Time spent on poker

So I would consider myself an on and off poker player for the past 8 years or so. Poker has been that outlet for me, for when I get really stressed out or just need to get away from the real world. Every time I sit at a table during a tournament, I don't think of anything else in the world other than my opponents and the cards. I love it!

I want more poker in my life. I am recently married (less than a year now) with a job I hate (surprise surprise) and just haven't been able to find a proper, regular balance between real life and getting on the tables. Sometimes my job needs me to go back to work in the evenings, and throw dinner with the wife between that and it puts a kink in my play time. I typically play MTT's, which with the consistent time spent per tournament hinders on my desire to play, but I do switch it up from time to time playing on a SnG or a couple cash tables to keep the BR decent.

What type of time management do you guys use when it comes to poker, online and live? How much time is spent in your worlds doing this per day? Per week? I'm just curious - I'm thinking of trying to write out a weekly schedule in hopes to put more time into my gaming.

Wow, very interesting. Poker does require lot of free time so I am very touched with your story. Can you tell me how your wife handle the whole situation about the poker, does she know about your gambling passion? Poker take a lot of time, I have the same subject in my head for some time, is i worth it I am asking myself? Don't get me wrong, I love poker and I am pretty good online player.

bezobrazny said:

Wow, very interesting. Poker does require lot of free time so I am very touched with your story. Can you tell me how your wife handle the whole situation about the poker, does she know about your gambling passion? Poker take a lot of time, I have the same subject in my head for some time, is i worth it I am asking myself? Don't get me wrong, I love poker and I am pretty good online player.

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My wife is fully supportive of it - honestly there is very little she doesn't support. I guess my biggest difficulty is with the time management of my job. I work at a college campus and often with the students doing many programs starting at 10:00 PM. So it's like I come home from my normal office hours, take care of the dog, figure out dinner plans with the wife, and then set up for the evening activities we have going on. It's a bit ebb and flow, for example this week I plan on having this schedule 3 of the 5 work days. And on some weekends I'm on call in which if something happens I have to physically respond - not good when you're 2 hours deep into a MTT.

I was just curious to see how much time other spend on planning their weekly pokers.

unfortunately ,poker has taken control of ALL of my time. i play allday long and have become somewhat of an antisocial pokerplayer. trying to balance that out but i find it impossible.since i have alot of free time cause i work very few hours ,everytime im at home ,i always turn on the laptop and play poker. trust me.its better to have things that make you not be able to play instead of having endless free hours cause if thats the case youll end up a poker freak like me.

vinylspiros said:

unfortunately ,poker has taken control of ALL of my time. i play allday long and have become somewhat of an antisocial pokerplayer. trying to balance that out but i find it impossible.since i have alot of free time cause i work very few hours ,everytime im at home ,i always turn on the laptop and play poker. trust me.its better to have things that make you not be able to play instead of having endless free hours cause if thats the case youll end up a poker freak like me.

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Man, I didn't think of it like that... and I guess that's where I'm trying to get input from this.

I would love to get in the swing of things with poker and my life again. I see the events that CC offers and want to get involved, and I'm mainly talking about the buy in tournaments and not the freerolls Maybe I should start panning out my typically weekly schedule:

M-F: working 9:00am-5:00pm, food typically around 6:30 with the wife.
Tues: On call for my job, and would have to physically respond to emergencies if needed (not optimal to play poker during these times)
F, Sat, Sun: One weekend of 'on call' again, never fun to have to leave the poker rooms for any reason.
Typically 2 evenings a week dedicated to some event happening on our campus during the M-Thurs starting at 10:00pm.

I basically see 1 day out of the week there that I can just buckle down and dedicate to some poker, plus 3 weekends out of every month as long as we are fully staffed. I think I need to start scheduling my work around CC events Maybe that'll help?

Poker does require alot of time. If your spouse doesn't approve, it is bad. Mine wife is ok with it most of the time, though. You have to schedule poker around your other activities, such as work and family time. Don't get caught up in poker all the time. Everything suffers then. Make out a schedule that will fit your other activities and try to stick to it.

