working v.s. poker

I work some crazy hours and yesterday I was informed by my boss that my plant will most likely go to a 7 day work schedule, leaving me with probably 2 to 3 hours a day to play online poker.

My question is would I be better off playing rings games or tournaments?

If the answer is tournaments, what format would be best, regular, turbo, hyper turbo ect.?

I play the micro stakes the most because my bankroll really isn't big enough right now to move up, and obviously I can forget joining any kind of poker league at least until things calm down with my job, I just would like some suggestions on how my 2 to 3 hours a night would best be spent at the poker tables.

Thanks.

it all depends on what you have most success in...and which you enjoy the most. perhaps combine both...stick to one format for 1 week...and the other the next week...and make a comparison

Honestly, if you are working seven days a week and can only afford to play two or three hours a day, I would focus on ring games. The average tournament lasts longer than two or three hours if you really want to get a large ROI. I think it is in your best interests to pursue ring games, and develop strategies that enable you to be profitable. I am glad to see you are dedicated to your work and poker though, it's tough to find a good balance.

You may want to play poker now but once you switch over to 7 days a week you won't have time. When I worked 7 days a week all I did was work, eat, sleep and iron my clothes for the next day.

It looks like you don't have enough time for tournaments so I would stick to Ring games, until your current schedule lightens up. Play for a few hours stand up, sleep and rinse and repeat.

Yea, this will depend on a lot of things. I am kinda guessing you are single w/o kids. Duhhhh.lol. Cause if you are not, its just a matter of time till you are if you work 7 days and play poker on your off time.

Large entrant tourneys are defo not the way to go if you are under time pressure. If you start to get deep, and start looking at the clock, you are not going to play well, and all that time invested will be wasted and not satisfying to you OR your BR.

If tourny structure is what you like best, than SnGs are the way to go. A 9 man reg speed can take 1 1/2 hours but wont always, a turbo maybe half that. This can of course vary, but as a general time allotment.

Of course, it may be a good chance to get better at 6 max or FR cash games, if those are games you enjoy.

Good luck, in any case.

I agree with this for the most part...

Obviously you can't play any MTT's since you just don't have the time needed to make a deep run. So let's throw those out of the equation. And since you are playing on stars, you don't have the advantage of the rush on demand games.

So that leaves you with ring games and sit n go's. From here I think it has a to be what you prefer. If you want the best chance to come out winning right away, play to your strengths (what you are familiar and comfortable with).
I know that I personally have dumped many chippies making the transition over to cash after some big MTT scores, but that is not true for everyone (that was not a try to discourage you from ring). Good luck with whatever you choose, and I hope your increased work days comes with increased income

EDIT: Fletchdad beat me to it... But I agree with what he said.

I'm in the same boat as you but I work 12 hour days, lately putting in 60 hour weeks, man my checks look beautiful, but that's all I do, work eat then go to sleep , most of the time I play for an hour or so after I eat just to wind down before I go to sleep, I'm a better tourny player then a ring player but I don't have the time to play in tournys, but when I got the time I play a tourny, play the games you have the time for

I would say ring games, or 1 table SnG's due to limited time factor. When I play tourneys, knowing I have limited time I tend to play poorly due to impatience to build pot/eliminate players.

Ring games the time factor is a very real issue. You cannot be in the position that you must make a move just because you need sleep.

Seven day work week?? Is that even legal?

If you want to tighten up your game, while still thinking about bankroll, all I can say is MATRIX,

With a Matrix tourney, minimum Buy-in is $1.20, for 4 sit-n-go tables at the same time.

The reason im suggesting this format is that, you get to play a lot of hands for minimal investment.

The points tally is interesting, and every table pays the same money, (the moneys not huge by all means), and you can easy win the matrix point tally too.

But, me personaly, I found that it also helped my to understand more about the fundamentals of sit-n-go poker.

Another good 1 is the $1.10 - 90 seat, double stack, sit-n-go, it pay top 18, thats better than most other pay structures (top 20%).

