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#1
05-10-2005, 10:44 AM
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Quitting While Ahead
Lately I've had a bit of a problem. It used to be when I'd sit down at a table, I'd go down a bit before I won my first pot, and sometimes it would take me quite a while to get back in the black, so I'd log a bunch of hands, and, usually, a nice win.
For the last six sessions running, I've gone way up right away, and because i'm working on building my bankroll, I've quit (sometimes in as little as 30 minutes). Now, on the other hand, I also want to log alot of hands purely for experience sake. What do you guys think? If you go up a certain number of BBs, do you quit while youre ahead, or figure the table must be juicy and soldier on, risking the chance of losing some/all of it? 
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#3
05-10-2005, 11:05 AM
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Re: Quitting While Ahead
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] What do you guys think? [/ QUOTE ] I think this sort of thing is the statistical equivalent of voodoo. It's all one long session. [/ QUOTE ] I think voodoo works, as in the same way a placebo works. If nsdjoe is going to feel uncomfortable about winnings slipping away, and that worsens his play (turtles into more passive play, or the lead loosens up his starting hands), then by all means nsdjoe should stop. I agree with you, though, in the sense that voodoo is all in your head. If nsdjoe can learn to think of it as one long session, he'll be better off. Being ahead or behind should not change your play. Nice avatar, jrz.
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#5
05-10-2005, 11:32 AM
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Re: Quitting While Ahead
I can sympathize with the OP because I used to be the same way. If I got more than 20 BB ahead or so, I would start looking for reasons to quit playing so I could walk away with my win. In fact, sometimes I would actually cringe at being dealt something like QQ or AK knowing I would "have" to get in the there and do some betting and jeopardize my "nice win for the day." The statistician in me knew that was absurd, but still it was something that I had to deal with early on.
At some point, though, you need to break yourself out of this. If I play on and "lose back" my 25 BB, so what? It's not like I was just playing the last few hands of my poker career. As long as I'm +EV, my bankroll is going to grow; downswings, when they come, are just part of the game. I'll admit that I sometimes still "quit while ahead" if I'm recovering from a serious downswing and could use a confidence-booster, but that's a self-admitted *weakness* in my game something I should really try to overcome.
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#7
05-10-2005, 10:51 AM
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Re: Quitting While Ahead
If only there was an artilce in the May issue that could somehow answer this question...
Oh yeah. Zoink: http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/c...blade0505.html
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#8
05-10-2005, 11:09 AM
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Re: Quitting While Ahead
[ QUOTE ]
If only there was an artilce in the May issue that could somehow answer this question... Oh yeah. Zoink: http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/c...blade0505.html [/ QUOTE ] Excellent link, thanks.
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#9
05-10-2005, 10:51 AM
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Re: Quitting While Ahead
stop losses are not useful from an EV standpoint, that is, the next 100 hands you play are the next 100 hands you play.
that said, there can be psychological benefits to ending a session up, notably 1) when you're in, or just starting to come out of, a downswing. 2) when you've just moved up a limit for example, I ended a 2/4 6max session at UB a little early because I erased my 25 BB loss (and then some) from the previous day, and felt good about being in the black. so I stopped, realizing it didn't impact my EV but helped my fragile psyche [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. then later, I was playing some 5/10 6max for the first time. wow what a soft game. but anyways, I was about to book a nice +7BB session when I dumped 3BB on an AKs missed flush draw hand. no prob, I still had +4BBs and one more hand to play. I was dealt KJo UTG, and I folded what was normally an easy raise, and quit the session to ensure a win in my first session.
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