Longest Session in a Cardroom

[slim]

Often when I play in a cardroom, there will be guys telling stories of how they played 36 str8 hrs and such. I've only managed 12.5 max in a row. How long (without exaggerating!) is the longest you guys have played in one session without sleep? Can you actually play well after 14-15 hrs?

[sucka]

I doubt it. I think 12 hours is the max and that's really pushing it IMHO. However, I guess it's a player dependent thing. My personal best is a 10 hour session. I probably should have quit earlier but I had friends playing in the same room (and they were my ride) and wanted to keep playing. It was unfortunate too because I had recouped the $200 I had lost the previous day and was up almost a rack. I sat there the last 2 hours and got blinded and made a crapload of 2nd best hands. I ended up donating my profit and left down $40 for that session.

As much as I'd like to say it was because of the poker gods I'm sure fatigue and the horrible smoke in the room wasn't helping me any. I've since learned my lesson and just won't play if I'm not feeling like I'm playing my best game. Sometimes a trip to the mens room and some hot water to the face and a cup of coffee will do the trick - other times you just need to hit the rack and come back at em tomorrow.

[Vehn]

I've never played for more than about 7 hours and I feel like I've been missing out on something.

Sort of.

[Clarkmeister]

I've played between 12-14 hours multiple times but never longer. Once you get into the zone, the time can really fly. Most of the time when I left those long sessions it wasn't because of fatigue but some wierd sense of "well, I guess that should be long enough".

[Andy B]

Longest session ever: wife is out of town for something or other, I get to card room around 2:30 pm on a Saturday with $1200 in my wallet. Play some $8/16 hold'em, where I had won $800 the night before. Naturally, I get buried, deeper and deeper and deeper. Stuck around $800, I switch to $6/12 stud at midnight, one, who knows. Get stuck some more, wallet's empty. Claw my way back some, and the game breaks up. Move to $4/8 stud game. Very good short-handed game, and I start clawing my way back some more. Someone gets the idea to make it $6/12, and I'm able to make some real progress. Game goes well into Sunday morning, first time in like forever that there had been a $6/12 stud game going on a Sunday morning that anyone could remember. I actually get back to down $300 at 11:30 am or so. I could have booked an acceptable loss and gotten some sleep, but I had the bright idea to play for 24 hours just to say I did it. So I was stuck $800 again when I left at 2:30 pm. One of the stupider things I've done. I wish I could say it was one of the most expensive.

I've played 14-16 hours many times, and I'm usually still playing reasonably well towards the end of the session, especially if I haven't played in a couple of days before that. I can't play in a full stud game after 12 hours or so. Too much to think about. It has to be short-handed with a couple of really bad players or I really don't have any edge anymore. Hold'em you can play forever, but again, it helps if the game's short-handed if I've been there for a while (I guess it me helps if the game's short-handed anyway /forums/images/icons/smile.gif).

[Homer]

The longest I have ever played (and most likely will ever play) in one session is around 7-8 hours. That is the most I can take without getting tired of sitting down, getting tired of the depressing people surrounding me, and flat out getting tired (decreased concentration). I suppose I could make an exception if I was in an incredibly juicy game, but even then, I'd probably say screw it and leave.

-- Homer

[Homer]

Btw, I have noticed that people brag about how they have been playing for 30 hrs straight or some other absurd amount of time like they won a freaking medal or something. I have often been tempted to say something like, "Do us all a favor....go home and take a shower". Instead, I keep my mouth shut and do a little golf clap instead.

-- Homer

[stuck2racks]

I've played more than a few 24 hour sessions and I highly discourage it. By the time you end up passing the 12 hr mark, or about 14 for me if I get an early start (around 10am), I start literally watching my game deteriorate. Once you're noticeably tired and forgetting what people folded or 2 hands before, its time to get up. Now only if i could take my own advice....

Alas, sometimes its much easier to say than do.

-Z

[sucka]

That's funny. As much as I love this game, it goes without saying that there are a great number of really odd (and I'm being nice here) people that play. In some cases, it absolutely ruins the game for me and I don't care if I'm winning or not I just don't want to play at a table where there are extreme assholes, drunks, whiners or especially the folks that think that a shower or two a week is enough to keep the flies off them so that's all that is neccesarry. I think those things factor into session times for me as well. For the most part 8 or 9 hours or so is all I can take of the incessant bitching, whining and card throwing that goes on at most tables.

It's strange - you walk around a casino and see a bunch of 'normal' type folks playing craps, blackjack, roulette but you walk into a poker room and pull up a chair at a table and a good majority of the players are losers with nary a clue as to how pathetic they come across acting like they own the joint. I don't know if it's just the isolation of poker that appeals to these 'loner' types of people with no interpersonal skills or what but it can get pretty depressing sitting there for too long.

[balt999]

The longest session I ever played was around 14hrs....I felt like a degenerate gambler afterwards and never did it again...I keep my sessions around 4-6 hrs now....

[Tyler Durden]

My longest session is about 12 hours. I am usually very tired by that point and I pass out on the bus ride home. I usually can't wait to take a shower and hop into bed.

