desire to sit at a poker table.

You still get paid for being half-asleep at your desk though.

In poker you get fined.

Not at every desk. And I would think that many employers would fire someone who did that more than once or twice.

Depends on the game.

And who mentioned anything about falling asleep? I can play poker for 12 hrs and still be on top of my game, and I'm not fooling myself with that statement---some people just have more energy, the ability to stay focused for longer periods, and more desire( desire is KEY) and, I think what I do away from the table helps me to improve all that. But ask me to watch tv or sit behind a desk for more than a couple of hours and I'd be bored out of mind or falling asleep. Everyone has different agendas.

I usually play until I've lost all my chips. Or a really annoying player joins the table.