Might take a break

[Akverno]

Just had my biggest tourney win ever. Took down 4th in a 20+2 HU tourney for a little over four hundred. Normally these things end with me complaining that I was unlucky. He just happened to flop a boat to best my turned straight. He wasn't a great player, just had me beat in that hand and I shouldn't have pushed it as hard as I did.

I'm not posting to brag, but it seems like poker is losing it's thrill to me. I'm in the middle of a really really hot streak. I deposited like fifty bucks a couple of months back and a $20 tourney was within bankroll management. To start off with I had to play out of my bankroll a bit, now I don't need to.

Even when I'm winning, or losing for that matter, it's starting to feel like a bit of a grind. I was wondering if anyone else ever had a problem with that? I've been working a ton and usually I play poker to have fun, don't take it too seriously, but these days I just feel burnt out. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing that I've honestly quit caring the outcome. On the eve of my biggest tourney win, a tournament in which I played spectacular, I'm debating taking a break for a while and stepping away from poker.

I was wondering if the guys that play a lot and generally do well ever have a problem with this. I'm winning enough money that it's cool, but not enough to make a difference in anything so all the time I spend playing poker feels like a waste.

I'm not good enough in cash games to make a real profit, I can grind out some low level six max, but it gets to be quite repetetive and boring.

It really doesn't help that my days off are screwed because stars does their tournament server reset and I have trouble finding decent games at night.

As it stands I'll probably play some more and see if anything changes, but I don't think I'll be playing nearly as much (I'm really close to Silverstar VIP playing two tables of .5/1 six max for maybe eight hours a week).

Anyone have any tips on how I can become interested in poker again?

[Talking Poker]

First, if you aren't enjoying playing and you're not making enough for it to be financially worth your while (despite winning), there is nothing wrong with quitting.

A much better solution though, IMO, is this: Move up in stakes.

You'll either be more challenged, or you'll start winning more money - a significant amount, hopefully.... enough that playing will be worth your while.

[JDMcNugent7]

i agree with TP. if poker wasnt fun + the fact that ur not winning any substantial amount of money, then i would def. quit.
but to me poker is fun and i win substantial amounts of money, and i still dont even think im very good at poker to be honest, i still have so much room for improvement.

i agree with tp, if ur poker $ doesnt mean that much to u, even if ur not totally BR'd for it, move up in stakes... then winning and losing becomes a thrill again + u can hopefully start making substantial amounts of $.

if i had a real job tho, i dont think i would play poker nearly as much as i do... i have some fun playing poker, but i really only play to make $.

[Dodoubled]

Any time anything you enjoy becomes a grind, I think it's always good to step away and look at it from the outside in. Think about what got you into poker in the first place. Was it the possibility of making money, was it because your friends did it, was it because you liked the casino scene, or was it because you just like playing cards in general? When you can answer that question, I think you'll be on your way to figuring out why it isn't as much fun right now.

For me, I got into poker because the guys at my old job got me into it. I don't get to play as many live games as I used to because I left the job in December, and I have neither the time nor the money to travel to A.C. consistently.

That leaves online poker, which I play a decent amount, but not enough to build a serious roll or really get my skills where they need to be to build one. That's why you never see me on here hawking out straight poker-playing advice. I'll occasionally ask for it, though. But life advice? That's a whole new can of worms.

If you're bored online because you're crushing your opponents, moving up may not be a bad option. But if poker isn't fun to you right now for other reasons, then don't move up. If you want to succeed at the higher stakes, it HAS to be fun. The players only get better, and the second you start getting bored again, your game's gonna slip.

A few more questions: Is your game purely online, or do you get in some live brick-and-mortar games, too? How often? Do you play purely Hold-'em, or do you vary your games? When you're not playing poker or working, how else do you spend your time? What do you enjoy the most about it? And, on the same vein, if poker isn't much fun for you right now, what is?

Figure those things out, and I think (read "hope") poker will become fun once again for you.

My two cents, anyway ...

[Akverno]

I would love, absolutely love to get in some more live play. My online game doesn't scratch my live game. But, I live in Alaska and I work really weird hours so online it is.

I play every game known to man, but I focus on hold em and 7stud with seven stud being my best game. Seven stud just happens to be a specialized game that from what I can tell has better opponents then hold em. I have been absolutely killing .5/1 six max for a little while now and it is getting very boring.

