I.e. do you play to a time limit or financial target/ boundaries? And is there an ideal/ best way of doing this? Just something I'm curious about that doesn't seem to come up in articles and videos.

Thanks
Mike

I think it is different for everyone. I only play micro cash and work full time, so I play a little in the morning before work, maybe an hour. In the evenings if I am not too tired, I may play for an hour. On the weekends I probably play a total of 3 or 4 hours a day. I usually only play an hour at a time and then break for anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Recreation for me.

I can only talk for myself. I do have a dream that I can play poker for a living in the future. A pretty strong dream that makes me motivated. I know that this cant be the only motivation for me to play. I also get motivated cause I enjoy the game and I like to develop. Also happy if I can get an extra small income to travel with familly etc.
Another very important aspekt for me is that I love my life without poker. Otherwise there is a change I play just to feel good and that will be a disaster if I one day see that I cant get any better at poker. My number one rule is to feel good when I play. Fix all the everyday problems including conflicts and feelings around them, both with familly members and at work. This is actually my own experience. I did play poker like 7 years ago. But I was a "broken" guy. I couldnt think and focus as I wanted. I did recognize that. There was too much things in my head that did bother me. Today I have "cleaned" up alot and my focus and thinking is also much much better! As with my private life. Have played 2,5 years straith now. So... Thats my experience and this is how it is for me. My familly comes first and then comes poker and job.

i been playing since the i caught the chris moneymaker wave so about 6-7 yrs

i started slow a couple sessions a week maybe an hour or so at limit and no limt
then as i got better and was beating the limit games i played limit games a lot more 3-5 hours per day for a couple 3 years then i lulled when i had my own business to about the same as when i started

then i relapsed into more play when i sold my business and got into teaching for about a yer i was playing 4-6 hrs/day at mostly limit and no limit sngs, and a bit of no limt. which is about the time i stumbled across outstanding poker .com. Then i switched to no limit full time. the more i improved and won thre more i played up to 6-7 hrs/day for a year or two. At which point i realised i never want to play for a living. for the last year or so i have played a lot less, mostly just got a bit bored.

bottom line is it is pretty normal to have your intterest flucuate over time.

As to session length, i dont like to play for more than 1.5-2hrs at a stretch as my attention wanders and i make more bad decisions if i play too long. Some players can go a lot longer, good for them, bad for me, gotta know your limits.
I have learned not to play when i am tired, or if i really feel the itch when i am tired i drop a level or two so idont have need to play my best to win. I have seen people say it is worth staying in games if there are really bad players even if you are tired or not playing your best. I used to kind of follow that advice until i realized there are always really bad players online all the time so i am way better off just quiting and coming back later if i am tired or playing poorly.

i have never done the math, but i am pretty sure my winrate on 2 hours or less sessions is way higher than in sessions over 2 hours

so again you gotta find your own limits
thats my 2 cents

hg

I think I did misunderstand your question abit. I always want to talk "deep" stuff!
I play mostly between like 1-3 hours. And for me when I have won like 5-6 buyins. I often start to relax and dont focus alot. The same with loosing 5-6 buyins in a session, but then I just get irritated and tilted. I try to stop playing when those two happens. But I have hard to stop with them both.

Ha I play for like 2 straight weeks for like 10-12 hours/day then burn out and play for like 4 hours a week for a while.

Let me tell you though, by the end of those two weeks I feel like a god of poker.