How to Avoid a Poker Burnout in a Professional Poker Game

Is Poker Burnout Even a Relevant Topic at the Moment?

With everything going on in the poker world, from world championships to petty social media beef, should we even be discussing poker burnouts?

Let’s put it like this. If you were to (for some reason) look up the 11^th edition of the WHO Classification of Diseases, you would find the term emotional burnout pretty easily. In this classification, burnout is most often the results of great stress. Its main symptoms and signs include:

• Negative attitude to work, or increased distancing from it;
• Decline of strength, energy, and simply exhaustion;
• The feeling of insufficient ability to perform their work qualitatively.

In almost all cases, emotional burnout is primarily related to professional careers. However, it can also easily flow into and affect other areas of your life as well.

If you think about it this way, the term “burnout” becomes quite suitable for professional poker players, as the game is after all their career, one which provides a steady income. However, poker pros themselves often avoid labelling this ad a “burnout”, they usually say that it is “poker fatigue”. 

However, even though a burnout is much more serious and long lasting than just passing fatigue, many players will confuse the two. Among the most common symptoms of burnout are the following:

• Increased fears of losing;
• Deviations from playing strategies;
• Lack of motivation;
• Failure to develop a quality daily regimen;
• Frequent wrong decisions in the game, with full realization of the error.

How to Realize That You’re Burned out From Poker?

In general, the WHO distinguishes several stages of emotional burnout, characterized by different levels of behavioral changes, changes in reasoning and emotional maturity.

In terms of poker, it’s worth looking out for the following signs, as they usually mark the first stages of a poker burnout:

• A strong sense of boredom with the game, feelings of losing and intense irritability, as well as a desire to constantly laugh at sad topics and general depressed mood;
• Frequent postponement of the game session or its complete cancellation. Also searching for any reason not to play;
• Decreased concentration during games, inability to make informed decisions;
• Constant fatigue, insomnia, and immune problems.

What Will Happen if You Ignore the Signs of Burnout?

So, now that you know the signs, the next logical question would have to – but what if I just ignore them?

In terms of poker, ignoring any signs of a burnout could very quickly lead to players losing any and all interest in poker, deceasing their desire to play, let alone win. 

Poker player Ben Wilinofsky is just one example. The moment when poker stopped bringing him joy in 2016, Wilinofsky began a long-year battle with depression. In the end, he walked away from the game for an entire year.

Another example would be someone like Andrew Moreno, who struggled with PTSD, a result of burnout from his professional poker career and ignoring the symptoms that came before it.

How to Avoid a Poker Burnout?

So, what can responsible players willing to see the signs do about this? In other words, how can they avoid a poker burnout?

For one, it’s important to work on both your physical and mental health constantly, not just before big tables. Some of the ways in which you can do that include:

• Physical activity, preferably at least 15 minutes per day
• Creating a pleasant environment around you during the game
• Cherish the poker moments that bring you the most joy
• Avoid internal financial ceilings;
• Reduce your poker load from time to time.

While not on the list above, the most important thing to know about poker burnouts is when to to consult a specialist, such as a psychotherapist, psychologist, or poker coach.

At What Point Should You Consult a Professional About Poker Burnout?

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when a poker burnout requires professional help, primarily because every players and therefore every burnout situation is different.

Still, we’d argue there are several reasons or situations in which you should seek professional help for your poker burnout:

• Lack of desire to play
• Tilt
• Lack of concentration during play
• Sleep problems
• Disruption of daily schedules

Even before going to a professional, players can evaluate themselves and determine the degree of burnout. To do this, they need to use a Likert scale (a rating scale, usually from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) used to measure survey participants’ opinions, attitudes and motivations) and see how strongly they (dis)agree with the following statements.

1. Towards the end of the game, I feel devastated;
2. My sleep is disturbed by the constant thoughts of poker;
3. I experience excessive emotional stress from poker, which is hard to bear;
4. I sometimes take it out on people close to me after a bad game;
5. I’ve become too nervous;
6. I can’t relax after the game is over;
7. I feel very burdened by other people’s problems.

Once you’ve added up your score, see at which end it pulls. If you scored relatively high on this questionnaire, then consulting a professional about poker burnout might not be a bad idea.