How many hours a week is Healthy / Normal

Lately i've been playing alot more poker.

1) How many hours / week would be considered normal, or a healthy pastime.

2) How many hours / week do you play ?

3) How many hours / week would be considered addicted ?

How Many Hours a Week??

I play ALOT more then the normal person I'm sure...

Depends on how I am doing, but I probably play way to much as far as hrs for a healthy pastime. I have played live games up to 18 hrs str8 other than a break, but thats just because all the tumblers fell into place that day. As long as you are making good decision and the poker gods aren't ramming it to you keep playing.

168 hours a week imo
nothing more,nothing less

once went on a 34 hour run on one weekend. such a heater that a quadrupled my bankroll.

It's hard to say what is normal, it all depends on how much spare time you have. If you start to put off other things to play poker then you have a problem. I honestly never keep track of how many hours a week I play because I just do it when I am sitting at home doing nothing. If I have school work to do or a friend calls I will always put that ahead of poker, but when you start putting poker ahead of those things then you have a problem.

I agree with pantin - I'll refrain from posting the math to support my argument

Seriously though, I average 6-8 hours a day - all online. I'm sure that is more than "healthy" but so is second job

Hmm...lets see...2 hours online and 4 hours in the gym sounds pretty healthy to me. Please don't forget to eat from your four basic food groups...Hearts Spades Diamonds and Clovers, and a glass of Milk! Cheers!

1) Depends how much you're winning

2) 50ish

3) Depends on whether your winning, but more than 105/wk and you need to cut down as that's cutting into your eating/sleeping time

I'm confused - how does winning affect whether you're addicted or not?

Addiction to poker (or any other wagering sport) isn't really about how much you play, it's about the circumstances that surround your play and how it affects the other aspects your life.

Everyone who plays should review the "20 questions" on occasion and give themselves an honest evaluation based on them.

Gamblers Anonymous: 20 Questions

You probably won't like some of your answers - that's normal. The key is to be aware of your weak areas (almost all of us have them, I would expect) and work to improve them.

I play a lot, and I have scored very poorly on this evaluation in the past, but every time I take it I score better

Some of those are flawed though, for example reputation. I play poker and people know, so I have a reputation as a poker player. And I only play ~15 hours/week. I'm just the only one most people have ever personally known who actually plays poker online.

Right - just about everyone will match a few of them, and that doesn't mean very much in and of itself

There is a huge difference between your case and someone who also matches 8 other questions in addition to number 3.

It's certainly not foolproof, but I think it's at least something to look at, be aware of, and recheck from time to time.

I think it depends. Actually perhaps it depends on the state of your Depends. If your depends are diapers and you are young, and should be doing things to prepare for your life, then fewer hours per week will qualify as too many. If however your depends are Depends, and you are retired or semi-retired, and there is nothing much else to do, then 168 hours per week will only be mucking with your sleeping habits. But then by the time Depends are no longer a psychological issue, you are probably preoccupied with the big sleep coming and much less interested in getting any more practice!

Hmm, I think some of those questions from gamblers anonymous shouldn't really apply.
Like #3, #4, #5, #8, #12, #14, #16, #17
3. If you have a reputation for being a good poker player that's good not bad.
4. I feel remorse when I get sucked out on/make a bad decision for my stack late in a tourney.
5. Planning what pay bills with your winnings is just good planning.
8. If I'm playing well and winning, of course I want to play more.
12. You have to maintain a good bankroll to finance further playing, money is the tool of the poker player.
14. If a game's good I'll keep playing until conditions change.
16. Isn't financing online poker illegal now? And in jurisdictions where it's illegal to play poker.
17. I've stayed up for 27 hours at a juicy game when I normally would've went to sleep, usually not that much, but if it's a great game, of course. Also thinking about some situations of the game you were just playing before bed can easily keep you up.

8 hrs a day / 6 days wk prolly ends up like 50-60 hrs per wk

i play around 10-15 hours a week i do it when im not working but i consider this "on the clock"