Knowing When To Leave The Table

[callmegoat 0]

I play low-stakes Hold'em on Ultimate Bet pretty much daily. The biggest trouble I am having at the moment is knowing when to leave the table. I consistently buy-in $1, earn up to $3 to $5, then manage to burn it down much lower before leaving. I have been told not to set goals, as that leads to irrationally leaving tables that I am winning, however I see no alternative when I am consistently throwing away my winnings after I multiply my money several times.

[051103 0]

its a dollar.......who cares when you leave. Secondly why the hell are you playing on UB? not that it would be worth their time to take micro stakes but it baffles me that ppl still play there after the UB super user accounts scam and semi cover up.

[gfdsa146 0]

its a dollar.......who cares when you leave.

Poor advice. You should stay if you believe you've got a strategical edge over/are a better player than your opponent(s) at the table. You should leave if you believe your opponent(s) have a strategical edge over/are better player(s) than you. This should hold true whether or not you are down or up money at the table. Unfortunately, losing a couple of buy-ins tends to degrade the skill of a lot of people, probably you included (I know it definitely affects me), at which point they become worse than their opponents which means they should leave the table. Another hard thing about adhering to this philosophy is that it requires you to be brutally honest with yourself which some people can't do because it means that they actually have to admit somewhere along the line that someone else is better than them.If you feel that you suck so much now that you aren't better than the people you play against; continue to play and study the game and realize that although you should have left the table because you're worse than everyone else, you're putting in an initial investment to get better and win it back plus more down the line.

[antistuff 0]

after you get up to like $4 do you feel like your play starts to change?i know that when i play and i find myself having a monster winning session its almost like little losses here and there don't mean anything to me. this can be dangerous as i will make lots of medium mistakes (usually with regards to calling down in dumb places where its cheap). of course this isn't necessarily the problem you're having but maybe you can relate a little. btw the problem you are describing is actually a very common one and unfortunately this being your first post (and a rather good one i might add, first posts are usually dumb and get flamed) you probably wont get a very warm reception. shame because its a good topic.

[gooch 0]

when i get up a bunch on a table with a bunch of donkeys it can be hard to leave, like someone said if you are better and have an edge why leave?well even a blind squirrel catches a nut now and thenget in a good win, make some notes so you can search out the fish again, book it, then go look for another one imo

[slink 1]

when i get up a bunch on a table with a bunch of donkeys it can be hard to leave, like someone said if you are better and have an edge why leave?well even a blind squirrel catches a nut now and thenget in a good win, make some notes so you can search out the fish again, book it, then go look for another one imo

Dude...update with the blog?

[Solar 0]

Hah, I seem to do the opposite. Sit down, dump half a buy in, play for 2 hours and finish even. It may just feel like this is happening. It is immensely frustrating to lose all your winnings from a session, but it happens. But setting a time limit is a good thing. I will usually say for example "no posting blinds after 10:30pm for this session. If I still want to play after that, I stop get up and do something else for at least 5 min, then often start back at different tables like its a new session.

[gooch 0]

Dude...update with the blog?

yeah i've been neglecting due to some moving issues with work and such, have a bunch of them that will be in today at some time though

[TAGteam 0]

you can always leave when you hit 4 or 5 bucks then buy back in for $1 at another table. they're all fish at this level - i don't see much of a differnece in play between tables.

[callmegoat 0]

after you get up to like $4 do you feel like your play starts to change?

To some degree I do feel this way. I don't necessarily become reckless, I just do start to feel slightly different about my game. When I feel that I am about to leave I begin playing cautiously like I am trying to protect my winnings, invariably this leads to a few stolen pots and I wind up playing another 10 minutes much less successfully than my last 45. I know it is probably a discipline thing but I have trouble feeling the signs that I should head out.

[Acekob 0]

I also used to have some problem with this when playing cash table, in the end I started leaving the table whenever I hit a certain amount.Depending on stakes it used to be when I had about doubled my buy in.Certainly no optimal strategy, but it made me stop loosing everything I had earned before quitting the session.

