How do you avoid your homelife while playing?

I have 3 small children and it seems like every time I play one of them needs me for something. My girlfriend is just about as bad. They few times that I do get them all to leave me alone for an hour or so someone phones me or knocks on the door. How do you avoid these distractions while you are playing online?

I've got 3 small kids too (5, 3 & 2). I never play when they are awake, simple as that.

My kids are older (15/13/10), so they are almost always up. I play some ring games late at night. For tournaments ... geez, sometimes it is hard coping with all the distractions. If it seems like it will be one of those days/nights when the kids really need me for something, there is no use in playing in a tournament.

Carving out time for work, family, online poker and other interests is a challenge. I tend to like tournaments that don't have massive fields and don't last for several hours.

Good luck.

My oldest son is Autistic and only sleeps about 4 hours a night while medicated. Even during those 4 hours he usually wakes up once or twice.

The one thing that relaxes me the most ends up frustrating me because I don't have large blocks of time to play.

I dont have large blocks of time either, hence the fact that I play mostly Heads Up SnG's. There's no point playing an MTT if you know you're not going to be able to see it through to the end. Turbo SnG's and Ring Games are another option (though personally I dont like playing ring games if there is some sort of time restraint).

It`s a familiar story, guys. I`ve got a wife and kids too, and I reckon I could earn twice as much at poker without them.

On the other hand, that would make me a sad and lonely person. I`m sure it`s better the way it is.

Lately, I`ve taken to playing tourneys that begin around 10pm my time. The family don`t really miss me in the last hour or two before bed, and it`s allowed me to (quite successfully) get back into playing more MTTs again, rather than just ring games and the odd STT.

The downside is that, if I get deep into the tourney, I`m going to be playing until 2 or 3am, which is hard when I have to get up at 7 for work. I have found, though, that I am okay as long as I don`t do it two nights in a row.

I have a son (can you guess his name? ) and he's about to turn 11 in August so when he yells at me for something I say, "wait until I fold ", I fold, jump up and get him what he needs and run back! If it will take longer than that he will stay at my computer and tell me what cards I have and I tell him to fold them or I run back to the computer, play the hand and go finish whatever it was I was doing for him. As for "the man" living in my house (for now) I just tell him to leave me alone!!!!!!

I mostly play ring games because of this. If I plan on playing a tourney I'll let him know and see if he needs anything before I start playing.

He's usually in the same room with me playing playstation so the only distraction there is "mom watch this". It's finally getting warm outside so he will be outside more and then I will get up every 5-10 minutes to check on him. We live in a cul-de-sac with good neighbors but I'm always getting up just to make sure he's OK.

I know this does not solve your problem but that's what happens in my house!

I work second shift so I play after midnight. The kids are asleep and the wife heads to bed shortly after I get home. I have 4 or 5 hours this way to play and am able to concentrate.

second shift sucks doesn't it... I play after 3am my time, usually until 5am..... it doesn't leave me any time for MTT's but I can usually fit 2 single table SNG's in at that time.

I have a two year old son. So he is in bed by 9pm and the wife is up at 6am every morning so I usually have 2 hours to play poker. I have been playing 2 SNG's at the same time to maximize my time!!

Duct tape works well for me Jim.

My schedule is easy - for the most part, wait until the kids are in bed at 8:30 (on school nights), but they are old enough to where I can let them watch a movie or do something (while watching the dog) and play for a bit unless they need me.

If I ever want to play in a big MTT (like the Dog's 100K tourney), I just plan it in advance with the Mrs, and she will make sure that I have my space to myself. She is very supportive of me playing, as long as I don't go overboard with the playing time - seeing as I generally play only 2 nights a week, she is more than happy with that.

Same as above. In my house I clear it with the Mrs. a few days before any MTT. I'm good to go when the day comes.

I also play anytime she takes a nap. The big time for me is when she goes downstate to see her doctors. Then it is major poker fix for me.

We take care of her nephew. He's 15 but acts like 12. Familiar to anyone? So I have to take care of anything that goes on with him. So it's no poker when he comes home from school till he goes to bed.

I am getting a laptop in the future so I can play in the evening while she watches her shows. That will make everyone happy.

Get 'em involved! teach 'em to play, get another computer, and let 'em learn how to cheat. Or,......the duct tape thing sounds okey,too.

I have about 20 hours a day to play if I want to Of course that would cut down my sleep and social life to 4 hours :P

Next SuperNova Elite maybe?

I have my PC in the lounge (see thread of desks somewhere in the forum for picture). This is the single most important factor in successfully integrating my poker with my homelife without detriment to either.

I play from about 7pm til bed most nights and can perform a ridiculous amount of tasks in the time it takes for one hand to be played.

Like TM my daughters (aged 8 and 5) will call out the cards if I'm doing something longer. They go to bed around 7:30 and I am blessed that they are ridiculously well-behaved girls. My wife is also the world's most tolerant person.

Of course it helps that I've won a fair bit and it pays for holidays, christmas etc so Mrs Irexes is happy to support me playing (she'll also watch for hours and very occassionally dabble herself, if you ever see me playing $5 SnGs it's her). Long term the intention is to pay off the mortgage with the pokery and by long term I mean 10-15 years so we are prepared to give it some time.

The only time we organise it so I have peace and quiet is for final tables and $200 buy-ins other than that the girls (wife included) can interrupt me all they like.

I personally look at this differently that most as playing poker is not a real priority in my life. I usually play only when I have nothing else that needs doing and when it's peaceful and quiet on the home front. Unlike some of you, I don't see poker as ever being a source of money to live on and it stays as a hobby. Certainly could afford to invest a large bankroll and take playing poker to another level; however, that turns my enjoyable hobby into a job and I already have one of those...

^^^^^^^^ And when I do, my wife goes ballistic.

