Posted Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:56 pm GMT by rlb2252
This might be more of a money management question. How do you know when to quit a profitable online session?
That’s a hard one for me and, I suspect, many other, poker player. I used to shoot casino craps and I did well when it came to walking away a winner. If I started with two hundred and went up, say seventy or eighty bucks, I would very likely call it quits before I lost it all back.
If I went in the black, I was consistently able to walk away a winner.
The nature of Online Limit Hold ‘Em seems to be different. I’ve had my share of losing sessions that would have been winners if I had been satisfied with simply doubling my stake. Now admittedly, my stake, was likely peanuts to begin with, on average just $20 bucks on the 0.50/1.00 table.
But I could have stopped while ahead. And I didn’t. And once the slide started, I could have stopped at even—no harm, no foul. But I didn’t. And so I stuck around and stuck around until forced to scream uncle with most of my $20 gone.
Is this simply the nature of on-line gambling?
How can you tell a hot streak is over unless you lose a few hands?
How much of a win is enough?
This may in fact be one of the problems in playing low limits. Maybe the money at risk has to mean something, be enough to make your little heart go pitter-patter, your brow to moisten as the flop comes down, pucker your sphincter muscle on the turn.
If winning $20 bucks means nothing (or at least not enough to make you declare victory for now), then, unfortunately, losing $20 may have just as little impact.
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
Posted Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:59 pm GMT by LeafsFan1122
This may be able to assist your inquiry a bit:
http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/forum/t18702/great-cash-sessions
But whatever this doesn't cover, I'm sure some others will be able to complete your answer.
Welcome to the forum, I see you're relatively new.
Posted Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:15 pm GMT by mooseontheloose
As mentioned, welcome.
One thing I read as advice, might be in the linked topic, is to set yourself a 'maximum loss' target. Example, you buy in for $10 and get up to $50, you decide if you drop below $40 you will leave the table. This means you will walk away with no less than $30 profit and still have $10 to take chances with. Could use a different number, say $30 for a minimum of a $20 profit.
If you lose some cash due to really bad luck and can avoid tilt, you can change your number, but if you simply feel your game is starting to slip and you hit your maximum number, move on.
Some of the better advice I've seen on the topic, hope it helps.
Posted Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:22 pm GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
Two factors:
1. How good is the game?
2. How is your game?
In the case of (1), as long as the game is juicy you should probably keep playing. If the game dries up or gets tough, you should probably think of calling it a night.
In the case of (2), you should only keep playing as long as your state of mind is good. If you want to set a "stop loss" number as others mentioned, this might help your confidence. If you're getting tired, you probably want to stop.
Posted Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:39 am GMT by craggoo
A few helpful pointers I might be able to give to you to avoid big losing sessions or to know when to walk away. I currently playing in $.25 NL holdem on AP. The best thing i can say is if nothing is going right for you on the table find another table. Thats the great thing about online poker... there are an amaznig amount of tables to choose from. When I play I usually have 2 or 3 tables open. I generally find that one table is a big winner, one a small winner/break even, and one a small loser. As long as there is good action on all tables and im feeling pretty good about my play and my state of mind (not tired, hungry, bored, etc) then i'll continue to play. Some days, no matter what you do nothing works. What i mean by this is people are hitting gutshots, 2 outters, and even a few 1 outters in the mix on you all day long when you dominate. People draw to perfect runners (straight and flush) and are contiously hitting it. Days like those you just have to play through the bad beats. I had a session like that 3 days ago where people were just hitting amazing hands against me all day long. I was down $30 (about 3 buy-ins at the time) and feeling pretty annoyed about the miracles people kept hitting. Near the end of the day, I dragged two huge pots with a set of 7's on two tables. That cut my down for the day from $30 to $10 in just 2 hands. You know that movie "Field of Dreams" or even a better example the Sim City series of games? What popular saying is associated with both of them? *Hint Hint* If you build it they will come. I like to compare this in poker terms of "if you have patience it will come". Patience is key in poker and if you have none of it you won't be a winning player. I hope this post was helpful. Good luck on the tables 
-Cragg
Posted Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:55 am GMT by lwestatbus
Very good question and some excellent posts. xDiamond's advice is right on target and LeafsFan, as usual, had some great info and link. Welcome to the forum, also.
You play exactly what I play, 0.50/1.00 limit ring. Here's something I've seen that may affect your decison and that fits in with other responses. An essential component to winning big at these stakes is the presence of a factor that puts more money than usual into most pots. Most common factor I've seen is one (two is even better and three is downright nirvana) wackos that play hyper-aggressively with frequent raises, reraises, usually with really marginal cards. I've been at tables where there was a 98% chance that the pre-flop would be raised at least once. Another factor, of course, is lots of preflop callers (AKA 'donks' or 'fish'). In these conditions a 'normal' run of cards can lead to good success while a hot run of cards can be downright spectacular. I've had two $50 sessions at these stakes and regularly have $20-$35 sessions over 2-3 hours.
When you are ahead (or behind) at one of thse tables you have to watch for changes in the character of the table. If the wacko who had basically turned your 0.50/1.00 game into 1.00/2.00 leaves the table then the payoff is also reduced. Noticing that fewer people are seeing the flop is more subtle but you need to watch for this as well.
By the way, the same factors have lead to the biggest losses I've had. Larger than usual pots with larger than usual numbers of players in the hand lead to larger than usual situations when it is mathematically correct to call with inside straight draws, call down with second pair, or call with a weak pocket pair. A slight deviation from the probability of hitting these draws can have a spectacular negative effect.
Finally, I agree with the responders that said quit when you're tired. If I'm out of a hand and can't remember who raised pre-flop when the hand is over then I wasn't paying attention and need to consider leaving.
Posted Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:29 am GMT by suitedaces84
What you're talking about is a money management system. All money management systems are useless (and possilby harmful). Note there is a difference between money management and bankroll management. And there stop loss/win rules aren't bad. If you're not capable of playing well after losing or winning a large amount of money you should be quitting.
To summarize, I agree with everyone who said you should decide to quit based on things other than how much you're up or down unless this effects how you play. You can come up with all the crazy 'I quit when rules' you want but it won't do you any good and may cause you to leave a profitable game.
And don't play craps.
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