How many hrs a month do you play ?

pro. Played 126hours cash + around 10MTTs in November

Played only ~80hr last month.

I usually aim to play at least 120hr a month. Semi-pro, in my last year of college.

I suppose for a pro, 40hr week should be standard, like in a normal job, back to work slackers

Originally posted by 177272
I suppose for a pro, 40hr week should be standard, like in a normal job, back to work slackers

As EmanuelC16 said, 70hrs a month is a lazy grinders schedule.

8h a day is a bit sick to me, I play like 4-5h a day but the rest of my time I spend concerns poker anyway ♠_love:

Pro, 227 hours in November. Though it was not exactly normal month

Having full time job 39 hrs a week. Plus studying work related stuff few hours a week.

Months rate of hours vary a lot depending on other activities I do.

This year I have played 384 hours, so average would be 35 hours per month, so 9 hrs a week.

Originally posted by 177272
I suppose for a pro, 40hr week should be standard, like in a normal job, back to work slackers

Interesting comparison. From my experience, 8 hours of "work" for a usual day-time job consists of maybe 2-3 hours of focused work per day. The rest is breaks, meetings, checking e-mails, talking to other people, lunch...

I'm curious what you guys think - is it really realistic to compare an activity like poker where you pretty much want to be (and need to be) 100% focused to something that isn't quite similar to that in terms of focus and required thinking?

I personally haven't found any people who would be able to put 8h of focused work in on a daily basis consistently over a long-term period. Usually even the people at the top level both in poker in business can get in about 6h of highly concentrated work a day (excluding breaks) on a long-term basis.

Also: If you would actually be able to play 8h a day (even with breaks included), when would you work on your game? How much time would that take you? Additional 3 hours? Then we're at 11 hours. You also need to eat, shower... How much free time do you really have left?

I'm really curious to hear about your thoughts and experiences in this area :).

Yup, great topic and you add a lot more fuel to it Schnitelfisch. I do very little at work and what I do is well with in my capabilities, which is probably why when I try to grind sng's after a couple of hours I know I have been grafting. But a full day at work is of no consequence.

Pro and Rec players for that matter, clearly do need to factor in none playing poker time and grinding time, but what proportion's ?

Originally posted by 177272
Yup, great topic and you add a lot more fuel to it Schnitelfisch. I do very little at work and what I do is well with in my capabilities, which is probably why when I try to grind sng's after a couple of hours I know I have been grafting. But a full day at work is of no consequence.

Pro and Rec players for that matter, clearly do need to factor in none playing poker time and grinding time, but what proportion's ?

I have some ideas, but I'm mostly curious about what the community thinks about this subject :).

I have a full time job and tried to play in November 4h/day ==> 88h in November of pure playing and it was a horrible mistake, I mean it depends on the nature of your job but still I woudn't really recomened it. High intelectual work(I`m currently working as a Sales Engineer) for 12h/day for a long period of time it's just not going to work, it did not for me anyway.

My schedule was wake up at 6:40 ->hit the Gym -> 9:00 start work ->17:00 finish work -> 17:15-17:30 start poker ---> 22:00 finish poker (I had a 30min break after the first 2h session) for 22 days... and I`m trying to be in a healthy realtionship/ and have a social life... on weekends I was draged all over place although I would have mostly wanted to sleep. + the traveling for conferences for my job.

Maybe you`ll learn from my mistake, don't be lazy but don't burn your self out... I did, and lost more than half of my roll in 80k hands :).

I`m going back to what worked. My job +2h/day 5days/week + study ofc... and maybe some more poker on weekends but nothing predetermened.

Take care.

Interesting comment by Schnitzelfisch.

But I am not sure if I can agree

From my experience, 8 hours of "work" for a usual day-time job consists of maybe 2-3 hours of focused work per day. The rest is breaks, meetings, checking e-mails, talking to other people, lunch...

For me 2-3 hours of focused work would be a dream. I made an agreement with my boss that I can take break each hours - 10 minutes - to rest my eyes and so on. So during whole day so its about 70 minutes total per day. So what is the rest - work. Sometimes its even hard to focus that much time.