My nl cash game needs a lot of work. If I could play 25nl or 50nl profitably I probably wouldn't be as bored, limit has just seemed mechanical the past few times I've had a chance to play.

As for when I'm not playing poker or working, that total time sums up about twenty hours a week at the moment. And I spend most of it watching either lost, alias, or house. I get my weekly softball game in every other week these days.

If I had the time (or if pokerstars would quit resetting their servers every damn time I have a day off) I would be playing tournaments which I love. I am also very good at tournaments, which makes it worthwhile. I have an extremely high cash rate which is nice, but, I seem to hardly ever make it to the final three which sucks because the only good money is in the last three.

So, as it stands, I'm gonna try to move up in stakes in 6-max lim and see where that takes me. Hopefully I can fit in the occasional tourney. Who knows, if it still doesn't give me enjoyment and relax me like it used to I might take a break.

[PShabi]

Only about once every week or so. Making substantial/steady/significant income from poker IS a grind. You don't change the grind. You deal with it. You learn to handle the grind.

You kinda get numb to it. I'm positive not everyone can do it. GL.

[Reel Deal]

^^ This is why JD is going to be scary good one day... hell, he's scary good now, I shutter to think of an improved JD. That would be, dare I say, quite awesomer.

[BrianSwa]

that is exactly why I quit playing online poker, just wasnt fun for me anymore. Playing $50 nl and under was just boring to me and I didnt have the bankroll to go up (not like that really stopped me). I still enjoy playing live and I do whenever I have a chance to but as for online im pretty much done with it.

been like a month now since I have even loaded a poker site and I do miss it a little but not as much as I thought I would. I say if you are like me and dont enjoy it anymore quit.

[Boobie Lover]

As a grinder, I'm sure most people would not enjoy playing as many hands as I do. Others would bore at the monotony of the game, and as a result make some horrible decisions because of the boredom. I, though in a sick and twisted way, actually enjoy the grind. I enjoy putting hands in, and, of course, the expected financial returns that accompany it.

There is something about myself that I just enjoy about moving up the stakes and the extra challenges that accompany each step up. I also get satisfaction in just building my bankroll exponentially. I believe if I ever played some massively-multiplayer RPG (like WOW), I would be one of those junkies that plays for 48 hours straight. Luckily though, poker is not as addicting as that. If it was, I might never venture outdoors.

[lightfungus]

Yeah, don't do that. I was recently curious about an MMORPG, and I got pick-pocketed out of 12 days of my life (thats play time btw, hence my absence the earlier part of this year). I fear that once I leave the proximity of a real casino, online just won't appeal to me as much. I enjoy the social atmosphere, and I enjoy reading people. Heck, I do it in real life to pass time and operate normally. Akverno, if you are near a real casino, maybe you could give that a shot.

[Akverno]

Oh, what I would give to be near a real casino fungus.

I tried moving up in stakes, so far it's working I'm actually having fun. It's weird risking that much money at the tables. I'm definately not playing scared money, but it's nice to actually be risking something again. My game these days is 6-max lim. Shabi had mentioned earlier that playing 300xbb bankroll in these games is a little risky so I was trying to adhere to having more then 300x bb in my bankroll to play these. There's just something boring about playing for twenty bucks when I've got 4-5 hundo in the account, so after I got 4th in the heads up I moved up to 1/2 lim which is was still boring (but after a couple k hands I was still a winner at these levels). So I bumped it up again to 2/4 lim six max with between 2-300 x bb in the bankroll. So far so good I'm up a couple of hundred (started with right at 200bb and i'm nearing in on 300 now). If I take a slide I can move back in levels again, but 2/4 seems very beatable, the players sit down with less then optimal cash at the tables more often and people tend to be more passive then at the lower levels I was playing.

So, we'll see, if I continue to do well you might be hearing that I bumped it up to 3/6 after I near in on 300x bb for that game.


Disclaimer: I know it's risky to be playing 6-max without a huge bankroll to back it up, but I can risk the loss if need be now, before I couldn't.

[lightfungus]

Thata boy, sometimes a little risk isn't too bad as long as you are having fun and know what could happen.