Why don't succesful online pros play more cards?

[Nate tha' Great]

This is spun out of a discussion in the HU/SH forum. The question is why big winning online players - I'm speaking of people who can make $200/hour or more playing cards on the internet - don't play more hours. Without getting into a discussion about win rates, I fall comfortably into this category, and I probably play 20-25 hours a week. Of course that is an average and there are some 45 hour weeks and also some 0 hour weeks. I do have another job that requires some of my time (though less than full time), as well as a relationship and the vague remnants of a social life, so there are some competing interests. But certainly there's also some downtime turing a typical week and I could play more than 20-25 hours if I desired.

My impression is that almost all of the other online pros and semi-pros who are capable of big earns also don't play as much as you might think. Some people manage 30 or 35 or *maybe* 40 hours a week, but almost nobody is playing much more than this (feel free to come in and correct me if I'm wrong). I've periodically seen reference on the forums to players who are playing more than this, but generally they are playing for smaller stakes, and their expected cash win rates aren't as high.

The question is why. After all, there's a naive (IMO) interpretation that if you can earn that much money doing anything, you'd want to do it as often as possible.

It seems to me there are basically three explanations for why this might be so. These explanations need not be mutually exclusive.

1. Boredom / burnout. Poker begins to feel like a job when it is your job. Moreover, especially online, it's a job that is quite stressful, quite repetitive, and generally quite draining of one's mental resources.

2. Diminshing marginal returns. Making an extra $50,000 is a lot more attractive to someone used to a $40,000 income than someone used to a $200,000 income. The pros are simply behaving rationally.

3. Temperment. We're wandering into speculative territory here, but my guess is that many or even most people who are capable of gambling and winning big at poker and *also* have decided *not* to take a job in the straight world have somewhat irregular or compulsive or even manic temperments. These people aren't sitting down in front of their computers and treating poker as a job at all so much as they're playing poker when they "feel like it", which may be a lot at some times and much less at others, a sort of manageable addiction.

So which do we think it is?

[spy587]

I think its probably all three in different combinations for different people. Also, my gut feeling is that 1,3 are stronger than 2, but maybe thats just for me.

[Bodhi]

Forgive the short remark (I'll think about this more) but why can't it be all 3?

Also, some people are maximizers and some are satisfiers. I imagine that a lot of card players are in the latter category, because if they wanted to maximize their income they would have gone to law school or something. Poker allows them to satisfy their desires without putting in an insane ammount of hours every week.

[Lawrence Ng]

You pretty much nailed them all for me Nate..

Lawrence

[theBruiser500]

nate i'm surprised you play 45 hours in a week, that is a ton of hours. my impression is also that most people play less than 25 hours a week. when i think i've played a lot, i sometimes look at the clock and realize that "a lot" is only 2 or 3 hours

[uw_madtown]

I'd expect that all three are possible depending on the person.

As I said in the originating thread, the main reason I wonder why pros capable of $200+/hr don't play more is that I personally don't think this opportunity is going to last for more than five more years or so. I view it as a "get all the money while you can" proposition. Some of you guys are good enough to grind like hell for four or five years, stick money away in investments, and you'd never have to work a job you didn't want for the rest of your life. You could be a writer or a teacher or whatever you'd enjoy doing, without having to worry about needing to pay the bills (as long as you lived modestly).

I've never spoken with GoT, gonores, or bicyclekick about the hours they put in, etc, so I apologize if I misrepresent anyone. But when I see comments from GoT and gonores about how they can't be bothered to put in the hours, and then see BK posting screenshots of a $100k month... well, my point is that while some people dislike BK's personality on here, I respect the guy if for no other reason that he seems to be capitalizing on his opportunity as much as he possibly can.

As I said though, if I had some assurance that online poker was not in danger of serious decline in my lifetime -- that I could make $100-$200/hr for my entire life -- then I'd definitely be less motivated to grind out massive numbers of hours, especially once I had a huge BR built up. I think in that case, reason #2 particularly applies.

[TeeJayORTj]

[ QUOTE ]
nate i'm surprised you play 45 hours in a week, that is a ton of hours. my impression is also that most people play less than 25 hours a week. when i think i've played a lot, i sometimes look at the clock and realize that "a lot" is only 2 or 3 hours

[/ QUOTE ]

Im not a pro...but as a college student only taking one summer class i certinly have plenty of free time. But the only way I can play more then 2-3 hours is if im 2 tabling some SH games or SNGs and doing a lot of other random crap. If im trying to even 3 or 4 table then 3 hours seems like a lifetime.

Right now I have had 1 or 2 pokerroom games open for the past 5 hours and I feel like I hardly played.

But I agree, even with all this free time I can't put in the hands I want too. I dont know why...I really wish I knew the answer.

[dhende3]

I am by no means great, I only make about 25 bucks an hour playing SnGs but I get burnt out WAY too easily. If I am on a losing session I 'quit for the day', as is the preferred strategy among successful gamblers. If I am winning I will quit because I don't want to ruin it with a bad run... certainly not the smartest thing to do. Last week I made $1250 playing $22 SnGs (a ridiculous upswing) and now I am scared to play because I know the negative variance is coming. I really need to change my mindset...

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
nate i'm surprised you play 45 hours in a week, that is a ton of hours. my impression is also that most people play less than 25 hours a week. when i think i've played a lot, i sometimes look at the clock and realize that "a lot" is only 2 or 3 hours

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the post, dawg! I play probably 20-25 hours a week on the average. I'm guessing I've had a couple of >40 hour weeks over the past year or two though.

[Ulysses]

Most people who can make big money at poker are pretty smart. While it might take some a little longer to realize it, many very smart people find poker to be a relatively boring endeavor, especially when not learning new games/limits.