I know some people just cheat and predend they are working. BUt I would rather have 6 hours of productive day and go home earlier than predend working 8 hours.

And some bosses even think that I am taking lots of breaks. For example one boss when I was asking for bigger salary, instally remembered that my breaks are longer than other people ♦ other people to like 5 mins per few hours (at least they predend that they are working because they sit near computer).

Also when I was in one of job interviews, I again say - I want 10 minutes of break each hour. He says - 5 mins are recommended, but ok (they really needed a worker). But I dont like that fact that its only ok. I would like much more if he would say - at least ten minutes you MUST have a break from pc.

Also if using pomodoro techniqye - the breaks become even longer.

http://pomodorotechnique.com/

and I would really like to use it but, I already not feeling confortable having 10 mins each hour break.

Plus they want people to study after work, they dont say how many hours, but they just want. Its not bad, I like to improve and be better than somebody, but I wish they give me free time for this from workday.

I personally haven't found any people who would be able to put 8h of focused work in on a daily basis consistently over a long-term period. Usually even the people at the top level both in poker in business can get in about 6h of highly concentrated work a day (excluding breaks) on a long-term basis.

Comparing poker to job - still I think its different. At poker you must be much more focused. At job when focus becomes hard, you think slower or make mistake, but it is not as costly I guess if you carefully check/test. It may depend on job, but I am talking about programming.

Also: If you would actually be able to play 8h a day (even with breaks included), when would you work on your game? How much time would that take you? Additional 3 hours? Then we're at 11 hours. You also need to eat, shower... How much free time do you really have left?

If I would be pro, I would not want in perfect world to have more thant 8 hour of work+study. I would still want to play other computer games and have other social life, and also want to save my eyes. And also thats why you are your own boss, you can work less and earn more ♦ and let those who think that its imposible to win work their 8 hours - they deserve it for such thinking ♦ thats the point of poker

Not joking - but not fkn enough!

Originally posted by Schnitzelfisch

Interesting comparison. From my experience, 8 hours of "work" for a usual day-time job consists of maybe 2-3 hours of focused work per day. The rest is breaks, meetings, checking e-mails, talking to other people, lunch...

I'm curious what you guys think - is it really realistic to compare an activity like poker where you pretty much want to be (and need to be) 100% focused to something that isn't quite similar to that in terms of focus and required thinking?

I personally haven't found any people who would be able to put 8h of focused work in on a daily basis consistently over a long-term period. Usually even the people at the top level both in poker in business can get in about 6h of highly concentrated work a day (excluding breaks) on a long-term basis.

Also: If you would actually be able to play 8h a day (even with breaks included), when would you work on your game? How much time would that take you? Additional 3 hours? Then we're at 11 hours. You also need to eat, shower... How much free time do you really have left?

I'm really curious to hear about your thoughts and experiences in this area :).

I was telling all this to a student in our coaching and staking program without reading your post

6 hours grinding poker 25 days a month is much different then grinding some desk office job or anything else really. Now the most important thing for us SNG grinders or anybody who multitables in poker is obviously how good is our auto pilot skill. In my case, I can comfortably play 12+ tables on 15s 6 max, have short or long sessions grind 6+ hours a day and always expect to be breakeven at minimum How do I know this ? Simply I played over 20k tourneys on Stars since June 10th and this is more then enough games to be pretty sure about my skill.
What am I trying to say here? Well I am not having hard time breaking even playing 12+ tables and I can do this while watching tv shows listening to music etc. The real challenge for me would be to increase ROI to 5% and maintain it for long period of time (goal/challenge for next year) but I can't do it right now cause I am facing huge volume challenge + I coach people in our coaching/staking program + other life stuff
The way I plan to deal with this challenge next year is to decrease number of hours I grind (so say from 6 to 4 and a half) but use that difference to work on the game (analyze all the regs, write notes on all the plays, exploit each one appropriately, fix all my leaks that need fixing etc). This approach will surely provide me with better ROI and hourly in future.
I am telling you all this that for us, poker players, there is a lot of auto pilot going on and what we do outside of the tables (working on the game) improves our auto pilot therefore makes it easier to multitable more and play longer periods of time.
Its no problem to play 8 hours a day, problem is do you really want to do it? What kind of life do you have outside of poker if you are grinding 8 hours? Are you studying besides the grind or just grinding?
I strongly believe that even with 8 hours of grinding + working on the game it is possible to maintain "normal" lifestyle. Take 6-8 hours to sleep, meals 1 hour, grind 8 , working on the game 1 hour, work out 1 hour , family-friends - loved ones the rest - it is definitely doable! You just need to have excellent time management skills and people around you need to respect it and follow it with you.
As I said I don't plan to grind 8 hours a day from January , my goal will be more working on the game (increasing my ROI) , but still playing respectable amount of games (3k minimum). I will increase hours if I feel need for more money but I have also learned to live humble life while in coaching and staking program so even with 3k+$ a month I will not go insane spending but rather travel couple of times a year and save up for investing.

