24 hours is a long time in poker, as Mark Stuart finds out in this poker marathon
Poker is a game replete with enduring stories. And some of the most popular are those based on legendary epic sessions.
All the game’s greats – Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, Chip Reese – claim to have played crazy 48-, 72-, even 100-hour sessions, before eventually cashing out and calling it a night… or indeed, day. But for the amateur player, for whom poker is a hobby and not an all-consuming quest for greatness, what would it feel like to play, for even, say, 24 hours straight, denying your body and brain the sleep, food and regular routine they need to function correctly? Would it affect how a person played, their bankroll and, more importantly, their overall physical and mental state? I decided to put this to the test.
Over one weekend I would get up as normal, take my seat at the computer and play non-stop for a full 24 hours. Fast forward to the big day and with comfort in mind I slip on my favourite tracky bottoms, hoody, and set the thermostat to ‘cosy’.
Firing up the computer I am genuinely excited. After all, what better things could I be doing with my weekend than playing poker? Two years ago I might have said watching football, drinking myself into oblivion on a Saturday night, even playing Pro Evolution Soccer on five stars. Now only two-anda- half words come to mind – Texas Hold’em. It’s just me, the digital cards on my screen, and a few thousand players from across the globe. Bliss.
12.00 Unfortunately, I’m already tired. A few drinks the night before and a bad night’s sleep have left me feeling tired and I’ve got the first signs of a cold. I ignore the warning signals and start my session by plonking $25 down on two $0.10/$0.25 no-limit Hold’em cash tables. My bankroll is $500, I have a long day ahead, and I figure it’s wise to start small.
14.45 This isn’t the dream start I’d envisioned. I’m slightly down on both tables having not really picked up any big hands or pots in nearly three hours. My $50 is gradually dripping away and my head still hurts…
15.05 Suddenly, there’s fireworks. Down to just $5 on one table with several limpers I move all-in with K-Q and get one caller. On a board of two Aces I’m about to reload but the cards are revealed and his 10-J has hit nothing. I double through and two minutes later double-up again, the same guy making the call. I move all-in for $8 with 10-10. The board reads 7-7-2-8-8, he shows A-K, and I’m back up to $16.
15.12 And then comes my first blow-up of the day. I make a great call holding K-Q on a board of 7-9- Q-9. After I bet $2, he moves all-in and I insta-call. The river is an Ace and the chips fly off in his direction when his A-10 is revealed for top pair he made from one of three outs on the river. I can’t believe it. Rage coursing through me I hammer away at the keyboard, and the words ‘lucky fish’ materialise in the chat box. No response. Two minutes later I get my own back of sorts when he calls my all-in with Q♥-6♥ against my wired Eights. The snowmen hold up, and I type ‘LOL’.
15.22 Seconds later I crack pocket Queens with 7-9 and I’m on a roll and in the black for the first time.
15.35 I register for an $11 no-limit Hold’em deep-stack tourney, starting at 4pm.
15.36 Manage to double through to $20 on one of the cash tables after making the nut flush, but the very next hand my Aces are cracked by Queens. The flop comes J♦-8♦-5♦, he bets $4, I move all-in, and he calls instantly. The turn is a blank, but the river brings the A♦ giving me a set but making a Queen-high flush for him holding Q♦-Q♥. Furious, I leave the table $25 down, and nip to the kitchen to grab pitta bread and houmous.
16.13 The deep-stack tournament has started and now I can give it my full attention after busting out of the other cash table when my pocket Queens run into pocket Kings; even though I end up making the Queen-high flush and am about to celebrate, my opponent happens to have the King of the same suit. Cheers! So I’m $50 down after four hours.
17.00 Things don’t get any better in tournament mode. I’m still not finding any hands and down a little on my starting stack of 5000 at the first break. I’ve been playing for five hours and my concentration levels are flagging already. The task suddenly seems very daunting, with the knowledge that I still have 19 hours to go…
18.03 I’m down to about 3000 chips in the deep-stack and finding it hard to pick up any hands or pots; I resolve to be very patient.
18.25 After the break I find myself down to about 1200 with blinds at 75/150. There’s only one move from here – push! I move all-in two minutes later with 7♥-8♥ – as good a hand as any – and get one caller with A-K. And finally the poker gods smile on me and I make a straight on the turn to more than double up to nearly 3000. Shortly after I take another big pot to get back up to more than my original stack of 5000 and then – joy of joy – hit a set of Jacks on a flop. I check-raise and, to my delight, he puts me all-in. No need for a dwell-up here – I call and moments later see my stack swell to more than 10,000.
19.15 This deep-stack is finally holding my concentration and as I head into a third break with 8540 – about half the average stack – I’m beginning to hold out some hope of cashing. The blinds are still only 100/200 with antes of 25 and from 889 starters there are only 274 left, with money paying out to 81 places. Very promising.
19.48 Commentator’s curse – I crash out in 234th. Nearly four hours of solid play and I go out in a feeble way with Nines against Tens on a raggedy board. So I’m $61 down and Saturday evening TV is depressing me even more. Time for a Sloppy Giuseppe.
