I've tracked my win/loss rate on an hourly basis for many years, and without a doubt the most lucrative hours are between midnight Friday and 8am Saturday. It can come out to near double the usual hourly rate. For some reason, lots of live ones beam in at that time; it's a beautiful thing. This only applies to my specific locale, but it's a good idea to track your own results on an hourly basis to learn about your game conditions as well as perhaps your condition. This is infinitely more valuable than anecdotal analysis of the time you had a rush at 4am. One school of thought _is_ to do the vampire thing, but there are some drawbacks:
1) You might not get a seat til many bad players bust out. Nothing like turning your life upside down, just to watch the half-wits fleece the patzers. Sometimes you have an out if you can talk other hopefuls into short-handed, but your options may vary.
2) _You_ are the zombie, because you've thrown your brain for a loop, sleeping then getting up at a time you're not normally accustomed to. Meanwhile, the seated players are in some kind of mental poker groove that you gotta find. If you are willing to this everyday, then it might work for you, but it doesn't make for much of a life outside of poker. One very strong player at my cardroom shows up at 6am to prey on the big games. I never see him there at one in the morning. This seems like a pretty good lifestyle -- no good game, go play golf.
3) Spotting the ensconced players an info overlay. The good players will already have lots of reads on folks that you have to catch up on. Additionally, that frees them up to focus on one player -- you. If your game is populated from the same fifty players week in and week out, this might not be so much a factor.
My biggest fear is (1) above, so I plan accordingly. I find that the best formula is just to be strapped into the game and wait for it to get sweet. Hope this was useful!
Last Modified 2/9/00