How do you have the time to play, critique, read etc?

[AZK]

Just a random thought...I've recently become more involved with the board...i.e. reading a lot more of the threads, posting hands, replying to other users. I'm also going to start up playing with a new buy in once I get a little more time. I was just curious how you all have the time to play the 10/20 hours a week that you do (or more) and still post/reply/read on this board? Along with analyzing your own play through poker tracker. There are days when I sit on this board for 4 hours just reading. I'm a full time student so hopefully I'll have more time to play/read this summer than I do now. I was just curious how you guys structure your time for playing/reading/analyzing. Do you sleep? Thanks.

[scotnt73]

in the morning i wake up a play for an hour while reading the forum. i then goto work where i have alot of spare time and i read and post. i then go home and play for 2-4 hours while not checking the forum until the next day. during the weekends i just do the morning part unless im out of town.

[AZK]

As a quick follow up, Im now realizing that as you get better, you probably have less to read on the board and less to post, whereas someone who has major leaks to fix, (i.e. me) it seems like there isn't enough time to read everything and every hand you play needs to be critiqued... but correct me if I'm wrong.

[harboral]

I have found that when playing three tables of online poker I do worse than when playing two - but for some reason I do the same playing two and nothing else, or playing two and reading the forum.............so, that's what I do.

[fluff]

I read this board when at work, where surfing the net is tolerated if the workload is light. Gambling online is never tolerated though...heh.

I also read it between hands, since I usually only play one table.

[Mike Gallo]

Welcome aboard AK,

If you want to succeed you will need to find the time to study and analyze hands, no way around it.

Along with analyzing your own play through poker tracker.

I play in a b and m card room they do not have Poker Tracker /images/graemlins/confused.gif

I'm a full time student so hopefully I'll have more time to play/read this summer than I do now.

When you finish school you can treat poker like another class. Until then concentrate on school it will give you more potential to have a successful career then learning poker will.

[J.R.]

I actually read more now that I play a wider array of games, but I can process/understand ideas quicker and have a better idea as to what/who is of value so I get through a greater volume of posts these days than in the past, in adiditon to being able to gloss over the stuff that I have already seen. But I remeber feeling overwhelmed and still have those days.

I also have a job with free time and live-in girlfriend who encourages me to play (instead of the dreaded alternative), or at least encourages me to play when she isn't playing. It also helps to avoid placing a premium on sleep.

[charlie_t_jr]

I work two jobs, full time and part time. At my morning job I have about 1/2-1hr down time I like to fill with a little reading. I get a couple hour break before heading to my full time job, so I play an hour or two in the morning.

At the full time job, I get a chance to read the web site. After work, its 2-3 hrs of playing before bed.

I don't do this day in and day out, but pretty close. 55-60hrs work, 15-20hrs poker...eat, sleep, work, poker study, poker play...hope the dedication pays off!

[ChipWrecked]

I too do my posting at work /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I play an hour or two online late evenings, after wife and baby are down for the night. It's harder for me to get to the cardroom these days. I play an occasional Saturday morning NL tourney at my local place.

Hint about the forums: I don't know about others here, but I've begun filtering what I read, mostly by poster. I have a core of names whose opinions I value, and concentrate on them (e.g. Ed Miller). If a thread gets lots of action, I'll check in on it. There just isn't enough time in the day to read it all.

Don't overlook the 'Older Archives' forum. "It's gold, Jerry, gold!"

[Vehn]

We have no life.

[onegymrat]

[ QUOTE ]
When you finish school you can treat poker like another class. Until then concentrate on school it will give you more potential to have a successful career then learning poker will.

[/ QUOTE ]
Best advice I've read all year.






[/ QUOTE ]

[Bozeman]

What Vehn said (I don't even have a vehn's_woman).

In addition, I now only read threads I think will be good, there are unfortunately some irrelevancies here.