I keep my laptop in the room my daughter is in when she is with me. Being blind she can't call out the cards for me, please no cracks about how it couldn't be any worse than how I play them now, one of the reasons I play only $5 SNG's is that if she needs my attention or help, i just sitout as long as it takes. Poker is something I really love doing, but it is just a hobby & I can & do play around the distractions of ever day life. Of course being divorced & with my kid not living with me during the week i do have blocks of time available. Not much help there I know Jim as you have to actually be married to get a divorce.

Ahh Jim, ya do what ya gotta do. the right thing ain't allways the easiest. My sympathies to ya.

A friend of mine with an autistic boy moved to the country. He rents a big double wide trailer on a large fenced piece of property. His boy is a powerhouse of energy, if you could tap that boys output you could probably light the city of San Diego for a week.

When they first moved there he used to put a leash on him with dog run style wires so he had the run of the yard. (Folks to some of you this may sound mean, but this was just the right thing to do with this boy.) The boy LOVED being outside alone and would run all over the yard all day, eventually got interested in digging in the dirt.

As the boy got older my friend learned how to teach and trust his boy to stay on the property, within the fence and no longer needed the leash. One of the boys most prized possesions was a shovel, it's almost like therapy I guess, that boys digs and digs and digs, he pretty much was cutting a swath in the hillside just because he likes to dig.

I haven't seen these friends in years, I've forgotten thier names, a nice couple, with the autisic boy and a daughter who helped considerably to take care of her little brother. They hardly ever went anywhere because they were too busy watching after the boy, big believers in natural selection and not wanting to drug thier child with riddlin or other meds.

I do wonder sometimes what ever happend to them, I lost interest in HAM radio which is how we met and have been involved in other stuff. That boy must be 15 or so by now. I wonder how hes turned out. Really good people I should see if I can look them up.

I know it's rough Jim, have a disabled child of my own, not autistic but special needs require patience and special attention. Myself I just try to stay sunny and optomistic, not always easy but there it is.

When my daughter was crawling, she used to pull off her diaper on purpose. I got really fed up with her jetisoning her protective unit, sometimes full. So I had to duct tape it on for a while and it worked. I think we have a picture of it somewhere. Pretty funny to think back (she's 8 now).

I have 4 boys, 8,6 and twins that are 4. What I do is play after they've gone to bed. The few times that I've tried to play when they were running around always ended up with me AFK and missing the extremely few good hands that I might get. My wife helps out a lot, if I tell her ahead of time I want to play poker earlier she'll do her best to deflect the 1,000's of "Dad" "Dad" "Dad"....

It's all about balance, I try to give them as much time as I can, but Dad needs his time too.

I was having that problem till I taught my hubby how to play so now we take turns playing and taking care of kids and get to sit down together once the kids are in bed. The only problem with this is that now he knows how to play and has adopted his own style so when we play together what I do is never right. Just so you know even though you most likely don't care we play on the same name so it can be either of us at the tables.

Havn't read all the posts, but it seems like I'm the only one without:

A) a husband or wife

B) a boyfriend or girlfriend

C) kids or an actually family to take care of

OK, lets see, my "homelife" consists of myself, and whenever I go out just making sure my friends don't end up killing themselves while attempting to do something really stupid (to put it into light terms) while drunk or getting arrested while out partying. Besides for just people that I associate with, I don't actually have any family members or relatives that live close by to me that I have to worry about, ect.

Just need to take care of myself, so basically I do what I want, when I want. Just the type of person I am, maybe eventually this will change and I'll want that whole family thing, but at the moment, I'm pretty content with what I have.

So to answer your OP and question Jim, I don't really have to avoid any part of my homelife. Doing what I want is my homelife, and if its poker its poker, if its going out its going out, if its taking a trip its taking a trip, if its work its work, ect.

What a great idea MrSticker!!! My boy has just learned how to start taking his diaper off so I think I'll have to use this trick.


Let me also say, what a great post! I'm a brand new mom (he's only 6 months now), and let's just say the things I do to relax are pretty solitary things (i.e. reading, poker, etc.) So I was curious how other people still manage to get their time on the tables with kids running around. Well, I guess I'll bite the bullet and cut down on my playing time, or have him with me when I do play. I figure by his first birthday he'll be playing better than me anyways....

Thanks again for the ideas.

I played a $55 H2H Sng last night - a couple of minutes in my son wakes up and starts screaming, he's got stomach ache and nappy rash. Had to deal with him and give up on the game, just part of being a parent i suppose.

This in a nut shell is it. Just make sure that your homelife outweighs your poker playing. You can read a lot of threads on here about how the significant other was going ballistic about how much time was being spent playing poker. Just make sure your priorities are set right.

And Estelle, have fun. I remember those days. Would I go back to them from now? No but boy were they sweet then. So make alot of good memories. And remember to edit the tales later.

Chateau Trailer Parc, also known as Wal-Mart has dvd's for a dollar of older cartoons lasting up to 2 hours. My kids enjoy them, and I have 3 under the age of 3.

LOL I have 2 kids at home 13 and 8 and the best thing about them is they are always asking pops you no more poker tournament today now you can't get it any better than that because they know if I ain't playing I usually cleaning house or working in yard (1/4 acre) yard and they want none of that, even if I don't ask for their help, they are like pops go play LMFAO

13 yo rather be on phone 24/7 and 8 rather be xboxing LOL, but no matter what no poker after 6 pm, that is definitely family time in our house

poker is my life

For some magical reason my 2 year old always wakes up at night when i am holding AA or KK its never 27 os.
Anyway its tough to play online when you have a family and a job. If you look on TV and you see all the internet players who play hunderd of hours online they are young and unattached so they have all the time in the world to play and play.

If only it worked the other way around lol