Cash game pros - lifestyle (and numbers) questions

[Phase2]

Canada For-The-Win !

[tagtastic]

- How many hours of cash game play do you guys (and gals) try to log every week ?

I avg about 20hrs a week, but it's very polarized to like 10 or 40hrs/wk. This is because I tend to play a ton when I'm not doing well, and quit easily when I'm up. Not recommended, but I think it's pretty common.

- How has playing cash games affected your sleeping cycles ? How has it affected the social aspect of your life?

I sleep from like 5am to 2pm (give or take two hours) usually - but honestly this is pretty close to my ideal sleep schedule (I was doing this in college long before I got into poker). The biggest problem I have w/ playing pro online is that I don't get an automatic, in town group of friends like many people do at their jobs.

- How do you guys pay yourself? Do you do a fix amount of $ per week ? Do you tell yourselves '' i will withdraw X$ when my bankroll reaches X$ ''

I withdraw whenever I have more than enough to play the stakes I want to. Make sure you have a large cushion in your bank account. A bad day/week/month should never affect your ability to pay your bills, etc for a fairly long period of time.

[HustlerLA]

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But as a basic guideline, if you're not making around $200-$400 an hour net , playing, for example, like 4 tables of 1/2 or 2/4 you're probably still at a stage where you're plugging a lot of leaks rather than implementing your style, if that makes sense.

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typo , i assume. 4tabling 2/4 at 5ptbb/100 would be $160/hr.

[jfish]

- How many hours of cash game play do you guys (and gals) try to log every week ?

about 30hrs a week average sounds right.

- How has playing cash games affected your sleeping cycles ? How has it affected the social aspect of your life?

my sleeping cycles have always been a bit weird ever since high school. i just focus better at night when there arent many distractions around and i am not tired, it might be weird but i dont give a [censored].

i feel like it has definitely affected my social life. its hard to relate to your college friends when you are making a lot of money and dont really have any commitments, its very unusual to say the least. i try to hang out with friends from time to time, but i feel like i just get along better with poker players who can relate to my own situation.

- What kind of $ / hour are some of you maintaining ? (please mention stake and # of tables played)

~$4-500 3 tabling.

- How do you guys pay yourself? Do you do a fix amount of $ per week ? Do you tell yourselves '' i will withdraw X$ when my bankroll reaches X$ ''

my bankroll = all my money.

[skier_5]

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i feel like it has definitely affected my social life. its hard to relate to your college friends when you are making a lot of money and dont really have any commitments, its very unusual to say the least. i try to hang out with friends from time to time, but i feel like i just get along better with poker players who can relate to my own situation.

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so so true, I feel so akward talking about... life... its like im bragging when im talking about my latest purchase or my latest trip - I have no idea if they see it that way, but that's how I feel. I mean, obviously people brag about the TV they are getting and how they saved up for it and that's cool, but when I'm talking about the latest thing I got, it's like the latest in a string of large purchases or like they know it didn't take me long to get it or whatever.

Or like, talking about work or life in general can be hard too. Talking about the great job they have lined up for the summer that they might make 15k at and like sure I can talk about it, but it's really awkward when chances are I might have won (or lost) that amount the night before.

[Cooper]

I'm not a full time Pro, I work 8 hour daytime just like all my friends (08.00-16.00), I try to fit in 2 hours of poker daily for 14-18 hours per week.
I normally play 400NL/600NL (4-5 tables) for about 6 PTBB, this usually sums up to 25-30K hands per month for a NET ranging from 2-3000$ up to 10K$ on a good month.
Since I'm not fully dependant on the money as I already have a decent salary I dont cash out but keep it to build my BR so I can move up to 1000NL in a few months with 40-50 buyins.

/Cooper

[AceCR9]

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i feel like it has definitely affected my social life. its hard to relate to your college friends when you are making a lot of money and dont really have any commitments, its very unusual to say the least. i try to hang out with friends from time to time, but i feel like i just get along better with poker players who can relate to my own situation.

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so so true, I feel so akward talking about... life... its like im bragging when im talking about my latest purchase or my latest trip - I have no idea if they see it that way, but that's how I feel. I mean, obviously people brag about the TV they are getting and how they saved up for it and that's cool, but when I'm talking about the latest thing I got, it's like the latest in a string of large purchases or like they know it didn't take me long to get it or whatever.

Or like, talking about work or life in general can be hard too. Talking about the great job they have lined up for the summer that they might make 15k at and like sure I can talk about it, but it's really awkward when chances are I might have won (or lost) that amount the night before.

