Staving off Boredom? Online Cash (1 Viewer)

[FestiveKnight]

My crew plays a weekly online tournament and then often cash a couple times a week.

This is mostly about online cash. So here’s some context for my specific games:

10¢/25¢, 150BB buy in
5-7 players
Around 200 hands in a given session
It’s pretty typical for a bunch of folks to bust and rebuy and so there’s often 15-20 buy ins on the table by the end of the night with some big winners and big losers

Now onto the question of the thread.

My results are super swingy. Some sessions up $150, some down $150. What’s I’ve come to realize is that boredom, especially while running cold, is my biggest weakness. I get incredibly frustrated by running cold and I will steadily get looser and looser to try and “make something work.”

This isn’t that complicated. Fold bad hands and wait. “Get gud.” With only 200 hands played, it’s possible to go an entire session with almost only air.

But I’m curious if there’s tips/tricks/strategies folks have for the boredom part of online play.

Much to my wife’s joy, I’ve discovered that doing chores while playing often helps me pass the time during cold runs.

Do others deal with this? How do you personally keep the right level of engagement to step up for good spots without going numb when you’re dealt 93o four times in a row.

Maybe only a problem for ADHD zoomers lol…

 

[JustinInMN]

My results are super swingy. Some sessions up $150, some down $150. What’s I’ve come to realize is that boredom, especially while running cold, is my biggest weakness. I get incredibly frustrated by running cold and I will steadily get looser and looser to try and “make something work.”

Yeah so these swings are about 4 buy-ins. I would think that's mildly high each way, but certainly not alarmingly high. Personally I never play a NL game unless I am prepared to make 3 buy-ins. And online play is more than 2x the speed of live play, so bigger swings become possible. 200 hands of live NL play is in the realm of 8+ hours, so bear that in mind when evaluating the size of the swing. Longer sessions make bigger swings possible. Larger average stacks can definitely add to the variance too if players are frequently adding on.

But I’m curious if there’s tips/tricks/strategies folks have for the boredom part of online play.

Much to my wife’s joy, I’ve discovered that doing chores while playing often helps me pass the time during cold runs.

This is as good an idea as any. But I do my best to stay engaged by playing every hand backward when there's a showdown, this is a great way to get insight in to how the opposition is playing and will inform decisions later in the session.

But on the rare occasions I do play online. I don't mind having my computer set up in the kitchen while I put away dishes and reload the dishwasher .

 

[Phoe9x]

Do you guys have a chat while playing? Talk more! If not, listen to music or something to keep you occupied if you’re feeling bored.

 

[DrStrange]

If you were not playing Texas Fold'em, maybe the game would be more fun?

Five card PLO8 is a lot more engaging than two card poker.

Just saying -=- DrStrange

 

[MrCatPants]

For me I think there's a happy medium between having something going on but not being too distracted. If i I work at the same time, I start seeing flops too wide/calling too wide and losing the betting lines during a hand. But if I do nothing the boredom kicks in and although I don't forget the betting lines, I start playing too wide.

Live chat, watching a show, playing a turn based game like Balatro on a second screen, reading a book/articles, all seem to be happy medium.

 

[demonnic]

Adding my voice to the live chat thing. Voice or video ideally, bring back some of the elements and interaction of live poker. Especially since it's a game with friends and not just grinding P* or something.

 

[jayfiggy]

My crew plays a weekly online tournament and then often cash a couple times a week.

This is mostly about online cash. So here’s some context for my specific games:

10¢/25¢, 150BB buy in
5-7 players
Around 200 hands in a given session
It’s pretty typical for a bunch of folks to bust and rebuy and so there’s often 15-20 buy ins on the table by the end of the night with some big winners and big losers

Now onto the question of the thread.

My results are super swingy. Some sessions up $150, some down $150. What’s I’ve come to realize is that boredom, especially while running cold, is my biggest weakness. I get incredibly frustrated by running cold and I will steadily get looser and looser to try and “make something work.”

This isn’t that complicated. Fold bad hands and wait. “Get gud.” With only 200 hands played, it’s possible to go an entire session with almost only air.

But I’m curious if there’s tips/tricks/strategies folks have for the boredom part of online play.

Much to my wife’s joy, I’ve discovered that doing chores while playing often helps me pass the time during cold runs.

