Variance, capped games, rest

I used to play a lot of no-limit (and spread limit with wide spreads) draw poker in California. Mostly San Bruno and San Jose.

The games in San Bruno where all no-limit games. San Jose had a city
ordinance capping any bets at $200,. so no limit wasn't legal. But, they had
spread limit games, mostly $4-$40 draw and sometimes $20-200 lowball. I played
in the lowball spread limit game sometimes when it was short-handed, but mostly
I played the spread limit draw there.

The standard structure for the first betting round required that you raise the blinds, you couldn't limp in by calling the blinds. San Bruno was mostly $4 to go (4 to go means 4 is the minimum bet) no-limit, with $2 winner blind (winner blind means the winner of each pot must put in an out of position blind the next hand), to mostly $4-$40 with 1-1-2 blinds also was part of the reason for an increase in earn when I moved from mostly San Bruno games to mostly San Jose games -- the
spread limit started out with bigger pots and was really a bigger game, plus it
kept the bankroll fluctuations more stable. The $40 bet cap meant that one bad call wouldn't destroy me. And, San Jose had fewer cheats. I think the biggest reason I did better in the San Jose games though was my session habits.

I lived in San Francisco at the time. So travel time did enter into my decisions about session length.

I used to keep real detailed records. I'd even make a list of the players at
the table every hour. I don't do that anymore. But, back when I did I noticed
a big difference in results by length of session. My win rate in the first
hour was bad. In hours 2, 3, 4 it was very good. After 4 hours I started
taking a bath. My win in hours 2-4 was so good that I was actually losing
money after 4 hours but would still end up a 10 hour session ahead.

Anyway, before I noticed that I was just playing once a day, pretty much every
day, and playing anywhere from 6-12 hours a day. I'd bought into the silly
idea that every hour of play was an earn.

After I noticed the way my results fluctuated, I changed the way I scheduled
myself.

I quit playing every day. I had an RV. I'd just play in chunks of a few days
at a time, parking my RV in the parking lot (Garden City security guards made
me park it down the street). But, I'd play 4 hour sessions. After 4 hours I'd
cash out and leave the room. I'd eat, (I didn't eat in the room) or go rent a
hot tub for an hour (that's where I'd shower, it was right across the street
from GC), or take a nap, or just have a cup of coffee and read the paper. I'd
stay gone at least an hour.

After my meal, or nap, or whatever, I'd go back and play another 4 hours. If
the game was bad I'd leave early, but I'd never play longer than 4 hours. I'd
do that for 3-4 days, just immersing myself in poker, but only in spurts, then
go home for 3-4 days. I was still playing 12 hours a day, but not long
sessions.

My income tripled when I started doing that, even though I was playing slightly
fewer hours a week. (it was close to the same)

Back then gambling was my only source of income. It's not anymore and I again
often just play all night and piss away chips. I need to stop that.