To the Pros and Semi Pros

[Sarge85]

To Pros and Semi Pros….

I work a ho-hum job and live vicariously of the poker pros and semi pros that are supporting themselves by playing poker. My job is pretty well defined. Show up at 7:30, do this task, check this, call so and so, go home at 5:00.

I’m curious how poker pros schedule their day/weeks/months.

Do any of you keep rigid schedules?
Do you “only” play X amount of hours a day?
Do you look ahead and schedule tournaments?
Do you plan blocks of your day to review poker tracker numbers exclusively?
Do you have a travel budget for tournaments?
Do you switch from site to site based on the time of the day because X site is better at certain hours.
Dedicate X amount of hours to post hands on 2+2 or just read 2+2?
What financial planning do you do – spending your BR on retirement/insurance/etc.
Speaking of insurance – how many have medical insurance.

OR – do you just play where ever when ever.

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[LImitPlayer]

I do not keep a rigid schedule

I play 40 hours per week period, how these hours are put in varies, sometimes i will play 4-5 hours a day and other days I will play 10. I try to play at night as much as I can because the games are softer then. With a fiance and a two year old daughter, this isn't always possible. I always play during her afternoon nap.

I rarely play tourney's when I do it's just for fun.

I rarely review my pokertracker stats. I do look at my BB/100, VPIP, aggresion etc on a daily basis to see where it is headed, and If a hand that I played is bugging me I will review that hand,(this has happened maybe 2 or 3 times since I started playing full time) I use poker tracker mainly for the note taking purposes which is very important to me as I 8 table. Some players read and study for hours a day, I on the other hand believe the practical experience you get from playing far outways the benifit you can get from studying.

I don't have a travel budget for tourneys as I dont play them, however I will go to my local casino for a change of pace to play live or play the 10 person $100 buy in tourneys that are always going on night or day.

I play on Empire and Poker Now and I play there exclusively, only time I switch sites is when a Party skin is doing a reload bonus, such as the Party $200 reload bonus that is going on now. I don't bother chasing bonuses at sites such as UB or Starts simply because the players are better, I have no pokertracker notes on them and I have no rakeback deal there. Going anywhere else is simply not worth my time.

I read the 2+2 and other poker forums for about an hour a day.

As far as financial planning goes, I have just recently sold my business of 12 years and have that set aside in investments that can be easily liquidated in case I ever decide to quit playing and want to open up another business.
I have been planning for retirement ever since I have been self-employed as there are no retirement plans or pensions for those that are self-employed. I will dedicate a % of my poker winnings to retirement the same as I was dedicating a % of my paycheck to RRSP's and investments when I was self-employed.

I live in Canada and have no need for medical insurance.

On a side note I love playing for a living. I have more free time then ever before (working 40 hours a week compared to 60+) and the fact that I am able to stay at home and spend more time with my fiance and daughter is something I can't even put a value on.

[4thstreetpete]

I too have a ho hum job. For the last little while I've been focusing on playing a certain X number of hands a day and keeping it consistent. There were times in the past that I just didn't feel like playing after coming home from work and would log on for a few hands and then just quit, I'm refraining from that now.
As far as tournaments go, I hardly ever play tournaments now and when I do it's for fun. I do well in sit n gos but they take up too much time that I could be spending playing ring games.
I have not played in a live tournament yet but hopefully this will change this year or the next. Would love to meet up with some 2+2ers.
I only play at Pokernow but do jump to other sites for tournaments or ring games.
I have a lot of money saved up, some for my RRSP (retirement), some for investments/stocks, but most of the money is going towards my new house.
I live in canada so I don't need medical insurance.

[Rudbaeck]

I'm probably starting to break into the semi-semi-pro circles. Recently I started using hands played milestones. I try to play 1,500 hands a day, 7,500 hands a week, 30,000 hands a month. (This might increase by 50% if I get comfortable 6-tabling.) That's about a 30 hour work week, and I feel comfortable with that.

I surf 2+2 spontaneously, but usually several times a day. I suck at answering the hands I read, and suck even more at posting questionable hands of my own, but a new year's resolution to get better at both is forthcoming.

I try to review PT data the following morning/lunchtime. As I am a european the daytime games are pretty damn bad, so I am better off doing other things then (like actually studying!) and waiting for the evening/night to play poker.

I've found that having #hands as milestones works very well for me, and I hope it continues to do so.

[Sarge85]

Good Stuff Pete, I appreciate the feedback.

But I've got to ask.

WTF is your Avatar doing?

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[bicyclekick]

[ QUOTE ]

Do any of you keep rigid schedules?


[/ QUOTE ]
Nope
[ QUOTE ]

Do you “only” play X amount of hours a day?


[/ QUOTE ]
nope
[ QUOTE ]

Do you look ahead and schedule tournaments?


[/ QUOTE ]
nope
[ QUOTE ]

Do you plan blocks of your day to review poker tracker numbers exclusively?


[/ QUOTE ]
nope
[ QUOTE ]

Do you have a travel budget for tournaments?


[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Do you switch from site to site based on the time of the day because X site is better at certain hours.