20.57 I feel much better after the refuelling break and register for a $26 double-stack short-handed pot-limit Hold’em tourney. Can anyone spot my mistake there? I’ll give you a clue – I hate pot-limit and I’m not a big fan of shorthanded games. I pat myself on the back and proceed.
21.33 I suddenly realise I may have bed sores from sitting in the same position for nearly 10 hours, and my elbows are starting to chafe from leaning on the table.
22.15 Having busted out of the pot-limit Hold’em event in a spurious manner (I’m playing like a fish) I pay $22 to enter another deep-stack. I’m feeling pretty miserable, until Match of the Day comes on at 10.30pm.
22.46 I have Kings in the deepstack and re-raise in late position. The original raiser calls and the flop comes 2♦-10♠-3♥. He checks, I bet 350, and he calls. Turn is 6♠. He checks, I bet 800, and he calls. River is 5♥. He now bets out 2000, and I call. Of course he has a set of Tens. That just about sums up my day so far – very unlucky and calling when I must be behind.
23.08 I can’t stop yawning and fatigue is well and truly working against me. I decide to push on by giving myself more action. I register for an $11 tourney with one rebuy and one add-on. Shortly after, I find myself back in contention in the deep-stack after making quad Aces on the turn. Somehow the other guy doesn’t believe me and I double through.
00.40 After doubling through in both tourneys, and looking in great shape, the pivotal moment of the night comes when my Aces are cracked again! Here’s the sorry tale: one player moves all-in for his last few hundred (still a significant raise on the big blind), I flat-call in mid position, and the big blind calls, too. The flop is 8♣– J♥-2♣. I bet half the pot, the BB calls into a side pot. The turn brings a Nine. I bet 1200 (about half the pot again), and he raises to 4200. I move all-in and he calls with J♣-Q♣. So I have him beat – for now. Any club, Ten, Queen or Jack gives him the pot. But my luck is out today when the river brings a Jack. ‘F♣♠♥’ I bellow, and literally smash my fist into the table several times. With a beetroot face and stinging hand I check an odds calculator to find out I was a 61.36% favourite to win with just the river to come. Damn. It’s a tournament-defining moment, which would have seen me shoot up to over 16,000 and among the chip leaders. But as it is, I’m out.
00.57 I’m also out of the rebuy tourney after gambling on straight and flush draws and not hitting either. It seems like everyone is hitting apart from me. It’s so frustrating and my tiredness is not helping my decision-making.
01.25 I leave MTTs and get in line for some $2/$4 limit Hold’em action. I’m feeling angry and depressed. Playing in a casino or cardroom for a long period of time is interactive and fun. Sitting on your own behind a computer screen with streaming nose, extreme fatigue and no one to talk to, is not. I swill some more tea down and stick a ton down on the limit table. Let’s go.
01.56-05.30 I play terrible, get extremely bored and grind out a $16 profit. I daydream about how good my bed would be right now.
05.45 I’m in a ridiculous mood so I enter an $11 Seven-Card Stud tourney with 45 runners.
06.30 It’s a terrible idea and I’m out having not got above my original stack at any point. I feel really washed out and have lost the will to play. My body feels quite stiff and achy, and I’m very light-headed despite drinking lots of water. I’m treading water here.
06.35 Here we go – sit-and-gos. This should be fun. 06.55 After being dealt Kings back to back, I go on to finish third in the first STT, despite drifting off briefly. Wahoo! My first tourney success of the session. I get $36 back from a $22 stake.
07.35 Straight into the next sitand- go – a six-handed $22 game. This time I come second winning $42 – a profit of $20.
09.01 After a quick bowl of cereal I buy into a $33 STT, where somehow, despite being big chip leader at one point, I go out in fifth after a series of horrible beats including the final kick in the teeth when I flop two-pair, move all-in and get called by someone on no more than a gutshot draw with overcards. Predictably, they fill their inside straight.
10.30 The end is within touching distance now, but I really don’t want to play anymore – it’s like torture. All I can bring myself to enter is a 14-man Razz tourney.
11.47 It’s a good decision. I don’t make the cash, but I come fifth and I’m about to stagger over the finishing line.
12.00 The final analysis. I reckon I’m about $141 down, but I can’t be sure. Everything became a blur by the end. In the cold light of day it was a bit of a disaster and hugely disappointing given my initial enthusiasm. But there is one lesson I can take from the session, which is that it’s hard to be motivated to play when you don’t want to. I quickly realised that when the only goal is to play for a certain length of time, it’s no goal at all. The pros who play for days on end are in those games because they don’t want to leave.
They’re either stuck big and are desperate to win money back, or on a rush in a juicy game. There’s also a big difference between sitting behind a computer screen with no one to interact with and sitting around a 10-seater table enjoying all the social intricacies of the live game. And being as I can’t comment on how a 24-hour live session differs from an online one I’ll be putting that experiment through its paces later in the year. Until then, I’ll be catching up on some much needed sleep…
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