Knowing When to Quit - SERIOUS HELP NEEDED

[SaintAces]

I have no idea when to stop - when I am up OR down!

For example, tonight I was playing ante dollar hands (no limit - we both had about 100 bucks on hand) amd I was up $42. I kept playing an he fought back. He got an INCREDIBALLY LUCKY RUN. I really mean unbelieveable. Out of 20 showdowns (where I was winning before the river) he won 18. I finished $20 down. Tell me when to quit?!! I have no idea what so ever! Help me please.

[Homer]

It doesn't matter whether you're up or down, as the past cannot predict the future.

Stop playing when you no longer have an advantage or just don't feel like playing any longer.

-- Homer

[Nottom]

Wow, you were rivered 18 times out of 20? I'd like to see someone calculate the odds of that.

[Oblivious]

Quitting when youre up or down to make money is like trying to "group" heads or tails in coin tosses... it just doesnt work. If youre worried about swings, you ought to play with in your means in a limit game.

[SaintAces]

oh man it was bad!

I mean REALLY BAD.

J /images/graemlins/heart.gif K /images/graemlins/heart.gif (ME)

Flop is 2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
CHECK CHECK

TURN is K /images/graemlins/spade.gif
I bet 10 He calls 10 (this is when he is a serious rush - he had won 9 of last 10 rivers)

RIVER: 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif
He Checks I bet 5 He Calls


He flips over a 2 and a 4

[squiffy]

Always Quit WHILE YOU ARE AHEAD.

[lil']

Always Quit WHILE YOU ARE AHEAD.
That's more true for something like slots than poker.

[davidross]

If you are a winning player, the more you play the more you win. If you are a losing player......

Set a quitting time before you start and stick to it unless something happens during the session to make you play less than your best (mega tilt or external interference that affects your play).

[D. Andrew]

When I am winning, I can not quit because I am running good.

When I am losing, I can not quit because I am stuck.

Guess that is why I play so much.

[James Boston]

Quit when you fell like you can't win. That's the best advice I can give. I've gotten stuck in games I was playing well in and kept grinding until I made it all back. Other times, I've suffered bad beats in games I knew I could beat, but I was so frusturated that I quit after losing my buy-in. If you feel like a loss is just a temporary set back, then keep on going. If you'rr upset and on tilt, come back on another day.

[MicroBob]

i dont know whats up with all these answers of quitting when you feel like you can't win and winning players can just keep playing through the rough times.

through my detailed studies with Phil Hellmuth and John Patrick i have discoverd the following stop-loss forumla that is 'guaranteed' to provide winning results.

the key is noting one of those losing runs (18 of 20 beats on the river) that you spoke of....
when you get one of these
- you can play for eactly 78 more hands if they happen at the beginning of the session. then ou must quit.
- you can play for 3 more hours...but not more than 5 hours...if this happens in the middle of a session at least 3 hours old during which you had been mostly winning (please note, that if you had not been playing for 3 hours prior to the losing streak then you have not reached the 'middle' of the session yet since you still need to play 3 more hours after that).
- if it happens at the end of the session then you should have stopped exactly 20 minutes earlier...by doing this you lock up your win and prevent your opponent from ever beating you with 42o on the river.
- if you've been winning, you have to keep doubling up in stakes each hour until you either become a billionairea or go bust.
- if 44 busts your KK on the river then you have to go into your time-machine, travel to your opponents home, and kill him before he gets the chance to play the hand.


i hope this info will prove helpful.

next answer - if you're plaing a winning game then you're set as long as you a significant sized bankroll abd snall enough stakes to minimize your ROR to the point where your heat and stomach can take the negative swings.
if you can't stand it when the opponent occasionally beats you with draws or bad cards then either
1 - dont play
2 - step back a notch in stakes to a level where it might not sting so much
3 - plug away and win

thanks for reading.

[Gildersneeze]

I tend to quit when it seems like in order to profit substantially according to how many chips I have, I'd have to clean the whole table out.

I'll quit when I can tell the table has tightened up ridiculously, and I'll have to spend hours on end grinding the chips out of people. That's no fun. I don't mind tight players, but if the whole damn table is playing tighter than Fort Knox, all you can do is keep blind-stealing in order to not get blinded out until you run up against a monster and have to fold, then repeat from start.

I'll quit when it comes down to head-up with a guy who's way up from his buy in, and it's obvious he doesn't want to risk that. See above.

Most of all, I'll quit when I start having misgivings about the intelligence of remaining in the current game. If I'm getting cold cards, monsters cracked, major and constant -EV situations (not just a few bad hands, but when it REALLY starts looking bleak, like I'm going to either inevitably bust out, or never go anywhere in the direction of "up"), you know, a real nightmare of a night, I'll cash in and say "thanks for the games, guys. Good hands, and good night.*"

That's pretty much the overall jist of it. If I start getting that "no way to beat this game efficiently" feeling, I'll call it an evening.

*I would never actually say something THAT corny.

[Joe Tall]

[ QUOTE ]
Flop is 2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
CHECK CHECK

[/ QUOTE ]

With your four-flush and overcards you should bet the flop.

Try posting some hands in the Small Stakes forum and we'll make that river-streak and winning streak in no time.

Welcome to the forum,
Joe Tall

[Al_Capone_Junior]

by asking this question it's obvious you need to learn a whole lot more about poker theory. I suggest reading "Gambling theory and other topics" by Mason Malmuth.

al

[pretender2k]

I read in a book and I'm not sure which one but it stuck in my mind there are three times to quit:

1. When it hurts - this would be a loosing situation some nights for me that is if I loose the first good starting hand others I can be down 50 BB before it bothers me

2. When you loose the advantage - Your winning but you get tired or distracted

3. You have 50% of the money on the table - I would say this would be a general rule of thumb but basically I think it means you just can't expect to keep winning at a decent rate because there just isn't enough cash left on the table.

That is what I try to use but sometimes forget.

[LetsRock]

On-line?

About a 95% chance in favor of the underdog. /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[MrDannimal]

Here's when I quit:

1) When I'm not confident I can beat the game.
2) I *need* to stop (need to be somewhere, do something)
3) When I don't think I'm playing "well"

There are a lot of "sub reasons" that really are just flags that indicate #3 is met:

a) I'm tired
b) I'm on tilt or just frustrated
c) I'm bored
d) I'm distracted
(and so on)

I (no longer) try to quit when way ahead so I can "book a win" In fact, I'm more likely to force myself to stay when I'm up big now, because it's a good indication I'm killing the game (not a sure one, I've had card rushes and good play punctuated by sme sucking out before..). I try very hard to avoid "staying until I get it back" if I think I'm 3rd or 4th best at the table OR if I'm so frustrated at the suckouts that I can't play calmly.

[OrangeHeat]

You should quit right now until you learn the math around fluctuations, Bankroll, etc... and get a better understanding of the game.

After you do this you will realize that you quit:

1. When you don't have an advantage
2. When you need to do something else
3. When you don't feel like playing.

Orange

[ChipWrecked]

Saturday night I quit as soon as the off-shift dealer to my right quit /images/graemlins/smirk.gif