Poker leading to social isolation

[6471849653]

I think serious poker sucks if one works full time. If not, the only problem is the lack of (larger) social contacts when one is playing instead of working somewhere.

Life if best when well rested and not so loaded from mental work, when one "loses touch with reality," though my meaning is with the emotional delights one can enjoy only when not loaded with too much mental work.

Additionally, I advice against loosening too much with the already known social contacts and putting oneself in a situation when it's harder to build new contacts, in case that's still easier.

There's no major problem playing plenty poker if it doesn't hurt the above factors. Though one could put in some extra time more and try to move up limit by limit doubling the bankroll at every limit, and if one gets up to some significant level, then one should start thinking and at the very least it would be worth playing sometimes.

[insyder19]

Anyone else notices that if you play about 3k hands a day it really burns you out? Like I came from Ibiza having a great time, not playing for a week poker and I wasn't missing it because I was having a good time.

So I started playing again, not much, maybe 2-3 hours a day and was feeling good. Later on the days I played really much and felt sick. especially because I wasn't winning a lot and just hanging too much behind my computer.

So the key is, to play poker but not too much, just like drinking alc but not too much, that's the goal we need to make.

[Shizzle12345]

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Anyone else notices that if you play about 3k hands a day it really burns you out? Like I came from Ibiza having a great time, not playing for a week poker and I wasn't missing it because I was having a good time.

So I started playing again, not much, maybe 2-3 hours a day and was feeling good. Later on the days I played really much and felt sick. especially because I wasn't winning a lot and just hanging too much behind my computer.

So the key is, to play poker but not too much, just like drinking alc but not too much, that's the goal we need to make.

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Dunno how much tables u play but if you 8 table thats about 4 hours everyday? = 28 hours a week. Thats pretty damn much, I think alot of pro's get less hours in. My average is prolly between 2-3 hours.

[insyder19]

The thing is, if you are sitting in a card room and play 8 handed its much more healthy than to sit at home and play 8 handed one table online. In a card room you probably know the other players, you have small talk, you have much more to watch, body language, movement of the chips, etc.

Now online I was 4 tabling first, then moved to 6 tabling, was feeling good and 8 tabling finally and felt sick because I was playing more hands than usually and 8 tabling is just not good. Especially if it doesn't fit good into the screen and you have to click too much to see them all.

Nah, I would actually say that 6 tabling, 4 hours a day is pretty fine. That's basically 2 sessions each day, each 2 hours long, thats ok. But lets be realistic and find any full time online pro, no matter what stakes who plays less than 30 hours a week?

Btw, I find the key is as well to do sports, if you work out and do sports you feel much better because it makes you forget the bad beats or some down swing.

[Steven_Q_Erkel]

Take a break is the simple answer. Choose something physical to escape reality, or try and solve your real life problems that are leading you to want to escape in the first place.

[winningfish]

OP I like your post and I didn't know this forum existed until now. It's such a nice break away from the strategy forums where a lot of venom is spewed very often from basically morons. Yes poker does lead to social isolation, because you just can't play well without concentrating 100% and it isn't just at the actual time you're playing as in having silence in the house or music or whatever it is you need and no one bothering you. I find it's also important that you basically make poker the No.1 thing in your day everyday because you simply can't win if you have to leave by this time to do this, only have between this hour and that hour, etc. You can't control who's at the tables. If you sit down at a table and lose to some maniac donk over and over again and he isn't leaving and is sitting there with your money then you just have to be able to put off all appointments and sit for however long that is needed to get the money back from him. As for life issues, well having a serious girlfriend who's telling me I'm this or that if I don't spend 100% of my nightime with her is hard, and it's harder when you live together. I let her know that I'm making money but that's not what they want to hear. I have thought through this seriously and she's really costing me a huge amount of money because I can't concentrate when she's here and my winrates suffer enormously and can't put in long sessions if she isn't out of the apartment etc.

Poker really does challenge you in many aspects of life but at the end of the day it's what you're in poker for, that makes you decide if it's worth it. If you're in it for the fun, that's easy. If you're in it for the money, try and set a target. Say you want to make $100K to pay for kid's college. Or you want to make $20K to travel around the world for 6 months. Set a target and work out how long it will take to make that target and you can put all aside and go for the target. Once you've reached it just quit for a while and enjoy life and then come back to it feeling refreshed and not a loser locked up in your room 24/7 listening to the "whoosh whoosh" sound of hands being dealt.

[Gaborsisters]

I think it is a matter of discipline. You need to have other interests besides poker and then budget your time accordingly. If poker starts taking over then you are bordering on addiction, unless of course you are a pro who maintains his livelihood at the table. Even then it is a job and like any job you need other activities away from the job to take the edge off, relax. It is not so much a matter of poker as it is balance in ones life.

Eva

[LuisGamble]

I think this poker addiction is just nonsense. A normal job is at least 8 hours....if you are at the microlimits making moeny like me 8 hours is what i play daily to make hte money i need. And the day conists of 24 hours, so 8 u sleep, 8 u work and u have 8 free to get laid, do bungee jumping and so on....Every human being for the most part has 8 hours in working AT LEAST.....8 hours of sleeping and 8 hours of oding whatever they want. So whats the difference? The onyl difference i see is that in your job you dont interact with much people but it compensates beacue if u becaume a consistent winner then you can get laid with more hot chicks, tavel the globe, becaume a balla

[Albert Moulton]

Play live.

I know more about the lives of the regulars I play cards with than I do about the guys I work with every day. No matter that we try to take each others' money, most of the regulars kind of get a feel and respect for each other while mostly trying to take stacks from weaker, non-regulars.

Mix up on-line play with live play. Live play can be pretty profitable, too, at the mid-stakes level like 5/5 and 10/10 NL. So, you make "friends," make money, and have a pseudo social life. Plus all the dealers and chip runners are nice to you and call you by your first name.

[EnigmaCanada]

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Play live.

I know more about the lives of the regulars I play cards with than I do about the guys I work with every day. No matter that we try to take each others' money, most of the regulars kind of get a feel and respect for each other while mostly trying to take stacks from weaker, non-regulars.

Mix up on-line play with live play. Live play can be pretty profitable, too, at the mid-stakes level like 5/5 and 10/10 NL. So, you make "friends," make money, and have a pseudo social life. Plus all the dealers and chip runners are nice to you and call you by your first name.

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This actually is a nice solution to the social isolation aspect to online poker, but it then brings up some of the negative aspects of live poker; namely the higher costs of rake, travel expenses, tipping, slower pace.

I guess its all about making choices though, right?