[TheDonk1989 0]

Just leave when you know your can't win anymore. When your running REAALLY badly. Like me for instance. I won $8 in the first half hour of playing.I kept playing, was card dead and was pretty much blinded for $4. I proceded to get beaten by trash hands when I had high pocket pairs, I played all cautiously. My set lost to a rivered gut shot, my Aces got cracked when I floped full house board: 3 3 3 K K, he got running kings...Sorry, normally I don't tell bad beat stories but now I'm really heated. I just need to type it.

[antistuff 0]

To some degree I do feel this way. I don't necessarily become reckless, I just do start to feel slightly different about my game. When I feel that I am about to leave I begin playing cautiously like I am trying to protect my winnings, invariably this leads to a few stolen pots and I wind up playing another 10 minutes much less successfully than my last 45. I know it is probably a discipline thing but I have trouble feeling the signs that I should head out.

i think you answered your own question :)the solution is something you're gonna have to figure out on your own as everybody is different. some people can realize that they have slipped into a bad emotional state and correct it. others just need to stop and take a break. i'm torn on if people can teach themselves to do the former. realizing that you are off your game though is like 80% of the battle. so even if you don't utilize that information to gain an edge you've still made a pretty big leap.

[trystero 0]

i think you answered your own question :)the solution is something you're gonna have to figure out on your own as everybody is different. some people can realize that they have slipped into a bad emotional state and correct it. others just need to stop and take a break. i'm torn on if people can teach themselves to do the former. realizing that you are off your game though is like 80% of the battle. so even if you don't utilize that information to gain an edge you've still made a pretty big leap.

tip: if you're sick enough to skip work, DON'T play poker that day.

[antistuff 0]

tip: if you're sick enough to skip work, DON'T play poker that day.

what the hell is this work thing you speak of?

[gfdsa146 0]

Just leave when you know your can't win anymore. When your running REAALLY badly. Like me for instance. I won $8 in the first half hour of playing.I kept playing, was card dead and was pretty much blinded for $4. I proceded to get beaten by trash hands when I had high pocket pairs, I played all cautiously. My set lost to a rivered gut shot, my Aces got cracked when I floped full house board: 3 3 3 K K, he got running kings...Sorry, normally I don't tell bad beat stories but now I'm really heated. I just need to type it.

BBFDTShttp://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...hp?showforum=10

[trystero 0]

what the hell is this work thing you speak of?

not all of us are fortunate/insane enough to make a living at nl08

[antistuff 0]

not all of us are fortunate/insane enough to make a living at nl08

.50/1 no less :)and i'm not talking minimum wage. i actually couldn't get a job right now where i make as much as i do.not that im bragging or anything ;p

[TheDonk1989 0]

BBFDTShttp://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...hp?showforum=10

~Thanks ;D

[FARGOpokerND 22]

Know­ing when to leave (and not to leave) a table is a crit­i­cal poker skill. Stay­ing alert to play­er changes and reg­u­lar­ly reeval­u­at­ing the qual­i­ty of the table is cru­cial. Some­times the play­ers don't phys­i­cal­ly change, but the as­sess­ment of the play­ers changes. As you sit at a table, you au­to­mat­i­cal­ly gain ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion about the other play­ers. This new in­for­ma­tion may force you to re­vise your opin­ion of the play­ers and the table.An­oth­er as­pect of know­ing when to stand up is to rec­og­nize when you're being beat­en. Some­times your as­sess­ment of the play­ers at the table will be in­com­plete and your strat­e­gy won't work. For ex­am­ple, sup­pose you find a table with loose pre-flop play­ers, with 3 or 4 play­ers see­ing the flop. You de­cide on a strat­e­gy of only play­ing hands that have the po­ten­tial to be­come mon­sters (e.g., pock­et pairs like T♣T♦ and suit­ed con­nec­tors like T♣9♣ or Q♥J♥). You've been at the table for a cou­ple of or­bits and you're down. Is it just vari­ance or is this ev­i­dence that your strat­e­gy isn't work­ing? This is a cru­cial ques­tion. If it's just vari­ance, you should stay, as you will make a tidy prof­it in the long run. If your strat­e­gy isn't work­ing, you should leave to avoid hem­or­rhag­ing money.

So you are saying in a couple of orbits, you will have seen enough hands to justify that playing TT T9s and QJs?

[SuperJon 175]

So you are saying in a couple of orbits, you will have seen enough hands to justify that playing TT T9s and QJs?

I think he meant, after a couple of orbits of playing those hands.