Hope my story helped with this case study of a sort. In some things I agree with you, in others I don't but I respect what you are doing here and already read 1 book you recommended a while back (7 habits of very successful people) - now reading Dale Carnegie book you suggested!

I played 46 hrs last month. Can't believe I had to go check that. These details I should know.

I have a full time manual job (truck mechanic ) and work 37.5 hours a week plus a couple of Saturdays a month plus occasional overtime. I work shifts, 6am - 2pm and 2pm - 10pm so can sometimes be tricky to work in my poker. I think I have a kind of system worked out now. My work tilts me beyond belief so can have a seriously negative effect on my play when on the late shift.

I also volunteer 1 night a week and am married so can't spend all my life in the office. My wife is pretty unsympathetic regarding my poker but she could be a lot worse I suppose. We also have an active social life which is obviously important although I'd quite happily screw everyone and play poker 24/7 given the chance!

So on average I probably do 2hrs a day for 3 to 4 week days and 3 to 6hrs on a Sunday (most weeks). averaging 11.5 hours a week. Plus studying, reviews etc.

I could probably have studied to be something different by now but I enjoy this and provide sport for all the winners out there (for now).

for me i played 465 hrs for 4 consecutive months i started at 10am till 1am. lifestyle? none just poker

Originally posted by Schnitzelfisch

Originally posted by 177272
I suppose for a pro, 40hr week should be standard, like in a normal job, back to work slackers

Interesting comparison. From my experience, 8 hours of "work" for a usual day-time job consists of maybe 2-3 hours of focused work per day. The rest is breaks, meetings, checking e-mails, talking to other people, lunch...

I'm curious what you guys think - is it really realistic to compare an activity like poker where you pretty much want to be (and need to be) 100% focused to something that isn't quite similar to that in terms of focus and required thinking?

I personally haven't found any people who would be able to put 8h of focused work in on a daily basis consistently over a long-term period. Usually even the people at the top level both in poker in business can get in about 6h of highly concentrated work a day (excluding breaks) on a long-term basis.

Also: If you would actually be able to play 8h a day (even with breaks included), when would you work on your game? How much time would that take you? Additional 3 hours? Then we're at 11 hours. You also need to eat, shower... How much free time do you really have left?

I'm really curious to hear about your thoughts and experiences in this area :).

Last time I was "actually working" I worked 8,5h hours a day. 0,5h was for luch and there was 3 x 10min breaks I think. So I really have to disagree about 2 - 3 hours of focused work per day.

I wouldn't anyways compare poker to regular job, because most people go to regular jobs because they have to, not because that's their dream career or anything. If you're doing something don't like it's obviously harder to work long hours.

I had a poker coach who said something like this: "If you're serious about poker, you should be play + study at least 100 hours/month if you're part-time. If you're full-time you should use around 160 - 200 hours and keep in mind that people who really make money (wall street etc.)" work around 250 - 300 hours/month.

And yes. I played + studied 300 hours+ last month. Normally it's around 200 hours.

i have a regular job ( well payed ) and i go tu university , and i go to gym , and i play +study about 100 hours a month

Some really interesting stuff in here, thanks for all of the contributions. Its a little strange as well, getting a voyeuristic view into other peoples life's' like a kinda fly on the wall:) The amount od commitment to learning is prevalent in the posts I guess 3/4 year ago that would have been almost nil.

Steve