[AZK]

You're absolutely right about school, that's why I don't play all that much online during the semester, the occasional home game here and there, but I still try to keep up with board and reading. If I miss a few days of the board I come back to see 1000 new threads that I want to read. Next year I'll be a senior and I'll only be taking 1 or 2 classes each semester, so I'll have a lot more time to play and read during the day. I'm anxious just thinking about it.

I'm the type of person where when I start a hobby I tend to dive in, like off the deep end, to the point where I'm completely saturated in it, poker was no different, originally I was trying to keep up to date with every separate forum, but that is IMPOSSIBLE. So now I mostly keep to the forums that are likely to help me the most now (i.e. there is no reason for me to be reading about high stakes when I can't beat Party .5/1.) But this summer I'll be at school with nothing to do but work in lab during the day, so I plan to read/post a lot during the day while in lab and then play a lot each night.

Additional question, do a lot of you only play one game and focus on that (i.e. holdem) or do you play a wide variety of games. For now, I'd like to focus on becoming a pretty decent Holdem player and then I'd like to move to stud as well.

[MicroBob]

i read and post while playing.
often-times, if i'm reading a HH in micro or SS i will wind up with a very similar hand on one of my tables not too shortly thereafter and i am able to apply a new-found idea on for size.

obviously it's nice to be attentive enough to observe your opponents. but i can make some general observations while reading the threads.....and, of course, if you're playing full-ring you are just going to be doing a lot of folding anyway.

[slavic]

I suck so I'm broke most of the time so I have plenty of time to critique others play.

[bernie]

posts on 'how did i play the nuts?' and 'how do i beat the loose games/can bad players be beat' posts, it doesnt take as long to go through the forum.

it's also easier if you know where some weaker areas of your game are and put those types of threads at the top of your list. then, if you have time, look at the other stuff.

b

[LetsRock]

Easy.

I participate on this board while I'm at work, and play at home on my own time!

(They have the poker sites resricted at work, but I can somehow get to here!)

Don't tell the boss!

[Joe Tall]

I have the best day job in the world. I answer the phone now and then or print out a spread sheet as I read the forum all day. Then I play at night online or at the Casino.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[Roy Munson]

We are able to do this because we are, to quote my wife, "Poker Geeks".

[AZK]

Bernie,

Good point, I guess the thing is that right now I am a newbie and ALL areas of my poker are weak aside from dumping tons of pots to people, so I feel that every thread is important...

[scotnt73]

[ QUOTE ]
Bernie,

Good point, I guess the thing is that right now I am a newbie and ALL areas of my poker are weak aside from dumping tons of pots to people, so I feel that every thread is important...

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly, but after you read how do i play ak when the flop misses me for the millionth time you will start skipping that thread unless you see that noone has responded. then you just regurgitate what everyone told you when you asked it. and the cycle of life goes on /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

[pretender2k]

My life: get up around noon, if I have anything too take care of do that first if not play while I read this board or check out a couple of other websites, go to work usually something like 4pm to 2am, come home and play and read this board, go to bed around 6am unless I in a really good game, rinse and repeat. Yes I don't have a traditional life but if I am smart about investing my winnings and keep putting away 15% in my 401K, I will be able to eliminate that work part alot earlier than most the people I know.

[pretender2k]

Do a poll here on how much TV we watch a week and compare that to the average american.

[N4CER1]

I play 3 tables at once and read this forum and post while I play between hands............

you are not playing now???.........

[scotnt73]

very good point. my wife loves having full control of the tv for the majority of the weekday evenings to watch all here shows. hell the only shows i go out of ny way to watch are wpt, south park, and chapelles(?) show now days.

[bigpooch]

There are 168 hours in a week. I sleep less than 50 of them
so there are at least 118 spare hours as I don't work. Of
these, I might average 25 to 35 hours of online play so that
means on average about 90 spare hours that I can waste my
time! Of those 90 hours, I am trying to read some books for
at least 20 of them, and I probably spend about 20 hours a
week (at the very least!) reading and posting on this forum.

I should probably spend more time playing poker! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[AZK]

I suppose the post was aimed at people who unfortunately have other jobs/commitments (i.e. school) but still want to play and post a lot...but I hear you.