First PLO was going to be the future and now mixed games, lol yeah right. Large field NLH MTT will forever be the most popular

If Moore's Law, which has begun to break down recently, revealing itself to be more of an empirical trend than a law, were maintained, we would still not be able to fully solve chess until the early 22nd century, i.e. it's likely no-one will be around to appreciate it.

Plo is the future for people who actually want to gamble. But nl will always be more popular than all bc poker rooms are filled with nits these days.

Been a full time player for 16+ years, have never considered it a grind, ever. I wish all the people who thought it was a grind would just quit and go away. Those who think like that are 99% of the time terrible for the game.

This is the only way. Unfortunately who has time?

Playing poker now for a little over a year, can genuinely say that I'm super excited to keep playing. Whether I'm working on my strategy, socializing with other players, or mindlessly clicking buttons, I'm here for it.

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat - "Fortune favours the bold"

Wheeee! What you describe sounds like the big mixed game I was playing in a few weeks ago. I made money and had fun doing it. It was great. I wish every session was like that.

Mix and plo are also smaller player pools so it makes for a more familiar environment. Hold 'em you see new faces every time you play so there is less camaraderie.

A year, that’s cute, come back in 10 years and tell us how you feel.

Let it be fun as long as it lasts!

I've only been playing poker for just over twenty years and I still enjoy it.

I've been playing in my casino's 1/3 NL game once a week since 2010 and pretty much never missed a week. Still enjoy it and look forward to my weekly session, including tonight's!

G752sessions/5785hoursandcounting...G

I would have quit long ago if poker was just degenerate gambling with no math, no theory, no concepts to grasp, and everything else that forms a winning strategy. Poker being very silent, very robotic, and at least in the case of HU, having an actual solution, is exactly what draws me to the game and makes me love it.

Every competitive endeavor eventually becomes a grind if you’re serious enough about it.

The same for professional athletes. I remember reading an article a few years ago on why football players tend to get into so many unhealthy habits after retiring (some do it while still playing), with some of them becoming quite obese like Ronaldo here in Brazil for example. You can get why they end like that right?

The question is, if a person is still playing poker trying to maximize every single dollar, why don't they try something else where their efforts will be much more profitable?

Unless you are Andrew Robl (or similar) getting invited to the craziest of the crazy nosebleed games, any poker player with the skill, intelligence, and focus could make much more money chasing other stuff. Unless you are strongly autistic (which is not meant as an insult, I really get it), why are you grinding for a relatively meager living (relatively is an important word).

Poker is and always will be a social game. Social engineering is far more important than actual poker skill. If it wasn't that way, the game would die off as it would only be played by a few prodigies crushing any challengers.

Unless you are part of the most elite of the elite, poker should be first and foremost about having fun. I am not saying making money isn't a secondary goal, it could and should be for many.

Just do not delude yourselves.

The fun part is the chance to win. But I like to watch the others trying the same, including nice small talk. It's not much about real world money. It's about winning. And the thrill of variance in the process.

Id rather work at McDonald's now than play online poker.

Play is very robotic and solved.

Players just aren't bad enough anymore to make good money when the poker site takes 5 percent of every single pot that you play.

Every year I make about 10% in poker compared to what I make at my real day-in-day-out job; so I don't play for the money as it is fairly meaningless overall at my lol steaks. I play for the fun, the social aspect, the lols, the attempt at implementing my strategy (nitty as hell) as best as possible to see how it goes over the "long term", the competitive aspect, the fact that it is a different night than my other six that week, etc.

My guess is the key to lasting in poker over the long term and still enjoying it is to balance it appropriately in your life amongst all the other things (work, family + pets, hobbies, sports, chores, entertainment, etc.) that you do.

GcluelesslifebalanacenoobG

seems pretty obvious the guy who says he plays once a week 1/2 nl is playing bc he enjoys it and if he wins it's a profitable hobby.

15 years in (NL online only) and absolutely love the game still. Can definitely be a grind and drawn out downswings still hurt, but i love playing

"I would have quit long ago if poker was just degenerate gambling with no math, no theory, no concepts to grasp, and everything else that forms a winning strategy. Poker being very silent, very robotic, and at least in the case of HU, having an actual solution, is exactly what draws me to the game and makes me love it."

Exactly this. I spend lots of hours, listening to podcasts/lofi, just grinding, finding some kind of "peace" playing poker - and this only because its silent and in some ways "robotic"..

if you guys think NL is solved.. uhh yehhh....

Think it all is about how you approach it.

If you treat it like a job I.e. I need/want money from this to live or fund a vacation or something important to your life no matter how fun it is at the beginning and how much you enjoy competition it will end up feeling grindy and boring at least some of the time. You create a cycle where you force yourself to play when you aren’t enjoying it or x/hrs a day or week or month or year and you begin to resent playing.

If you treat it like entertainment it will be less stressful and ultimately more enjoyable when you do play.

Unfortunately poker has shifted from the majority being seeing it as more of a source of entertainment to a necessity for people to survive which has caused the deterioration of games in my opinion. As people said plo tends to be more casual but still some games especially high stakes can have a miserable atmosphere for sure.

Entertainment like golf. That old saying '...i hate golf, i hate golf, hey nice shot, i love golf!...' Poker is the same way. Go out and have a couple drinks, good meal and then play 3-4 hours. I can see the ones who play serious and sweat their minimum buy in and only play the nuts sweating every pot, they don't have any fun. Every once in a while some drunks will wander in from the golf course and go all in blind for stacks. Last week I took them for $1k on a $300 buy in. I love poker!

When it becomes a grind, I'll quit.