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we've had threads before where it became apparent how different income levels are in different areas of the world/country.

I am sure for some online pros who make say, 300k+ a year, this isn't a ton of money. but in a lot of areas 100k is a lot of money, so it can be very uncomfortable when everyone your friends with or know makes so little compared to you, yet they are very happy with their lives.

stuff I might buy on a whim are items that pretty much everyone i know would have to save up/set aside money for. I refuse to feel bad/guilty over this as Ive gone through a lot to get to where I'm at- yet sometimes its tough.

also when you tell people your a pro, and they know you make good money doing it- they assume its very easy because you sit @ home on the computer and play a card game. meanwhile you can't explain or tell them that in the past week you've lost more than their annual income.

[Reefypoopoo]

- How many hours of cash game play do you guys (and gals) try to log every week ?
20

- How has playing cash games affected your sleeping cycles ? How has it affected the social aspect of your life?
use to F with it for a little while but going to sleep at noon SUCKS. So now I go to sleep at 3am which is wayyyy better. Can also be more social. I go out at least 1x a week.

- What kind of $ / hour are some of you maintaining ? (please mention stake and # of tables played)
not making what top regs do but good enough. mostly nl400. 9-14 tables

- How do you guys pay yourself?
' i will withdraw X$ when my bankroll reaches X$ '' yep.

[Nick Rivers]

Hours: ~30/week.
Sleep: Irregular, but it's been that way for me since I was 12.
Exercise: I fist-pump on the regular when I drag a hudge pot.
Mobnies: I make an hourly rate that would make a Yale law graduate jealous.
Social Life: What? I'm introverted anyway, so I don't care. My girlfriend and I basically keep to ourselves. Sometimes we go see a movie or hang out with some other couple we know, but we generally just chill at home.
Payment: I've been at this for a while, and I'm getting kind of rich. I just leave about 2000 BB in the poker accounts and stick the rest in index funds, leaving me enough to handle expenses and things of that nature. I also maintain a cash BR of 1000 BB and leave it in a safe deposit box. If I ever have a huge downswing, I can liquidate money from my investments and stick it back in poker accounts. Thus far, over the span of several years, I haven't had to do that.
Why the Lifestyle is Good: Being a cash game pro means you have a wide-open schedule and you can pretty much do whatever you want, whenever you want. No boss, no rules, no coworkers, no tournament schedules, no staking arrangements, none of that. You have total personal freedom and complete responsibility for yourself. This is the main draw for me because, if there's one thing I really hate, it's jobs.

[dagreez]

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- How many hours of cash game play do you guys (and gals) try to log every week ?

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about eight hours a day devoted to playing/posting/watching vids

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- How has playing cash games affected your sleeping cycles ? How has it affected the social aspect of your life?

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at first i just played whenever i wanted so my sleeping cycle got all screwy and social life things got out of whack because of that. things like missing phone calls cause im sleeping at weird times or playing instead of going out which sucks. it's similar to an opportunity cost. devote your time to what you care about. if all you care about is making money then that's what type of person you'll be. on the other side if you go out every night that's who you'll be too, balance is important imo.

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- What kind of $ / hour are some of you maintaining ? (please mention stake and # of tables played)

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this is a tough question to answer specifically because if you're at a stage where you are really taking off in your understanding and making fewer and fewer mistakes while also opening up your game in the right spots and continuing to learn your winrate will be growing and you may move up stakes where you then may go through another learning curve period where your win rate fluctuates while you adjust etc., so it will vary and one general rate won't really tell you much.

But as a basic guideline, if you're not making around $200-$400 an hour net, playing, for example, like 4 tables of 1/2 or 2/4 you're probably still at a stage where you're plugging a lot of leaks rather than implementing your style, if that makes sense.

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- How do you guys pay yourself? Do you do a fix amount of $ per week ? Do you tell yourselves '' i will withdraw X$ when my bankroll reaches X$ ''

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this is more difficult when you don't feel comfortable about sustaining a winrate. when you're confident that you can win and feel that it's just a matter of time you can plan out expenses a little better which is why some people advocate like 100 buy ins for a level. that seems rele high to me but it's just a big safety net really. basically what i'm saying is that if you're a winning player you'll be smart enough to find a mix of taking money out that will not jeopardize you're roll and that you can sustain yourself on.

gl and if you have any more questions or want to bs on AIM about hands or whatever give 'chalupahpuhol' a shout. hollerrrrr.