Time crunch: Finding the poker-life balance

By PKR_Brett


comments Friday 26 Jun 2009 14:15

'I’ve just been on an eleven buy-in downswing.' Say this to a full-time internet poker player and they’ll probably reply, 'Standard'.

To a pro this is a small glitch, to be ironed out of the line in the profit graph as it returns to the mean, fuelled by many thousands of hands a day. It’s not so easy to shrug off for a low volume player like me, trying to battle his way up from the micro-stakes cash tables and into more exciting territory.

Much as I love poker, the long suffering Mrs Brett does not, nor too does she love doing all the housework and childminding. This means that much of my valuable poker time is spent elbows deep in a sink full of bubbles and plates, or pretending to be a ghost and chasing a screaming child around my home, (OK, I’ll admit that part is cool.) Couple this hectic domestic life with the demands of a high powered executive position at PKR Towers [ed. who are you talking about!?] and I just can’t seem to play enough poker.

I don’t fret about the monetary loss when I sail over the event horizon of my latest downswing, but I do become frustrated about the time it took me to wrest it from the other peanut pushers. I can generally only get around fifteen hundred hands a week, and at my less than stellar win rate, it can take three months to recover from a bad hit of variance.

Inside I know I am a much better player than the stakes I am stuck at, and if I could only hit a nice heater then I will finally get to move up a level. But alas friends was it not hubris that led Sisyphus to his eternity of toil and frustration?

Over the next few weeks I'm going to look to find a wedge to work underneath that rock. Follow my progress here in the PKR Community as I try to turn my precious free time into poker gold. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your stories of poker perseverance in the face of the demands of real life.


Comments

Two kids,demanding job.I've slowed down the amount of poker i play and started studying the game so that i too can one day release myself from the low level stakes I currently play.My wife hates the game!! maybe that's what drives me on,that and teaching my 9 and 7 year olds to play.Great fun?!? good luck with your quest.lol

Comment by kevfin - 15/09/09 (Report)

Real life sucks... plug into the poker Matrix...

Comment by LockeLamora - 27/06/09 (Report)

Poker is a relationship and a very hard one at that. I´ve been at the micro limits for 2 years and sometimes I get the feeling that a Big winner gets (sometimes with a $2 pot). The wife and kids know I love the game, its my down time with heart rates reaching the 120 bps. I´ve decided that it will be a life time relationship with some days I play more and some less. However perserverance will take me to a higher level sooner or later and so the relationship grows.

Comment by miggig - 26/06/09 (Report)

Sounds hectic....
My advice - Quit your job, become a student....

Wake up... play some poker,.. go and listen to someone bumble on about some stuff,... play some more poker... drink then go to sleep.

Comment by NutterzUK - 26/06/09 (Report)

+1 i know exactly what your going thru! two kids of my own it can be difficult! gl

Comment by gaztheyorkie - 26/06/09 (Report)

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