P.S. I also put a challenge on, from the Academy, the points arent huge, but you wont even know you are doing it, (might be good for a prezzy or 2)

You can multi-table rings or sngs and get in a lot of poker in 2 or 3 hours. MTT's are obviously out for time considerations.

I'm not sure exactly how long the games (sng) would typically take on Pokerstars but do know how long they take on Fulltilt (it'd be somewhat similiar, differences being > FTP the blinds go up faster but they don't have the 100/200 to 200/400 jump like on Stars).

In the time restraints you've mentioned, I'd suggest (for Tournament play):

9plyr. SNG (reg. speed ~1hr., maybe 1hr.10mins., Turbo <1hr.)
27plyr. Sng (reg. speed <2hrs)
45plyr. Sng "TURBO" <2hrs.

I have to agree with sit-n-gos,thats your best option for your time limits.At least for now.Try the small limit double-up sngs.I really like those myself.

All things being equal -cash

But things are rarely equal - stick with what you're good at.

if you only have 2-3 hour per day than you dont have time to play tournies. play cash or Sng's

I am betting he has a lump sum of days off. I used to do shift work 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. And at the end of every 14 day shift I would have a number of days off, which varied depending on if it was after a night shift or day shift.

But interesting question to OP, how do your days off go? I mean, you DO have some right??

Thank You all for your suggestions, I am also married with a 3 year old at home so trying to juggle everything can be a real hassle, my wife understands my love for poker and is very understanding about it.

I work in the dairy industry basically a butter and milk plant, I don't know if it's legal for them to do this or not, but I remember when they tried this a few years ago. I personally worked 20 days in a row until they finally gave me a day off, after another week of doing that they lost almost half of their work force and up until now we were split into weekend groups and would alternate.

I am sure that this will only last for a month or two, and things will get back to normal, it's just that right now nobody seems to know if and when a day off is going to come, when it does I usually spend my time with the family of course and if there is spare time then that's when I usually play, again Thank You all for your suggestions, it is much appreciated.

Echoing what most have already said... Stick to what you do good. If I were good at cash games then that's where I'd focus my game and work on my multi tabeling.

I however am not good at cash so Id stick with Sit n Gos. You could play Id say anywhere from the 6 and 9 persons be it regular or turbo. Or if you like more people move up to the 27 to 45 person Turbo sit n gos. I think these two games at the small buy-ins are very expoitable.

Thats too bad, but I guess should be grateful for a job especially nowadays but I would say ring games, because tourneys can take 4, 5 even 6 hours. So build up your BR on Ring games then maybe hit a few SNG 9 people table.

Multi-table Sit 'N Go for sure. Way more profitable when you dont have much time. The games all end around the same time. Plus you get alot of poker in compared to one tourament that last 8 hrs.

I agree with the STT (9pSNG). I just started playing them again after playing 10NL and 25NL cash games for the majority of the past 12 months and forgot how incredibly soft the 9p SNG are at the $1, $2 and $5 buy in levels.

It is called "at will" employment. They can screw with your schedule all they want - if you are willing to stay there.

@OP - Full Ring cash games are the way to go. You can jump out early at any time if you need to, and won't lose your entire buy-in as a tournament.

i agree with multi-table cash games and there are tourneys around with 300 to 400 people in them with a payout to 5 people but they even take sometimes 3 or 4 hours tho so yeah stick with cash games. good luck to you either way.

Small bankroll & serious time constraints, stay away from SNG's unless your sure you will have to complete the game, having to leave the table afore the game is over is ev-.

If you have a 3-year old on top of working seven days a week, I find it hard to believe that you have time to play that much poker. Honestly, I would stick to playing the least amount of hours as possible, because you have a lot more important priorities. But, I realize that you really like the game, just like the rest of us, and if you still want to play everyday focus on quick SnG's, so at least they don't take that much time out of your day. Good luck!