Play Hours Not Results

Not long ago I read an interesting article written by Daniel Negreanu about the fact that poker players should play hours not results. Together with another article from Nolan Dalla and a response from Daniel Negreanu this made me think about my own results.

I'm far away from thinking about going pro. But anyway, I'm always interested in those statistical stuff and looked up my data. Using my expected (not my real) winrate I came up with an average of $9.39 per hour or $16.73 per tournament. Wow! This was less than I expected. If I have more time to break it down between live play (higher buy-in's but add travel costs) and online play (no extra costs but lower buy-in) this may look a little different. But at least I now know for sure that I'm far away from making a living with poker.

But what does this mean to your real results. Well, if you are below your expected winrate you have to ask yourself if you're sure being a winning player. If you are not, you should quit immediately. There's no bankroll-management that can help you to survive. But if you're sure that you are a winning player ... play as many hours as you can. The more you play the more you will win in the long run. Thanks to Daniel for remembering that lesson that I learned already in my Black Jack times.

And what if you're better then expectation? If you just won a tournament around the corner or a major tournament somewere on the circuit? Pocket your money because you will need it. Allow yourself only your hourly winrate. This way you won't live above your expectation. Of course you still may step up in limits if your bankroll is big enough. And of course your hourly winrate goes up in that case. But if you spend more than your hourly expectation you're usually on the road to disaster.