Playing in the World Series of Poker can be taxing on personal relationships. Balance is key in life and learning how to prioritize is especially important. Although it may seem easy, I personally find balancing my life one of the most difficult tasks. Since I have begun playing poker professionally, I have seen consistency with problems in my relationships that have not worked. Poker is a stressful and sometimes a heart breaking profession, especially during the World Series. I’ve outlined some helpful tips that can avoid relationship tilt (which I seem to go on quite frequently!)

Take some time off from poker. Even if the person you are dating plays poker, you don’t want all your time together to be spent at the tables or on a 10 minute break during the tournaments. Make time alone for yourselves as it is easy to get sucked into a pattern of always hanging out in a poker setting. After I get knocked out of a tournament, I have the habit of wanting to go back home or to my hotel room and play online. It’s more beneficial to focus on your mental health and your personal relationships to spend some time with the person de-stress until the next tournament. I have some GREAT tips on de-stressing, which I’ll write about in a future article.

Explore Las Vegas. Grab your partner and leave the Rio. There’s lots of cool stuff to do around the city besides play poker and its fun to go exploring with someone you care about. Go to a Cirque Du Soleil show, go to dinners, take a Grand Canyon tour or go to one of many of the nightclubs in Las Vegas. If you want to be cheaper, there are plenty of great free shows your date may enjoy in Vegas. The Masquerade show in the Rio isn’t my favorite, but it can be entertaining! There are a lot of people you may know in the poker world that you seldom see, so grab the person you’re dating and include them in some of the group outings that you attend. They’ll feel more important to you and during the time you’re busy playing, they won’t feel so neglected.

Use the time you have with your partner wisely. Spending quality time with the person you care about is very important. You don’t want to bust out of tournaments during the WSOP and bust out of a relationship as well. When you are alone with that person, let them know you value that time with them and don’t discuss poker 24/7. It’s okay to vent to your partner after you get knocked out, but they don’t want to hear you cry about it for hours. Unless you are playing EVERY event, during your breaks, focus on maintaining or building your relationship.

Don’t bring relationship problems to the table. Unfortunately, not all relationships are smooth sailing, so if you do have a fight or an issue with the person you are dating, do NOT bring it to the Rio. Don’t argue with them on dinner breaks or your 15 minute breaks. If they don’t understand why you need to focus on the tournament, then turn your cell phone off and try not to go into a frenzy over the person. Explain to them that you will be able to work things out AFTER the day is completed or ideally when the tournament is over. If your partner truly supports your playing in the WSOP, they should fully understand.

Like most things being respectful is important and if you leave yourself a lot of idle time you will fill it with a lot of things that aren’t important. Relationships with friends, family and spouses are and we aren’t the only ones that need confirmation occasionally. Let the people that you care about the most know that and you will most certainly come out a winner.