Poker Stamina... how long do you poker?

[thnwkd]

Glancing through my sessions today on PT i decided to sort them by minutes played and was surprised to find that a majority of my major loses (close to a buyin or more) were all over 105 minutes long. admitedly i don't have a huge amount of sessions (will plug in the exact numbers when i get home) but it seems that i can only play 1.45 hrs per session profitably. something to work on? I 4-table 25nl.

[johnny_fish]

The majority of your major winnings are probably also in the long sessions.. Variance increases with time.

[dev]

Wait a sec... card variance decreases with time. Maybe mental/emotional variance increases, as in bad beats make bad judgement, that sort of thing.

I find that some days I play at the casino for 2 hours, and I'm ready to leave. Other days I play for 8 hours straight, and then feel like playing a tourney.

One day I decided I'd be there for an early tournament (8am). Since I'm never up that early I decided to pull an all-nighter at the 1/2NL tables. I won about 600 at a bar tourney and side game, left the bar for the casino at about 1am, played 1/2nl for about 6 hours and made 1g. I was falling alseep on my tournament chips by 10:30, but all in all, it was a 14 hour session where I feel I only made one major mistake (getting greedy with AA vs another big stack like 8 levels into the tourney).

Online... I played UO for days at a time when I was younger, this poker stuff is easy.

If I play against donks, it's cruise control. If I'm playing a game against good players, it's different. I think this is why tournaments are so hard for some people, they play great when it's straight-forward, then make mistakes when the money is on the line and the players are better because they've been playing for 3 hours already.

[DBL0SVN]

If I play against donks, it's cruise control. If I'm playing a game against good players, it's different. I think this is why tournaments are so hard for some people, they play great when it's straight-forward, then make mistakes when the money is on the line and the players are better because they've been playing for 3 hours already.

I agree - tournaments are like walking a tightrope. You have to maintain focus throughout - one lapse after a few hours of good work and you could be out.

[Pelion]

Poker Stamina... how long do you poker?

until shes very happy [/childish grin]


I usually play for anywhere between 1-3 hours. Much more than 3 and I start losing the will to live.

[underminedsk]

as long as I can. I can easily play 3+ hours without so much as thinking about it. If I'm up on the day, I generally play better and will play for 12+ hours sometimes.

[donnybaker]

I played at AC for about 12 hours last weekend. I left when I couldn't tell what my cards were anymore.

[thnwkd]

as long as I can. I can easily play 3+ hours without so much as thinking about it. If I'm up on the day, I generally play better and will play for 12+ hours sometimes.

wow... I must have ADD or somethin

[shysti]

Interesting enough my best poker is late in the am (1am and later) when I am a bit tired and kinda of out of it (it being everything not poker related) but my mind sort of goes into this trance at that point where I am unnaturally focused and can actually think straight.

So about 8 hours + the longer I play the better my concentration gets

[Galapogos]

I generally just play when there is nothing else going on with me at the time. Sometimes it can be for an hour or sometimes 8. The only time I will quit with nothing else to do is when I'm having a bad run of cards. Of course there's no "luck logic" involved, bad cards will happen. But it's more for my mental focus. I still have the problem where I feel I have to earn that money back. Always a bad move.

[Renton]

2-4 hours depending on how well I am running. If I am running really good or really bad, lean toward four. If I am have an average session, lean toward two.

[Laeelin]

8-15 hours normally.

[Miffed22001]

anything upto 4
Havent tried to go any more as yet, but i will be trying soon

[gabe]

the more i play the more i win because i eventually catch cards to match up with all my raising

[Lukie]

Interesting enough my best poker is late in the am (1am and later) when I am a bit tired and kinda of out of it (it being everything not poker related) but my mind sort of goes into this trance at that point where I am unnaturally focused and can actually think straight.

I'm the exact opposite, once I start getting a bit tired and I get out of it, my game just falls apart. Like i think to myself, a lot of these situations are so basic and standard but it's amazing how much worse I do when I'm tired.

[SuperDave9x19]

i usually poker till i blow my wad.

[jameseyb]

My usual session is less than 2 hours. There have been times when it has been longer (up to four) but I find that I start running out of mental steam at about 2.

Then the mistakes happen...

Then the Bad cards never stop...

Then I start thinking I should be playing cards like 72o just to shake things up a bit.

J

[geoffm33]

I play 1-2 hours mostly, I play better the longer I go. It's hit or miss with 1hr long sessions, you just don't catch the cards as often. I'd like to play 2-4 but I just can't fit it in. Who the hell am I kidding, I'd play all night if I could.

[biondino]

Interesting enough my best poker is late in the am (1am and later) when I am a bit tired and kinda of out of it (it being everything not poker related) but my mind sort of goes into this trance at that point where I am unnaturally focused and can actually think straight.

That is exactly how I managed to do all my study at university!

[biondino]

I tend to play 45 min sessions if I can fit them in (usually after my gf has gone to beed or before she's woken up), though out of choice I'd like to play 1.5 to 3 hours sessions. It takes me a while to focus, to get a feel for the game and the table, and then I (usually) manage to maintain my A game for 1-2 hours before tiredness, discomfort or other distractions start to deflect my attention, after which point I stop through prudence and, often, boredom.

[flomo]

i have trouble playing after about 3 hours, i lack focus after 3 hours.

[theDEEPdish]

I've never played over a ten hour session but would really like to some time i think all nighters are really fun but kill my eyes and when I keep getting bonuses it always feels like i'm up

I think that i start to play the worst when i'm running bad(on tilt) which i think is my biggest leak that i won't get away from it

[crushednuts]

I like to play for like 3-4 hours. When I first started I would play short sessions (3/4-1 hr ) when I had free time but I think this hurt because the cards wouldn't even out. Also, If i was at a good table I couldn't stay and clean up. I suggest playing for as long as possible as long as your emotions and your concentration hold together.