[/ QUOTE ]
I have a few times, but not because it's better, but because there is games of the limit I want going during those hours.
[ QUOTE ]

Dedicate X amount of hours to post hands on 2+2 or just read 2+2?


[/ QUOTE ]
No structure to my 2+2 posting/reading.
[ QUOTE ]

What financial planning do you do – spending your BR on retirement/insurance/etc.


[/ QUOTE ]
Haven't been playing quite long enough to have this sorted out. So far a lot of it is sitting in ING in a 2.25% interest savings account.
[ QUOTE ]

Speaking of insurance – how many have medical insurance.


[/ QUOTE ]
Have 1 more semester of school left, so still on parents bill. Once I graduate I'll be getting insurance.

[4thstreetpete]

[ QUOTE ]
Good Stuff Pete, I appreciate the feedback.

But I've got to ask.

WTF is your Avatar doing?

Sarge/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

rubbing his belly of course.

[4thstreetpete]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm probably starting to break into the semi-semi-pro circles. Recently I started using hands played milestones. I try to play 1,500 hands a day, 7,500 hands a week, 30,000 hands a month. (This might increase by 50% if I get comfortable 6-tabling.) That's about a 30 hour work week, and I feel comfortable with that.



[/ QUOTE ]

from reading the above, I assume you're 4 tabling. How are you able to get in 1500 hands a day? I too 4 table but in order to get 1500 hands a day that would require about 6 hours a day? Isn't that a bit much? how are you able to keep going day after day without burning out?

[dogmeat]

I was going to post 90% of what Bike said. The deal is, poker allows you to be on vacation the rest of your life*

*If you are good enough

Why be stuck to plans and schedules when you can enjoy the freedom that 97% of the working world can not?

I realize there are some players like David Ross (who has a family and has also been very successful) who play a fairly set schedule, but this is more voluntarily than constrained if I may take a guess from his posts.

I do look ahead to tournaments.

Good Luck.
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Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[MicroBob]

i don't think 6 hours a day of 4-tabling will lead to burn-out for some players. I certainly qualify here....although I am factoring in a day off or 2 in the week.

Certainly David Ross comes close to this.
for others...it would be too much though.

I don't have ANY set schedule at all.
My GF's schedule is a bit chaotic so when we have time to go out we do that....and if it means I don't get in hardly any hands on Sunday or Monday then so be it.

Also....unlike 'regular' occupations....I don't think there is a whole lot of incentive to work when you are tired.
In the 'regular' work-place, if you are really tired or under the weather you can still show up for work, suck it up, put in your day as best you can, etc.

But in online poker I think it can be somewhat detrimental as you could be REALLY off your game. So....if I sit down intending to play for a few hours, but find that I'm just not focused, I will typically allow myself to take a break, or a nap, or call it a night, or whatever.

Basically, I try to avoid playing while tired as much as I can.
In the real work universe from 8-5 or whatever....there are certainly times during the day when you're dragging.
I'll only keep fighting my way through these times only if I am at a really good table or two with some really awful fish (which seems to happen a lot actually). But I'll also cut it down to just the couple of really good tables and then when they aren't so good anymore it's break time.


I previously had a 30-35 hour goal each week. And that's gone okay. Sometimes 40+ hours, other times 25 hours.

I'm going to start experimenting with total hands per day though. But it will still be a bit chaotic for me because sometimes I'll be playing 6-max and other times full-ring.
So number of tables and the kind of tables they are will obviously influence how many hands is realistic in a day.

It really depends on my mood which way I want to go.

Yesterday I was 6-tabling on 6-max and it was kind of neat seeing how quickly I got to 2k hands (I keep my single-day stats on p-tracker in view sometimes).

If you're going to go back and forth in different games AND keep chaotic hours (I'll play none today, and some tomorrow, or whatever) then you have to be sure that you can get in enough hours each week.
If you suspect you will be constantly procrastinating getting your hours/hands in each week without a set schedule then you damn well better set your 'official' 5 hours a day schedule from 6p-11p (or whatever you need to do).

You know yourself best.


I'm not the most disciplined guy in the world....and I think it hurts me.
I usually get in plenty of hands, but I think I would do better if I set my schedule a bit better.
That's why 1.5k-2k hands/day on average at 6-max might help keep me focused.


Another problem I seem to have is keeping daily records. I go days at a time without updating what account totals I have on each site. I just blow it off and it's just lack of discipline and nothing else.
It's very similar to me always blowing off paying my freaking bills on time. It's not that hard....but I am just lazy about it.

That should really go under the Poker New Year's goals thread. Keeping my records updated every day.


MTT's I will play in when I just feel like a change of pace....but it's usually a reward for having a good week. The variance is so much in those things that I can't look at playing in the occasional MTT as being +EV because I just don't play in enough of them (and am not good enough at them) to rely on a consistent profit to correspond with the time invested in them.
If I do make a profit at them then it's just a nice bonus.

I enjoy them when I do play in them and it does keep my mind fresh by letting me step away from the ring-games for a few hours out of the week.

I'll play in the binion's WPO in Tunica in a couple of weeks IF I've been running well. If I've been taking a hit then I just can't justify wasting a weekend (and maybe some money) down there when I should really be at home grinding out my income.