#8 The church problem

I go to church, or at least, I used to until the beginning of this year. And no, I'm not worried about how the people at my church feel about me playing poker (most of them don't know yet, but I'm gradually telling some key people). I know some won't be happy that I'm "gambling", but I've let a few key people in on my new profession, including my pastor, and so I far I haven't been excommunicated. And because of the circumstances outlined in my first two posts, it's my best, and perhaps, only choice.

The problem is what I have to sacrifice to go to church in the morning.

As every serious poker player knows, the best times to play are nights, weekends, and holidays. Saturday night has the most players (and therefore the best choice of games), and a larger percentage of the weaker players are on at that time as well. The other thing to consider is that the biggest tournaments, with prize pools up to a million dollars, are on Sunday afternoon. In the poker forums, aspiring pros are always warned that one of the toughest things about playing for a living is getting your family to understand that you have to work nights and weekends.

Now, add to this that there are already restrictions on when I can play. My wife and I have one computer and one television, and they are both in the living room. I have attention deficit disorder, which I have pretty much under control--but short of noise-canceling headphones (which are expensive) there is no way that I can play poker while the TV is on 10 feet away from me--that's too much of a distraction.

Now add to this some other restrictions on my schedule. Until recently, I was giving my son a ride to work, two or three times a week, at either 4 or 5 A.M. I am getting a break from that, but I might have to do it again soon. Add to that that I have a problem with insomnia--not staying asleep, just getting there.

So, the bottom line: I am naturally a night person anyway. Because I have ADD, the best time for me to play is late at night, when both the house and the neighborhood are the most quiet. I am not yet playing in the big Sunday afternoon tournaments, but I will as soon as my bankroll allows it. For now, I am cashing out the satellites to the major tournaments whenever I win a ticket. And since all of this is true, when I have to take my son to work again, the best thing to do will be to play until 3:30 A.M. or so, then go to pick up my son.

Sunday morning church is really hard to fit in. If I had a "real job" and had to work Sunday, it wouldn't be an issue. But I have the choice, sort of. I can give up some of the prime poker hours and go to church, if I choose. My wife and I have talked about that, and there have been times when I was about to go, but then she would decide that she would rather have me play when I need to, so I can make as much money as possible until my bankroll and career are more established.

The last time I went to church I was fighting to stay awake the whole time, and as much as my wife liked having me there (and I wanted to be there as well), we decided that it wasn't going to work.

But now, we have a reprieve from taking my son to work, and I decided this week to start gradually getting up earlier each day so that I would be ready for an early start on Sunday morning. It was a disaster. I had trouble getting to sleep, but I got up early anyway, and wound up so tired that I decided not to play poker while I was impaired--and I wound up missing two days of work.

That can't happen again. There is some urgency in running my bankroll up so that I can play higher and make a decent income, and it's hard enough to get in my 35 hours at the tables each week (plus time for study and administrative matters).

So here I am, making a new blog entry at 3 :30 A.M. on Friday. I will play for a few more hours, then take a break while my wife catches the morning news and weather on TV before she goes to work. Then I will play a few more hours, unless I think I will be able to sleep.

At one time I had a schedule that seemed to work pretty well. I got up around noon every day, and that gave me time to play while my wife was at work, and to play some more after she went to bed. And keeping on the same schedule seemed to work pretty well--I was up during business hours if anything needed to be taken care of, and I had quite a few hours that I could play while I was the only one up. But trying to shift back and forth between a "poker schedule" and a "church schedule" doesn't seem to work at all.

The plan was to go to church every other week, but that's not going to work. I would be too tired and my poker hours would take a huge hit. I have suggested to my wife that maybe I should try a month on the church schedule, then a month on the poker schedule, so I don't have to make constant changes to my sleep patterns. In biblical terminology, it would mean alternating lean months and fat months for poker. She agreed that it sounded like a workable solution.

I will probably do that once I am more established, but for now, while I have a limited time to build my bankroll (I have to be a contributor to the family finances sooner rather that later), I'm not sure if I should make that move yet or not. I guess that my wife and I have a few things to figure out.