I feel if you have a family and significant other you will need their support to actually get some good volume, Your wife can't be the type to hate that the computer basically has more of your attention than she does, as far as everything else, work comes first if you are not making real good money playing poker, you have to support your family, but other than that I would basically put poker over it unless its important, thats what I do, like when I watched the superbowl yesterday at a friend get together my laptop was with me ROFL

99% of the time poker will cause more trouble than it will solve , seen it to many times. and even when winning i will sometimes get the ugly face from my wife of 26 years because of the time i need to devote. 1 thing for sure if i ever get the guts to take a crack at the big 1 and do well, i would certainly be playing alot less

As others already said, poker can be quite time consuming (and sometimes plain addictive), so I use a computer program that locks me out from 7am-6pm, also in weekends. My girlfriend and I don't go to bed early, so if I want to play, I have time for it in the evening. This scheme works well for me.

I personally don't understand girlfriends or spouses that disapprove of poker. For most guys it's a hobby like any other. We sometimes watch old HSP episodes together, which she finds amusing.(I really miss those times of HSP, by the way.)

I've quit. Dunno about anyone else.

Some women are just that way, and it is fine...take the time to take her to a nice place and remind her that your poker has afforded you this reward.

We have a schedule that includes a day together & a few other sessions here & there.

If your Wife enjoys it, do it together (not just that), play poker.

We found a day, (mondays are good for us) that was free of interruptions, for us, thats the three children (G-14/B-11/G-6)& you never get much free time when being a parent, as a lot of you already know.

This day can be every week or just once a month, but, you will end up working out whats good for you soon enough.

When we created our schedule (sticky notes on the PC is what we use), & it seemed silly at the time, but, it ended worked for us in the long run, cause our two eldest children now play on the weekends with us. The same goes with the kids too. We set aside a couple of hours every weekend, just for playing on-line & teaching as we go.

I spend more time in forums like this than I do in playing poker. The online poker friends from these forums make it so more fun when I do go play. I find it very addictive for me, so I have to be more aware of the time I am sitting at the computer. I was sitting for four hours in a tourney and could not believe it went so fast. Its just to much fun.

When you're on call, I suggest sticking with freerolls and cash games. That way if you're interrupted it's not a big deal. I have downtime at work, but I can get interrupted my customers, so I stick with freerolls there. It works out well, because I only have the potential to make a few dollars, but those freeroll winnings boost my bankroll which lets me play in bigger games when I'm at home without interruptions.

I mostly play on Friday-Sunday as those days have more of my "free time".

Set your & your families priorities right. then all else will fall in place. Yours will be unique, so you will have to work it out yourselves. when there is a chance that you will be disturbed which is important than poker play freerolls & Cash Games.. If you can be reasonably sure of a time period choose a S&G which will finish in that time period. If you have enough freetime play MTT or Live. But at anypoint if there is something more important than poker comes up get up and go .. it is after all a not a priority. Family always comes up first

yes indeed ... it is interesting topic.I play poker for 10 years.and i play about 5 or 6 hours per day. I have days when i'm not playing or when i play 10/12 hour....



Anyway I think i'm playing pretty much

I do a full time college, so, it's almost impossible to maintain a regular poker schedule, because when I have a test this means no poker for a couple of days
But in normal days, I play at night (around 3 hours) after midnight, but don't know if this a good option for you.

I used to play a lot. Now I have started a new career and have very little time to play or post on here.

My GF is a teacher so I try to put in a session during the day for an hour or so and then I play in the evenings when she goes to sleep.

Poker has been my only source of income for 7 years now and rather than letting poker rule me I *try* to rule it by dictating when I play.
The only way this is possible is to be comfortable playing regs and hu and 3 handed is I wont always be able to table select.

Poker is a great hobby. I try to hold my own and not lose money. I have fun playing. That's what poker is to me, a hobby.

Yeah as i read here i play most of my poker games from Friday night TO Sunday night At the other time i feel it hard to find free time, for more than 1 hour...

Since I joined cardschat I have spent alot more time on poker, and as a bonus actually made some money playing

Most of the time I like to sched my poker time in the evening. I try to play at least 1 or 2 MMT's a day between 6:00p.m. est and 11:30 p.m.est.Unless I have plans with my family or something more important has come up.

I played poker online everyday, about 3-4hours a day. I'm just a student so I have lot of freetime so I spend it on poker.