Balancing work and poker

businessdude · #1 07-23-2007, 06:19 PM

I have been playing poker on and off for about 4 years. Recently, I started to ramp up my focus on the game by reading more, playing more, etc. I'm really getting "in" to the game - not really from a gamblin perspective, but from a pure interest in the concepts and strategies of the game.

The problem is that I have a regular job - and it's pretty good - 75K+/year , pretty interesting work, and very easy/low pressure. But sometimes, especially when work is slow - which is often - i can't stop thinking about poker. I'm always tempted to open a poker book or check out a poker website at work.

I play fairly low stakes, so I'm not ready to go pro and quit my job - not even close - my goal is more to supplement my income with poker for now.

Anyone else have this issue? Is there a mental trick you take to "turn off" poker and focus on work for a few hours a day?

aaokwitme · #2 07-23-2007, 07:31 PM

Dive in and read all you want. This feeling will shrink in time and you will have put it to good use.

mce86 · #3 07-24-2007, 12:55 AM

Like anything you get in to, you tend to think about it alot. Once you are successful at it, I think it becomes second nature. Ideally, you have some friends you can share it with. I have an awesome girlfriend who I talk to about it. Unfortunately, she wont let me go pro, and I dont want to. But I do use it to supplement my income.
You just have to be able to focus on your duties...its when your mind is stagnant that poker comes to mind.

tuckercat · #4 07-24-2007, 09:28 AM

75k per year with no pressure is a sweet gig, so it's good that you're not talking about quitting and "going pro". from my own experiences, i found that actually putting together a schedule on a spreadsheet of the days and hours that you are going to put in a session really helps. for example, if you allot 15 hours per week of poker, i would plan out the week and put together a schedule and STICK TO THE SCHED. you'll find that within a short period of time balancing the two becomes much easier. i found that once i completed my poker schedule for the day or the week, it was much easier to forget about poker and just move on with whatever else i was doing. it's kind of like getting into a routine at work. once you're used to the routine and the schedule, it becomes much easier to forget about work when your days ends and it's time to go home... hope it works out for you.