[MRBAA]

As a recreational player who lives 2 hours from nearest casino, I tend to play long when I go. I find that after about 6 hours I'm not playing my best. But I can sometimes take a dinner break or a walk (the water on the face thing is good, too) and get back on my game. The longest I've played is about 11 hours, with breaks. I also tend to move tables and change games a bit -- alternating between 3-6 he and 5-10 stud, with maybe a little 1-3 stud or 2-4 o/e thrown in as a "break". Generally, I really enjoy the cardroom. While Mohegan and Foxwoods games have many idiots in them, there are enough fun players to make it worthwhile. The few times I've played in crummier places (Lucky Chances in SF area, for example), it's definitely been a lot less fun.

[HUSKER'66]

Like most everyone else that has posted, I can't seem to keep a seesion (good or bad) going for more than 10-12 hours. Have had several sessions in the 16-20 hour time frame, but realized that I was giving back my winnings because of tiredness, hunger, lack of concentration. It seems that everyone is in aggreement.....play rested, take
frequent breaks, and leave the table when you start to feed the fish! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[CFunk]

My longest session was about 14 hours. It was also one of the first times I had ever played poker in a cardroom. I was driving back to california and I wanted to stop in Vegas to break up the drive. There were no rooms available anywhere I checked. So I just played poker all night. Expensive poker lesson, but you get what you pay for.

CT

[bernie]

9 hours.....i think i could play longer at times....but...i get mentally worn and the smoke will have sapped my liquid from me....

one thing ive noticed though, is that when i tend to play longer than normal. normal being 4-6 hours, i find my play is much better when i play a normal timed session the next time. i play much fresher fro a little longer than normal...

nice side benefit anyway...so if i find that a 5 hour session is dragging, i figure it may be time to pick a good game and put in a long one....

anyone else notice this benefit?

b

[STOSH1]

Living 3+ hours drive from a poker room, I've played 24 hrs str8 but with breaks thrown in for a couple of meals and fresh air. And yes my play deterorates after about 8 hrs. The 6-7 hrs round trip to get to a game keeps me playing longer than I know I should.

[RockLobster]

Like some others have mentioned, it's a bit of a drive (and a friggin' major event) when I get to play in a card room. I played 10 hours on my last visit, which was my only visit in 18 months. I don't feel like I was playing poorly near the end, I would have continued playing if I didn't want to be married any longer. /forums/images/icons/smirk.gif

I've played 15 hours in a .25/.50 home game, left up $150 /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Homer]

Damn, 300 BB's! Look's like your adequately rolled for the .5/1 home game now. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

-- Homer

[AmericanAirlines]

36 Hours at the Mirage. 5-10 stud. Actually did that twice.

I can recall the dealers saying, "Weren't you here in that seat last night?"

You get a little slap happy after a while. No doubt your playing efficiency waxes and wanes.

I found myself during waning periods just trying to make sure I did two things. 1) Asked myself on each hand, "Do I want to *invest* in this hand?" 2) Making darn sure I at least took a read on the opponent(s) board cards.

Sincerely,
AA

[ChipWrecked]

12.5 hours, I seem to be right in there with the above. Living in N Cal has a couple of advantages that I see: I have a small cardroom a ten-minute drive away, and no smoking allowed. Some of the comments above are a chuckle; especially AA's about reading the board (tho he's talking stud I believe, which makes me feel even more of an idiot). At the end of the last twelve-hour pull I'll ever do, I had what I thought to be a nut flush. I raised at the river and was amazed to be re-raised... thought about jacking it up but an internal alarm went off so I called. Imagine my surprise when I was beaten by a boat and hadn't even (consciously) noticed the pair on the board! /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

P.S. 36 to 48 hour sessions are common among the (old divorced guys) locals where I play, as is sleeping at the table between hands; I've seen a guy sleep through his blind to be awakened by the dealer on the next orbit:
"Hey dude, post or leave!"

[Homer]

They are old and divorced (well, not old) because of playing 36-48 hour poker sessions. I feel sorry for these people. They never see the light of day, never get a breath of fresh air, never get to become friends with or become intimate with others because they are too busy playing a stupid game of poker for 2 days straight.

-- Homer

[Punker]

My record is 26 hours and I did it just to see how long I could do it.

And no, I didn't play well. But I won 16BB in those 26 hours.

[Vehn]

They are old and divorced (well, not old) because of playing 36-48 hour poker sessions.

I doubt it. Somewhere along the line something didn't work out and they're divorced at age 50 with cushy jobs and crappy apartments and kids out on their own and they have nothing to do with their free time, so they stop by the bank and pick up some benjamins and head to the card barn and play til midnight on weekdays and all weekend. While it may be "pathetic" is it any different from "us" - the people who are "enlightened"? Not really. We're all sitting around some dirty felt exchanging dirty chips. Maybe when I finally turn semi pro I'll be able to think I'm "better" than those guys - until then I'm just another face at the table. At least we're out of the house not sitting at home in front of some screen. Oh except the net poker people. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[STOSH1]

they're divorced at age 50 with cushy jobs and crappy apartments and kids out on their own and they have nothing to do with their free time
Close, I have plenty to do with my free time, she's even about my own age, (no cradle robbin' /forums/images/icons/wink.gif ) I play poker as a hobby that I can sometimes make money at instead of costing money. Like skiing, visiting 4 star restraunts, beachcombing the carribean .