I don't think many of the P5 members will be able to identify with this situation, as most seem to be <25.... but how do you PARENTS handle your family responsibilities while still trying to play? It always seems like something is going on... and you can't focus on your tournies! If it isn't the baby crying and needing some food, its the wife telling you to do dishes.... I guess i just need to make more money to pay for some hired help... do you guys have a few nights a week that are just DEDICATED TO POKER? or whenever you have some spare time?

Erik

Well, one way of handling it is to face up to your responsibilities, turn off the computer and fucking help your wife with the kid.

Unless this is your job, it seems a no brainer.

Don't start tournies until the kid is sleeping. Then get your wife to give you a handjob while playing. That way u dont surf porn.

Mate it sounds like i wrote this lol

i own my own business [and work in it 80hrs a week] and have a wife and little boy [almost 2yo]
my wife works 1 or 2 nights a week and when my little man goes to bed and she is off i play. then if she wants to watch some rubbish on tv i tell her i am going to play, it may only be 1 night a week sometimes but then others it can be 5.

take what u can but always make family first and u can buy into as many mtts as u like but u only get one shot at being a dad wife and a family man.

Good Post Benimino... i guess MTTs give way to dirty diapers that have creepage:(

do you have a closet that locks from the outside?

I do have multiple decks with glass doors... i can still SEE what is happening without hearing it!

I've got a 3 year old boy, and my biggest MTT tourney cash to date was at 3 in the morning holding him in my arms when he was about 6 months old (cause he woke up hungry of course).( I took second place to BodogAri btw in the Party $33 rebuy for about $4,800) Here's what you do. Get a wireless router, a laptop, a regular job, and a wife that works at least 3 days a week.You play when your wife is at work (in my experience, it just doens't work to be together with wife and be playing poker online, no matter what) and you can carry your laptop with you throughout your house. When my son was born, my wife worked 12 hour shifts, 11pm to 11am 3 days per week, and I worked til about 9pm everyday. I would get home (my son would be sleeping), play the 33 rebuy on partypoker that started at 11pm central time (that is the tourney I miss the most btw), and also play some nl cash games at the same time. I knew I could only play til about 3 or 4 am because that is when the tourney ended, and it gave me time to sleep. So, I alotted myself about 12 to 20 hours of playing per week. Check out your own situation and check out the most time you can play while still keeping your sanity. I don't think there is anyway a good Dad/Husband can possibly DEDICATE a night to poker when you have a baby or young child. I think you have to wait until your kids are probably teenagers and don't care about you anymore until you can DEDICATE a night to poker. That is, they are off doing their own things with friends, and you can do your own things, i.e. you aren't cool anymore. What I began to realize after time was that often times, I would have only 1 to 2 hours of free time to play poker online. It became apparent to me that the best option for me was to play cash games as opposed to sng's, or mtt's for obvious reasons. When the wife came home, or the kid needed to eat or poop, it was easy to sit out or leave table as opposed to continue playing a mtt while being completely distracted by other things. So, determine the times of day you can play without being interupted or with mild interruptions, or switch to cash games. Family first, poker games will always be there, and hopefully someday you can share a huge tourney win with your baby (if you haven't already...it's always fun to have someone to share a big win with even if they are 6 month's old and have no idea what daddy is going crazy about). P.S. don't hire help to watch your kids while you play online poker....bad idea.

Play cash games.

what i did - get a 5 figure score under your belt, go out and buy wife new furniture. that should cut you some slack

I have a 6yo and 4yo. It has gotten easier as they sleep through the night now. I usually play MTT's after they are both in bed, 2-3 nights a week. On very rare occasions I will play a Sunday Major, usually the Full Tilt because it starts at 6pm EST, but that is very tough with kids still up and about. My son likes to watch if I do play and knows his starting hand requirements ;)

Don't think I have played a single hand online in over 3 weeks since my son was born. Him and my wife are #1 in my book. I have played a few live tourneys on the weekends when my mother in law was with my wife to help out.

I just don't see me playing much at all until my son at least sleeps for a stretch of about four hours or more at a time. Nothing worse than a crabby baby and a mom that hasn't slept for a week. I would just be setting myself up for a big disaster if I sat down and fired up an online tourney, but for now that is alright. Family first! Poker way down on my list.

If you're a pro and it's your job, then they need to understand that you need to concentrate while you're at work. You need to go to work by going into your home office and shutting the door. It's not like they can't knock or leave you a note or ask you to help with something during an emergency, but they need to respect that you are at work and act like it. During your breaks, instead of having coffee and b.s.ing with co-workers at the water cooler, you do quick little chores (laundry, watch baby, etc) and give your wife a good hug and a kiss. If your family can't respect that you're at work and need to be left alone, then maybe you need a laptop with wireless and need to physically leave home to "go to work", but that seems extreme.

Now if it's something you do on the side for some extra money, I'd recommend you just pick out one or two MTTs that are important to you (Sunday $750k, $1M, etc) that run on a regular schedule and work things out so that you can almost always play in those MTTs without being bothered. Then you play in extra MTTs / SnGs / Cash Games when the opportunities arise, but if it's just for money on the side, you have to be more willing to compromise if you value your family more than poker.

I have a 5 year old, and 5 month old triplets (all 4 boys). I simply can't play tournaments much, nor should you unless you can dedicate the time to winning the tournament. When I play, it's usually cash games. I can sit when I'm ready to play, and sit out or quit when I need to. If the triplets start up, I can sit out and go help the wife. There's no way to plan or schedule with 3 infants, believe me. If we have help over, which we do a couple times a week, I can dedicate time to play some tournies since I can close the door to my office and not be needed, but when it's just my wife and I and I'm going to play, I almost always choose cash games so I don't have to get distracted or leave in the middle of a MTT.

HItman, congrats on the triplets....i and my wife just had twins last year (not 18 months old)....it's so much work, it's like second full time job...we also have a 5 year old, thank god, because he helps out so much with keeping them busy....