Schedule for those who play online for a living?

/Disclaimer/Not sure about the forum for this/disclaimer/.

Im not planning on playing online for a living, but for those who do, do you commit to a schedule? For example, do you play for most of what is considered the work day (9-5) or do you just play whenever the hell you want to that day? When you suffer a severe beat do you take a quick break, like I do, to relax or do you just push through? Im just curious as to if there is any structure to your day.

[jman220]

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/Disclaimer/Not sure about the forum for this/disclaimer/.

Im not planning on playing online for a living, but for those who do, do you commit to a schedule? For example, do you play for most of what is considered the work day (9-5) or do you just play whenever the hell you want to that day? When you suffer a severe beat do you take a quick break, like I do, to relax or do you just push through? Im just curious as to if there is any structure to your day.

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I don't play online for a living, but from a lot of the discussions I've read on these boards from people who do, they definitely don't play 9-5 (this wouldn't be the optimal time to play anyway).

Ive only been doin this for about 16 months, but I seem to play my best in 2 hour blocks. So each month I shoot for sixty 2 hour blocks. I know some people play much more, but it gives me a pretty good balance with everything else in my life.

Also, after a bazillion hands the beats wont really bother you anymore. Other than shouting a few four letter words, its right back to business.

[jman220]

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Ive only been doin this for about 16 months, but I seem to play my best in 2 hour blocks. So each month I shoot for sixty 2 hour blocks. I know some people play much more, but it gives me a pretty good balance with everything else in my life.

Also, after a bazillion hands the beats wont really bother you anymore. Other than shouting a few four letter words, its right back to business.

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What stakes/limit do you play at?

[otter]

I usually sit in front of my computer for about 8 hours monitoring them, then sitting when they're good. Essentially I play pretty much any time I want, but I tend to do best if I keep it to about 4 hour sessions, take a break when I feel tired or fatigued

[SinCityGuy]

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Ive only been doin this for about 16 months, but I seem to play my best in 2 hour blocks.

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Playing multiple 6-max tables, I've gotten optimum results playing one hour sessions with maximum concentration. I'm sure a lot of people can play more hours, but I've found 20 hours per week to work fine for me, without feeling like I'm getting burned out.

[TheMetetron]

Schedule? Eff that... There is a reason I do this for a living and not answering to some stupid schedule is it.

I play somewhere between the hours of 3pm and 5am when I'm awake. I try for 4-6 hours a day, but in reality, I can never remember how much I play.

This is 8-tabling short handed btw.

[ebaudry]

"Schedule? Eff that... There is a reason I do this for a living and not answering to some stupid schedule is it.

I play somewhere between the hours of 3pm and 5am when I'm awake. I try for 4-6 hours a day, but in reality, I can never remember how much I play."


Ditto. Exactly the goddam same. I might have said, I start playing for a while after lunch (hence around 3pm). And then randomly play sets through the day whenever I feel like it, often ending with the majority of my games played between midnight and when I got to bed around 3-5am.

I take weeks off whenever I feel like it, otherwise I end up playing at least a little everyday, but I'm also doing this because I enjoy poker, not just to pay the bills.

[Alex/Mugaaz]

I work 25hrs a week and play 40-55hrs a week in blocks of 1-3 hrs. I don't have a schedule. I need to reset my mind every once in a while. A lot of people on this forum whine about playing a lot, basically I just don't get it.

[MicroBob]

Play whenever I feel like it.
Got a spare hour to get in some hands? Sure, go for it.
Got a 10-hour block to sit around and watch football and play. That's good too. Oh, somebody called and said lets go get a drink? Looks like I'll cut the session short.

It's flexible.
Obviously the games are better during the evenings and I prefer to play during those times the most anyway.
i like playing when there are some games (baseball, football, whatever) on TV or maybe just poker on TV.


My GF works on weekends so I get in a lot of hands during this time. Lots of ball-games on TV...and the poker is generally a bit better on the weekends anyway.

Monday and tuesday is pretty much our weekend for the most part. Again, this works out just fine since the poker games aren't as hot then.



The individual bad-beats don't effect me in the least. I'm not all 'zen' or super-calm. I just don't care....which I think is a product of having played so much.
Sometimes you suck-out and catch a miracle. Other times you get sucked-out on at the end and don't win a 20+BB pot that you thought was yours.
No biggie.

If I'm tired I'll take a break or a nap or whatever.
If I'm not playing my best for some other reason then I won't play.
If I've been running bad and losing lots lately and I think it's getting to me then I'll stop and take a break....or else I'll play some low-ish buy-in tourneys (SNG's or satellites or MTT's, whatever I'm in the mood for).

Note that changing games or taking a break because of a 100+BB downswing is different than being effected by an indivdual-hand bad-beat.
If you're going to play 1k or more hands in a day the results of any specific individual hand shouldn't really be that meaningful to you.