Session and Break Times

luckylucky

Lately I have been playing good enough, well at least imo, early on in a session, but find I'm making too many stupid big errors later on, it's purely down to fatigue i've concluded.

Anyway the plan to combat this, is to have a set session length and a minimum break time after each session.

Just wondering on what people think is the optimum times for both of these, I know it'll vary per the individual but just want to know what people think ballpark these kind of figures should be.

I'm kinda thinking about 1 hour on and then 30 minutes off, does that sound reasonable?

Goodluck2me

i would play about 4 hours at a time. then take as long as you need off, one hour isnt really enough to watch the table and patterns, youd be missing a lot as the players/table will change when you come back.

IHAVEACAT

i dont think 1 hrs enuf. i think about 3-4hrs. you shouldnt really be getting fatigued in a 3-4 hr session. if there are factors that make the game particulary profitable(weak opponents, good image,getting cards) i think you have to maximise these oppurtunitys and 1hr sessions wont cover it

Marq

2-3 hours, then the rest of the day off.
live 12 hours no breaks.

luckylucky

Cheers for the replies, I agree that it's better if you can stay playing for longer.

However I'm not sure if I'm coming at the game from the same angle as you two though.

I should have specified earlier, sorry, but I'm specifically talking about multi-tabling cash games online, I can be playing anything up to 4 tables at a time, thinking of cutting this back to 3.

3 to 4 hours of this without any decent sized break no matter what the opponents is exhausting, for me at least! And near the end of this kinda session is typical where I make a nasty error that I virtually never do in the early stages of the game.

Goodluck2me

luckylucky wrote:

Cheers for the replies, I agree that it's better if you can stay playing for longer.

However I'm not sure if I'm coming at the game from the same angle as you two though.

I should have specified earlier, sorry, but I'm specifically talking about multi-tabling cash games online, I can be playing anything up to 4 tables at a time, thinking of cutting this back to 3.

3 to 4 hours of this without any decent sized break no matter what the opponents is exhausting, for me at least! And near the end of this kinda session is typical where I make a nasty error that I virtually never do in the early stages of the game.

take 10 mins away go outside whatever clear your head and come back

RoadSweeper

watch an ep of family guy

phantom_lord

I dislike taking long breaks, as I never seem to come back to play with the same level of concentration/focus. Also I hate having to go find new tables all over again, esp. if I'm deepstacked.

luckylucky

I'm kind of surprised that all the replies so far suggest playing for a few hours at least with no serious break. :eek:

Anyone out there into taking regular decent breaks at all?

Marq's suggestion of playing for 2 to 3 hours and not playing for the rest of the day would be one thing I could go with, but since playing poker these days is part of my income, 2 to 3 hours a day is not quite enough.

Maybe 3 or 4 90 minute sessions?

phantom_lord

I'm only settling in after 90mins tbh...

FastMachine

I think 3-4 hour sessions with an hour or two off in between is best. However usually I can never tear myself away when the time comes. I have been leaving after particularly bad beats and coolers tho, rather than staying and tilting. Getting all in against the calling station donk, who has called to the river with K high previously, on a 88J flop where I have A8 and he turns out to have JJ - for example, ty for that one party.

luckylucky

phantom_lord wrote:

I'm only settling in after 90mins tbh...

Well I guess it's a very individualistic thing then, I would say I'm fairly settled in after 10 mins or so, cheers for the reply anyway, good to see what others think.

luckylucky

Just one other thing, are all you guys who play for 3 to 4 hours multitabling?

I mean if it's one table 3 to 4 hours I can do fine.

phantom_lord

i can't see 90min sessions being good, after that time you should have a decent stack, and have good reads on most of the players, with a good feel for the table's dynamics. Quiting then doesn't make sense to me.

3-4 hours with an hours break and then maybe another shorter session seems better. anyway, it's an individualistic thing, so i guess everyone just has to find what's goot for them. u should have played more computer games when u were younger luckylucky!

ianmc38

1-4 hour sessions for me. Anything more and i get too tired. Breaks of 2-4 hours. Max 2 sessions a day.

Live - 12 hours, no breaks usually.

luckylucky

phantom_lord wrote:

i can't see 90min sessions being good, after that time you should have a decent stack, and have good reads on most of the players, with a good feel for the table's dynamics. Quiting then doesn't make sense to me.

3-4 hours with an hours break and then maybe another shorter session seems better. anyway, it's an individualistic thing, so i guess everyone just has to find what's goot for them. u should have played more computer games when u were younger luckylucky!

lol, yeah maybe I'm just getting old, at 36 I'm probably a geriatric compared to most of you young guns.

How many tables are you playing phantom then?

ianmc38 wrote:

1-4 hour sessions for me.

Soz not too sure if you mean one 4 hour session, or a session ranging 1 to 4 hours?

Also how many tables are you playing when you do this Ian?

ianmc38

luckylucky wrote:

Soz not too sure if you mean one 4 hour session, or a session ranging 1 to 4 hours?

Also how many tables are you playing when you do this Ian?

Sessions are between 1 and 4 hours and I play a minimum of 4 tables, sometimes 5 or 6.

phantom_lord

4-6.

luckylucky

Thanks for the replies, I'll experiment a bit with the timings then and see what suits me best, one way or another I think for me at least I need to regulate this.

I'm making a poker clock btw if anyone is interested, you'll need the dotnet framework installed on your pc to use it.

Marq

luckylucky wrote:

Marq's suggestion of playing for 2 to 3 hours and not playing for the rest of the day would be one thing I could go with, but since playing poker these days is part of my income, 2 to 3 hours a day is not quite enough.

move up levels.

but seriously, 2-3 hours, then a 1-2 hour break, then another 2-3 hours. Two or three sessions a day of this is probably optimal, but it's different for everyone.

DeadParrot

this is actually something I've noticed myself....
after 2 or 3 hours I'll notice my play dip and I'll make very light calls that I wouldnt if fresh...of course I know that im doing it which you think would help. Generally, if I donk off a really bad hand, I'll just shut down the laptop and recharge for a few hours.

luckylucky

Marq wrote:

move up levels.

but seriously, 2-3 hours, then a 1-2 hour break, then another 2-3 hours. Two or three sessions a day of this is probably optimal, but it's different for everyone.

I played for just over 2 hours this morning and that seemed about right, so yeah I'll go along with this suggestion, cheers.