If the game's good, keep playing... right?

[RockLobster]

I'm tired. I was up too late playing online last nite (um, this morning). There were 2 conflicting rules going through my head.

- When down, don't keep playing to try and get even.
- When the game's good, play as long as you're playing well.

I was down, but there were clearly 2 fish at this particular table (seeing about 80% of the flops and often over-valuing hands). One was ahead the entire time I saw, the other kept bringing more money to the table.

I was down about 30 BB's around 1:00am (mostly from tables that broke up). I felt I was playing well, and my decision-making was still sound.

At 2:00am I was down about 10 BB's. Still seem to be making good decisions. I love to see the fish winning pots that I'm not in.

At 3:00am I'm up 17 BB's, and 1 fish has called it a nite. So do I.

I know others find themselves in this situation, any thoughts?

[MarkD]

No matter how good the game is, or how much I'm down I leave if I'm not playing well. At least I try to. I also try not to play too late so that it doesn't interfer with my job. That's just me.

Two weeks ago i was down 45BB's and grinded myself to a 10BB profit, the only reason I kept playing was that I was playing well. The game wasn't fantastic, but it was decent.

[TobDog]

You need to asses if you are too tired to operate at your normal 100%, if you are not, then you are probably not going to make as much in expectation, also, you may be playing against better players than you too, especially online, you need to know your opponents. I always ask myself those 2 questions to see if I am ok to play. I always look at it like
( I don't want to start a legal debate here so this is an EXAMPLE:)
You are out late and have been drinking, you asses yourself that you are legally below the DUI level, so you head home. Would your decision have been different if you lived 2 blocks away in the same neighborhood as opposed to a home that is 20 miles away on the other side of a 2 lane unlit canyon road. Basiclly, your feel for your relative playing ability should be good.

[brad]

one of the cases for leaving when youre even (or close, 10bb up from 45 or whatever) is like 'implied odds'.

you know that if you keep playing and go down again but the game is still great you'll want to stay even more, meanwhile, youve gotten more and more tired and you may fall apart, and the hard part about losing judgment is that you lose the ability to realize youve lost it.

otoh i see nothing wrong with staying until the guy runs out of money to bring to the table.

[RockLobster]

I agree with your reply. I still need to be more disclipined when it comes to: I also try not to play too late so that it doesn't interfer with my job. .

Thanks for the input.

[RockLobster]

and the hard part about losing judgment is that you lose the ability to realize youve lost it.

I hate that paradox (your ability to judge the soundness of your judgment is in question). By the time 2:00am hits, and I'm tired, part of me KNOWS that I can't possibly be playing my 'A' game. I guess I need to practice more discipline in these situations (setting a deadline and sticking with it, no matter how good the game gets).

If you were to rate your ability against the table's overall ability, yours may be high enough to allow you to make money. BUT, if you're playing tired (or distracted, whatever), this is a hit against your ability, which may cause your profits to suffer (or your losses to flourish).

In the future, I'm going to set a time limit and stick with it. I'm also going on a diet, starting tomorrow. /forums/images/icons/smirk.gif

[Punker]

"- When down, don't keep playing to try and get even."

I don't consider this the rule. I consider the rule to be - When down, don't keep playing ONLY to try and get even.

[RockLobster]