Do others deal with this? How do you personally keep the right level of engagement to step up for good spots without going numb when you’re dealt 93o four times in a row.

Maybe only a problem for ADHD zoomers lol…

Fire up a discord call with everyone in it. Throw in a youtube video that you can pay attention to after folding 93o.

That’s what I used to do. Me and my buddies would play online cash games via clubGG, sit in discord and have a great time.

 

[demonnic]

You could also fire up a cash table or second tournament on the side and multi-table, if that's something you're comfortable with.

 

[4SUMERZ]

8-9 of us play online cash game at a Home Game Table Hold'Em , but we only play for 1.5 hours. We find we get bored playing any longer. We use play money chips, but keep a spreadsheet of real money for our buy ins and rebuys. . We use 20000 starting stack, 100/200 blinds. We calculate the table rake, and pay out using e-transfers, paypal etc.
It works for us. We typically get 2-3 buy ins each session, but have to bust out, before rebuying. It scratches the itch, but no one loses big or win big.
We play live poker once a week (Omaha) and once or twice a month using hold'em, Omaha and pineapple dealer choice. Both of thoese are cash games, 4.5 hour sessions.

 

[Mojo1312]

My crew plays a weekly online tournament and then often cash a couple times a week.

This is mostly about online cash. So here’s some context for my specific games:

10¢/25¢, 150BB buy in
5-7 players
Around 200 hands in a given session
It’s pretty typical for a bunch of folks to bust and rebuy and so there’s often 15-20 buy ins on the table by the end of the night with some big winners and big losers

Now onto the question of the thread.

My results are super swingy. Some sessions up $150, some down $150. What’s I’ve come to realize is that boredom, especially while running cold, is my biggest weakness. I get incredibly frustrated by running cold and I will steadily get looser and looser to try and “make something work.”

This isn’t that complicated. Fold bad hands and wait. “Get gud.” With only 200 hands played, it’s possible to go an entire session with almost only air.

But I’m curious if there’s tips/tricks/strategies folks have for the boredom part of online play.

Much to my wife’s joy, I’ve discovered that doing chores while playing often helps me pass the time during cold runs.

Do others deal with this? How do you personally keep the right level of engagement to step up for good spots without going numb when you’re dealt 93o four times in a row.

Maybe only a problem for ADHD zoomers lol…

Do more chores.

 

[FestiveKnight]

This is as good an idea as any. But I do my best to stay engaged by playing every hand backward when there's a showdown, this is a great way to get insight in to how the opposition is playing and will inform decisions later in the session.

I like that idea. I have played so much with the same group that I often feel I know them well and there's not much point in reviewing hands I am not in but especially with some trying to mix up their play style recently this seems useful.

 

[FestiveKnight]

Do you guys have a chat while playing? Talk more! If not, listen to music or something to keep you occupied if you’re feeling bored.

Live chat, watching a show, playing a turn based game like Balatro on a second screen, reading a book/articles, all seem to be happy medium.

Usually about half the group is in Discord and the others are active in game chat. I have been playing a lot of Bazaar recently but I think it's slightly too distracting.

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

I play a wild poker game every Sunday night at 8pm PST. It’s a private poker mavens site where aprox 60 players play Big Omaha. It’s pretty nose bleed with $1 and $2 blinds High/Low with straddles but I really like itt and rarely miss a Sunday.

I’d be interested to join your game as well. Sending DM!

 

[FestiveKnight]

If you were not playing Texas Fold'em, maybe the game would be more fun?

Five card PLO8 is a lot more engaging than two card poker.

Just saying -=- DrStrange

We play a ton of circus games in person 4-6 times per year but the crew doesn't want to switch our regular games to anything but holdem.

 

[snowman7777]

Do you guys have a chat while playing? Talk more! If not, listen to music or something to keep you occupied if you’re feeling bored.

I struggle with boredom at my home game and ive tried to make it a point lately to do this. definitely helps!

 

[ekricket]

Go play in a public space where you can watch people and things. Stay connected.

 

[sup_squidy]

Having everyone in discord laughing and making jokes makes being card dead irrelevant with my friend group. Active in the chat if they don't have a mic throwing shade is always funny bc they're a bit immune from a clap back. Get some more fun people in the mix where poker is the second most entertaining thing happening and you wont notice so much folding but feel apart of the action on the flop enjoying the table talk.