diff --git a/src/opengnsys/workers/oglive_worker.py b/src/opengnsys/workers/oglive_worker.py
index 6e955c9..04ac130 100644
--- a/src/opengnsys/workers/oglive_worker.py
+++ b/src/opengnsys/workers/oglive_worker.py
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ class ogLiveWorker(ServerWorker):
             pass
 
         sout = serr = ''
+        poll_iterations = 1
         while p.poll() is None:
             for l in iter (p.stdout.readline, b''):
                 partial = l.decode ('utf-8', 'ignore')
@@ -300,7 +301,13 @@ class ogLiveWorker(ServerWorker):
             for l in iter (p.stderr.readline, b''):
                 partial = l.decode ('utf-8', 'ignore')
                 serr += partial
-            time.sleep (1)
+
+            ## poll quickly at first, then poll less frequently
+            if   poll_iterations > 15: sleep_time = 1
+            elif poll_iterations > 10: sleep_time = 0.2
+            else:                      sleep_time = 0.1
+            time.sleep (sleep_time)
+            poll_iterations += 1
         sout = sout.strip()
         serr = serr.strip()