OTB #075: How to Play More Volume as a Part-Time Poker Player With a Full-Time Life

As a part time player it can often feel like an impossible dream to play enough volume to outrun variance.

Squeezing in a random session when you can, late-night grinding once the kids are in bed, or registering for a tournament only to bust with a lousy min-cash isn't sustainable.

Of course there are always things you can do to reduce variance like improving your game to increase your edge or playing smaller fields, but you still need to play hundreds of games per month for many months if you want to see skill overcome luck.

So, is it even possible for a part-time player to put in enough volume to see real results?

The answer is yes—and the best part? You don’t have to call in sick or sacrifice time with your family to do it.

Today, I'm going to show you the benefits of playing more volume, the common pitfalls to avoid, and the strategies that will help you achieve the results you're after.

Let's dive in...

Why Play More Volume?

There are several reasons why playing more volume is important as a poker player, but the two most obvious ones are 1) understanding variance and 2) reducing its impact.

MTTs are dynamic and complex. The more tournaments and hands you play, the more opportunities you have to make mistakes and learn from them, as counterintuitive as that sounds.

More volume means navigating the different stages of the tournament because you'll have a broader range of spots to study from early stage play and bubbles to final tables and heads-up play.

Also, more hands means a more reliable database so you can analyse your stats, identify your biggest leaks and review your game.

If you have a positive ROI, increasing volume is the most obvious way to make more money, grow your bankroll and play higher stakes.

Common Challenges to Avoid

As a part-time player with a full time life, your schedule is already packed. Your main goal is to pack more quantity into the time you have available, without sacrificing quality. Either that, or start neglecting your other responsibilities, which is a definite no-no.

When I was younger I used to teach Music all day, then come home and play 5+ hours of poker every night. Then I'd go to bed and wake up the next day and repeat the whole process all over again. This ended up hurting my career, my poker performance and, perhaps most importantly, my overall well-being.

You might have got this far and be thinking, "Right, I'll fire up as many tables as possible and get in the volume." As tempting as that might sound, without the right approach your decision-making and overall performance will suffer.

Also, while playing a lot of MTTs with a positive ROI is a good thing, playing lots of games with a negative ROI is your one-way ticket to Bustoville.

Turn Up The Volume

When you're ready, here are some ways to increase your volume effectively:

1. Optimise Your Poker Schedule

To increase your tournament volume effectively, start by optimising your poker schedule.

Identify the times when you’re most alert and free from distractions, such as at the weekend or evenings after work.

Then plan ahead by blocking out poker sessions in your calendar and treating them as non-negotiable commitments. This ensures that poker becomes a consistent part of your routine, even with a busy schedule.

2. Use Technology to Help

Use tracking software like PokerTracker 4 to identify your leaks, analyse your hands and monitor your progress.

You can also use the HUD of these programs in real-time to give you a quick overview of how your opponents are playing. This is invaluable when multitabling as the more tables you play, the less time you have to make decisions.

I use Jurojin to help me tile tables so I can focus on making great decisions while it handles resizing tables and putting them in the next available slot. Jurojin does so much more than tiling though and I highly recommend checking it out.

By combining these tools with a structured approach, you can significantly increase your volume while maintaining a high level of performance.

3. Add More Tables

When increasing your volume, it’s important to add tables gradually. Start by adding just one more table, and allow yourself time to adjust to the increased pace.

As you become more comfortable playing additional tables, you can continue to add more incrementally.

This approach helps you maintain focus and avoid being overwhelmed, ensuring that your decision-making remains sharp even as your volume grows.

4. Keep Firing

When you bust a tournament, don't leave space on your monitor. If it's still early enough then either re-enter that tournament (as long as it's not a PKO) or find another one to enter.

Fire. Fire. Fire.

If you currently play 4 tables, 3 times a week and can play 10 games per session, that means you're playing 30 games a week and about 120 games a month. If you could add just 2 tables and play 6 tables at a time, 3 times a week you would play 50% more games, that's 180 games instead of 120.

If you also kept firing when you bust, you could very easily play more than 200-250 games a month.

A few simples tweaks and now you're playing twice as many games.

Conclusion

To summarise, here's how to play more volume as a part-time poker player with a full-time life:

1. Optimise Your Poker Schedule

2. Use Technology to Help

3. Add More Tables

4. Keep Firing

Playing more volume as a part-time tournament poker player with a full-time life is challenging, but achievable. By understanding the benefits of volume, addressing common challenges, and implementing practical strategies, you can improve your results and wrestle control back from the poker gods.

That's it for this week.

See you next time.