Quitting ahead

[JohnWilliam]

I usually play Texas Holdem online for 2 hours per day and I am getting the hang of figuring my outs and pot odds. My goal is to win 1 to 2 big bets per hour. If I play a set amount of time, I have a self-imposed limit on the number of hands based on time. I would rather limit the number of hands based on being a certain number of big bets ahead. I am pretty sure this won't work, but I cannot remember enough of my statistics to explain why. Can some whiz explain it for me? [ QUOTE ]
I know what the odds are; that's not what this is about. Bugs Henderson

[/ QUOTE ]

[Henke]

If you look at all your hands that you play in your lifetime as a single really long session, then it becomes quite clear that from a purely statistical view it doesn't matter if you quit whenever you are some number of bets ahead in a single session.

Actually, if you start quitting whenever you have won a specific nr of big bets, you are actually costing yourself money! The probability that you are in a GOOD game increases when you are ahead, and that's where you should spend most of your time!

[DeucesUp]

So you want to make say 4 big bets a session? Nothing wrong with that. Just keep in mind that if you win the 1st pot that you play you'll only play 1 hand in your session, and other times you'll have to play 100 or more hours straight before you get ahead 4 BB's and that's assuming you are a winning player. The fluctuations are really that big.