Short session drawbacks

[LeftBack]

I usually play short sessions, quite often less than 100 hands (single table).

What advantages / disadvantages do you see with this style?

For example:

-Higher proportion of time spent learning the table:
I use PT to get VP$IP for the table, so it takes two orbits.

-Leaving regardless of win / loss.
Protects against a tendency to hang in when osing trying to "figure it out".

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Q: If the collective table memory is short, so that table image doesn't matter much, does session length matter?

Q: Does short session play increase or decrease variance?

[illunious]

My average session at a table is 45 minutes (about 45 hands). If I like the table I'll be there for hours, if the table sucks, I'll leave after my first orbit.

Longest session: 6.35 hours

[afk]

Same here. I only play for an hour at a time and leave after that whether I'm up or down. If I'm only playing one table I'll only get 60 hands in or so.

The upside is getting really good reads on players, especially when you've moved to a new limit like I have. I don't really think there are too many bad things about this though.

I don't know what limit you play - but at lower limits I'm not as worried about table memory, most players are too focused on their own hands to pay attention to the playing styles of their opponents. But if you find that your raises are routinely getting no callers I think it's time to pack up and move, regardless of your session length. Either that or you can make some loose raises for "advertising" purposes.

I'm not sure about your variance question though. I think it's more the number of hands you play in a given amount of time that will increase or decrease variance. For example, playing two tables for an hour instead of one you'll get more hands and in the long run the swings should pass faster.

About leaving regardless of win/loss - this is what I do. Though I have broken it on rare occasion. The other night I got good and stuck early on for about 15BB. The game was good and I figured I'd pull it back up later. Never happened. Just hovered at a 15BB loss for 3 hours, not gaining or losing. I try to avoid things like that because I feel I'm being too session oriented.