Playing till your even

[ahnuld]

Im posting this becuase it is an annoying mental problem I have that I cant seem to break. I play the 400nl tables and generally am a winning player. However, I find when I am winning, I try to find an excuse to leave the computer and book my wins. When I am losing, I tend to play more than I wanted to, and I hate leaving a loser, it bothers me.

This goes against what we are supposed to do. That is, play longer when we are winning and playing at out top level, and to leave early when you are having problems and you have a weak image.

I was wondering how some other players dealt with this natural inclination and were able to break themselves of this expensive habit?

[GrunchCan]

Poker is one looooooooong session. Not a million little sessions.

[nWirb]

Yes I have this little shitty habit too, but I'm working it away.
I think you lose it pretty fast by playing alot.

[JaBlue]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker is one looooooooong session. Not a million little sessions.

[/ QUOTE ]

what are you talking about, man?

[ahnuld]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes I have this little shitty habit too, but I'm working it away.
I think you lose it pretty fast by playing alot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn thats a disturbing Avatar. LOL. I've been playing on the internet for about a year and this summer iv been averaging about 10k-15k hands a month yet even today, I found myself quitting around 12;30 to go golfing after only playing 2 hours. If I was losing, id sit here for 6. I should be outgrowing this but I dont appear to be.

[nWirb]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Poker is one looooooooong session. Not a million little sessions.

[/ QUOTE ]

what are you talking about, man?

[/ QUOTE ]

Quitting for the day when you are on + and start playing the day after is the same as shutting down PP and starting it again. Same effect, but you might not be playing as well the day after.

You have to look at poker as a life long session, not as several small sessions, you sleeping in between doesn't make any difference.

[Ghazban]

The "one long session" arguments don't always apply. In capped buyin NL games, you ought to be able to make more playing fewer long sessions than many short sessions as, in a long session, you can build up a stack and play deepstacked poker. I've been wondering lately how much I'm giving up by playing a few 1-1.5 hour sessions instead of one or two longer sessions in a day.

Anyway, that's mostly tangential (even moreso due to the fact that, when you're stuck, you're probably not significantly over the cap) to the OP's situation but I felt it was worth mentioning.

So you are telling me that if you are on a good winning table where you have solid reads and are raking in the pots, you prefer to leave. But, if you are on a tough solid table where you are working hard and just breaking even you prefer to stay.

[Raven]

I havent found much other than fix myself objectives of hours in a week or tell myself that I will play like 4 huors tonight and that kind of stuff. When I win big I will often motive myself by trying to beat my best day at this limit.

[theblitz]

The only thing that helps in the end is discipline.

Just remember that you play best when you are winning and worst when you are losing. (Which does NOT mean you win when you are playing well and lose when you are playing bad).

Just today I had a bad day.
First bad day this month.
I am not a big winner but have managed to grind away about $1300 this month including bonuses.

Today I took a downswing and lost nearly $200 (I play 0.25/0.50). $40 bonuses helped me a bit but $160 still hurt a bit.

The final straw was when I lost a flopped set to a set on the turn. I cursed the site, decided that today it was rigged (isn't always rigged when you lose?) and packed in.

Sometimes you need that one, last suckout to call it a day.