Burnout

Hi

I've been playing cash games mostly non-stop for 14 days. From the moment I wake up at 06:00 o'clock to 21:00 with short breaks of 10 mins after each session and last couple of days ( 3 or 4 ) I've been feeling jaded and burnt out and it affects my results. I'm not losing though.

Since I deposited 30 bucks into pokerstars, I turned it into 131 bucks in 10 days ( mostly cash games 0.02/0.05 and some cash ins in 4 tournaments but wasn't a big pay). Now last 4 days I continued grinding and won 20 dollars more ( now 151). I know the proccess isn't linear but I think its because I'm burnt out last 4 days that I haven't won more. How do you maintain your freshness?

I don't think there's a way to avoid burnout when working or playing 15 hours a day for 14 days straight. Why do you need to put in this many hours? I would try to add volume by adding tables and cutting hours so that you can rest between sessions. You also should leave some time for off table study. There are likely areas you can identify and improve if you review your hand histories but that will take some hours away from your play time. Good luck with the grind.

wow dude no wonder you are burnt out.

The first rule in life is balance and for me it applies for poker doubley so.

You need to rest your mind and body, 10min break between sessions is not enough.

My suggestions are drop down to 8-10 hours and use the extra time to rest your mind and eat healthy, small and often.

move to some site like partypoker or ggpoker & put that time into grinding rake races & rakeback. putting that much effort into stars micros is literally worthless
you'll feel the burnout when it gets less rewarding

You need to stop immediately. because stay has already reached a critical level. this may end up in the fact that you start to tilt and give all the money for 1 hour of play. No living creature on the planet can be for a long time.

What you describe is just too much for any kind of activity not only poker. Working (or playing) for 15 hours per day is not something normal. Even if you aim to play professionally you should limit your sessions to 8 or 9 hours per day maximum with at least 1 and preferably 2 free days per week.

Like basically everyone has said already but you need to stop playing for 15 hours. That part is why you are burnt out. Play more tables so you can cut the session down. My opinion is you can play 15 hour sessions if you wanted to every once in a while but every day is way to much especially 14 days in a row.

So you're playing 15 hours a day recreationally? Why? Don't you have anything else to do for fun?

Doing anything 15 hours a day is going to burn you out. It sounds like you have a lot of free time. Find other things to do for fun. I think you'll be a lot happier and you won't get burned out.

BasTid said:

wow dude no wonder you are burnt out.

The first rule in life is balance and for me it applies for poker doubley so.

You need to rest your mind and body, 10min break between sessions is not enough.

My suggestions are drop down to 8-10 hours and use the extra time to rest your mind and eat healthy, small and often.

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Agree, balance is key.

I noticed that players who earn poker do not work hard. I have one piece of advice; keep balance; No need to torture yourself. Poker is not going anywhere, but your life is leaving. Spend time with your loved ones, because we play poker so that we have free time, and not work for someone else’s uncle and spend time on him.

My advice is to reduce the amount of hours that you play, because many times playing more doesn't necessarily means that you are going to win more money. And if you play when stressed, the chances of you starting to lose is higher. If you have time, I think 8 hours is enough to have fun and not be stressed out.

I cant play poker this way... for me its a hobby... today i didnt play yet

You’re playing an unsustainable amount of poker. Even for a professional.

You should be limiting your work week to 35-40 hours (and studies show that after 50-55 you’re basically getting nothing extra done) and there is absolutely no reason you should be playing more poker than that, either.

I think it will be better for you to take a few days off and go outside and take part in other activities. You'll be more refreshed after that

When you play long session concurrently it will wear you down. We are more motivated when results as coming in every session. Throwing a few SnG might help or starting a little later in the day, maybe knocking off earlier.

Played a bankroll challenge that went two sessions at 3 months per session. After that ended I wanted nothing to do with poker for a few months. Also played a weekend league for several years that took the zeal of the game from me.

It has been few years since that ended. Just don't feel the same about playing. I'm down to playing a couple of short table SnG a week. Been playing online poker for 20 years and can honestly say it consumed 15 years of my life.

Take those last four days as a red flag. Try to mix some other activities in to avoid feeling loss of motivation to poker.

With the dedication like yours, it is impossible not to burn out.
Take a look at you earnings percentage-wise - those are immense. So YOU HAVE to rest - your earnings are spectacular.
Have a break and rise the stakes. Involve yourself less and earn more

that is not wonder that you are burnt out after to much hours of playing, now You need to reset yourself

Half a month for 15 hours a day !? In this case, you can maintain freshness only in unnatural ways (alcohol, tobacco, pills, etc.) For the rest, you simply do not have time. I believe it is not worth it even with a more impressive win. Lichitsya will be much more expensive.:help:

I get tired mentally very easily playing Poker. One tip is to do a little exercise, it helps to slow down the mind and improves sleep.

Well, you have win a good amount, later you will be able to play others buyin, and make your game more profitable with less time playing.

I advice you to make more time of break, in tournament we have no way to break some sessions, but on cash game you can break, eating something, see a episode of your favorite series, a movie, and come back to the game later without bournout, there nothing more important than your health, playing so much in a roll will make you can't play your best game.

youri said:

Hi

I've been playing cash games mostly non-stop for 14 days. From the moment I wake up at 06:00 o'clock to 21:00 with short breaks of 10 mins after each session and last couple of days ( 3 or 4 ) I've been feeling jaded and burnt out and it affects my results. I'm not losing though.

Since I deposited 30 bucks into pokerstars, I turned it into 131 bucks in 10 days ( mostly cash games 0.02/0.05 and some cash ins in 4 tournaments but wasn't a big pay). Now last 4 days I continued grinding and won 20 dollars more ( now 151). I know the proccess isn't linear but I think its because I'm burnt out last 4 days that I haven't won more. How do you maintain your freshness?

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What are you not losing? What are you winning? You aren't playing non-stop because you do sleep. It doesn't matter if you're playing on fumes or fresh if your objective is to win and you're winning but your wins must be worthwhile. If you're thirsty drink something, if you're hungry eat something and if you're losing then figure out quickly what combination of luck, variance and bad play is at work. If you're not satisfied with something..say a squeaky wheel..then you know oil will fix it so fix it and carry on. But if you're too tired to drive then you're a menace on the road to yourself and everyone else..so pull over and rest.

Greetings!
Of course, you need to relax more before such grueling sessions, because it affects your game!

CriesuaID said:

I get tired mentally very easily playing Poker. One tip is to do a little exercise, it helps to slow down the mind and improves sleep.

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Such a good advice! I often drink herbal teas, when i become being a little bit nervous)