How long does it take you to get to sleep after a poker game? (1 Viewer)

[Darson]

I heard this being discussed on a live stream and thought it a good topic for conversation. Personally, if I'm playing seriously (and not drinking copiously) then it takes me at least an hour after the game for my brain to stop thinking and allow me to sleep. If I'm drunk then it's no problem and the Zs come quickly.

There are a couple games I play in that are a 40 minute drive away which is kinda good as the drive lets me get back into a normal frame of mind by the time I get home.

What about you?

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Unless it's a very late session and/or I've been drinking hard, it usually takes me 1-2 hours to fully wind down after a session.

Even at a meetup, I can play 14-15 hours, drink all day, then go back to the Airbnb and still read or watch YouTube for an hour before I'm ready to sleep.

 

[AZBOARDER13]

This is an excellent question- looking forward to how the games affect people differently.
I'm similar in the 1 hour range. Maybe more on a losing night, less in a winner. Drinking almost always makes it worse for me- longer to fall asleep and will wake up earlier

 

[upNdown]

Yeah if I’m out playing seriously somewhere, I definitely don’t have to worry about falling asleep on the drive home. In face when I played the NH tournaments (usually and hour plus drive home) I’d bring a THC gummy for the ride home. Because if I did something stupid to get knocked out late in a tournament, I’d need something to settle my brain, to keep that last stupid hand from bouncing around my skull, all the way home.
But yeah, the tl:dr is it takes me a while to settle my brain after poker, if I haven’t been drinking heavily. Probably like 90 minutes anyway.

 

[buzzmonkey]

Takes me about an hour as well.

 

[TheOffalo]

30-45m after stopping to wind down if I’m playing with my buddies on Zoom/online. At least an hour after playing live.

Add an hour to either figure if I’ve had a bad night.

 

[CraigT78]

Hahaha - my buddies have discussed this at games. Easily an hour and that's the general opinion of my guys - we were all much happier when we moved the start time to 3pm and the hard stop to 1:30am.

 

[Highli99]

At least an hour for me. My wife worries about me driving home tired 3:00 am and I've reassured her it is never an issue. My brain is wired after poker. Being worried about how little time I have until the kids wake up doesn't help me fall asleep faster, but a few minutes trying to find the end of the internet and/or the bottom of a whiskey glass does.

 

[Rhodeman77]

Minimum of an hour, usually more like 2. I spend the first hour cleaning the poker room and talking to one of my players on their drive home where we usually discuss the big hands of the night. Once I’m in bed it can be another hour still to get my mind to finally decompress enough to fall asleep.

 

[detroitdad]

About an hour normally

 

[Dugthefish]

Depends how much I drank

 

[pltrgyst]

Depends how much I won or lost. Drinking is incidental.

 

[DoubleEagle]

About an hour. I usually watch TV until I get drowsy.

 

[louBdub]

This thread is a relief! I thought I was broken

Definitely an hour, minimum. I’ve even found myself tossing and waking up, and my brain immediately goes to a hand I played.

 

[bernielomax]

It depends on where I play.

At a friendly home game, within 30 minutes.

The last time I played in Vegas I couldn’t fall asleep. I might as well have just stayed up, kept playing and went to the airport.

 

[LeLe]

1-2 hour usually for me. I tend to keep replay hands in my mind that I played when I laying down on bed

 

[Bluegrass Poker]

Depends on how badly I played but usually an hour.

 

[Darson]

I can’t believe some of you guys read after playing poker to wind down! If I tried that I’d be stuck on the same page for an hour as I wouldn’t have a clue what I just read and would have to keep rereading the same line.

For me it has to be totally brainless like watching rubbish on TV or staring at the fish tank.

 

[MrCatPants]

3 minutes. people leave the house and I'm out.

 

[allforcharity]

If I got a bad enough bad beat, I might not even sleep....

 

[TheBigTater]

Usually about 1 hour to wind down after a session However anybody has played with me knows I'm not a stay up late kinda guy so when the session goes well into the AM hours I'm usually already half asleep at the table, so as soon as my head hits a pillow after I get home I'm out pretty quick.

 

[Goldfish]

If I won that night - 6 minutes from when my head hits the pillow.
If I lost that night - 11 minutes from when my head hits the pillow.

 

[jpietrella]

I'm pretty similar to everyone else here, somewhere between 1-2 hours to fully wind down. My wife thinks it's absolute insanity because I'm "just sitting there for hours, what could you possibly need to wind down from?"

Anyway, just spent a night at Encore Boston, I live less than a 5 min drive up the road. Got home by about 1am and I didn't end up retiring to bed until about 2:30am.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

I host at my office simply because if I have more than two people over to my studio apartment it gets a bit more than crowded. In the spirit of "leave only footprints", I do a proper tidying job before I leave to go home. Make sure there's no errant trash, recycle in the recycle, nobody left anything behind in the fridge, etc.. I spade the cards used that night, mostly to check for wear, damage and overall cleanliness. By itself, that's an incredibly relaxing and very zen thing to do. Put the table away, triple check the chips, load up the transport cage if I used a set from home, then depart.

The 30 minute cleanup after the game and the 15 minute drive back home is usually more than enough to decompress from the night, big winner or recipient of the bad-beat express.

 

[chipmastah]

I usually play till the early am so sometimes I have trouble keeping my eyes open at the table which is a sign for me to rack up. Head home then fall asleep within minutes when I hit the bed.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

So happy I'm not alone! At least an hour.
A little more if I did well...

 

[Goldfish]

I usually play till the early am so sometimes I have trouble keeping my eyes open at the table which is a sign for me to rack up. Head home then fall asleep within minutes when I hit the bed.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been driving home through the neighborhood while people are going to work or taking their kids to the bus stop. Some of my neighbors actually thought I had a second job working thru the night. Haha.

 

[Melic]

You sleep after? Seriously though when we host a home game everyone has usually trickled out by 3-4 and if I haven’t drank to the pass out point and missed the game then I don’t sleep those nights. Usually I just spend time cleaning and organizing leftover bottles, and beers. To save for the next time, try to take pictures and store everyone’s stuff left behind. We have quite the lost and found.. but there are usually the same 20-25 guys over for the games and I’m the lone wife.. so although I love to play it’s for more for fun for me not super serious. And I end up passed out or the mom to 20+ 30-50 year olds!

 

[jonstanley2009]

Similar to most, serious play can keep me awake for hrs (2-3). Casual games, can pass out as soon as I touch the bed

 

[Ahner]

I usually fall asleep easier because my brain is fried. Only other thing that does that for me is Magic The Gathering.