Game Selection/Quitting

[theBruiser500]

This is a psychology point on game selection and when to quit and my biggest leak. When playing shorthnaded the mixture of the game can change fast, bust up some clown like iLuv2Lose for a few buy ins and other people start to notice, maybe mahatma will sit down, the game becomes marginal, then svanteKung comes in and dillutes the number of hands with the bad player ever further and the game isn't worth it.

at this point, rather than quitting i'll think "okay i'm up a lot, just play a few more hands, just to see how the game will go maybe it will go good, plus it would be nice to quit on a winning hand." then a few things could happen. A) i could win a hand, in which case i'll then stay in the game hoping that the other player went on tilt and to continue the rush. B) no big hand happened, in which case i stay in the game and wait for the winning hand to end the session on. C) i lose a hand, (maybe i made a bad play and decide my table imagine is now too good to leave the game with, before capatlizing on), i'll think i lost a hand, now i'm due to win one if i just sit quiet and wait for it. i'll steal that hand get back to what i was before and then leave the game fast.

sometimes i will win that hand and then we're just back at point A. otherwise, it generally takes me losing 1/2 a buy in or more before i get mad at myself for waiting so long to quit a marginal game and for losing the money.

[gomberg]

Wow - you just described my biggest leak as well to a point. I do the same thing, especially if I'm losing already. But if I'm winning I'll do the same.

Still looking for a cure - I think it's just about discipline.

[THATWACOKID]

i think in deciding whether or not to keep playing when a good player comes in you need to factor in how much better you are than the bad player and how much better the good players are than you. to me that's all the decision comes down to. poker is a game of the long run a b and c can happen at any time so i don't see why that should change your decision on whether to leave or keep playing.

[BirdieLongSocks]

Ego would be anouther.

[bkholdem]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a psychology point on game selection and when to quit and my biggest leak. When playing shorthnaded the mixture of the game can change fast, bust up some clown like iLuv2Lose for a few buy ins and other people start to notice, maybe mahatma will sit down, the game becomes marginal, then svanteKung comes in and dillutes the number of hands with the bad player ever further and the game isn't worth it.

at this point, rather than quitting i'll think "okay i'm up a lot, just play a few more hands, just to see how the game will go maybe it will go good, plus it would be nice to quit on a winning hand." then a few things could happen. A) i could win a hand, in which case i'll then stay in the game hoping that the other player went on tilt and to continue the rush. B) no big hand happened, in which case i stay in the game and wait for the winning hand to end the session on. C) i lose a hand, (maybe i made a bad play and decide my table imagine is now too good to leave the game with, before capatlizing on), i'll think i lost a hand, now i'm due to win one if i just sit quiet and wait for it. i'll steal that hand get back to what i was before and then leave the game fast.

sometimes i will win that hand and then we're just back at point A. otherwise, it generally takes me losing 1/2 a buy in or more before i get mad at myself for waiting so long to quit a marginal game and for losing the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to make some comments in respone to various points in your post:

Maybe you should spend some time away from the tables contemplating whether or not you want to, or need to, play in marginal games. Like do an analysis of the pro's and con's.

I suppose you could also do an pro's and con's list of playing in games "that aren't even worth it" but you could also recognize that you have in already done so and have come to the conclusion that that 'it isn't worth it'. So it come's down to recognizing a game for such and being decisive in stepping out of the game. Don't justify your bad decisions, that just compounds your mistakes. When you look at it that is what your post is, basically justifying with several points, why you sould stay in a game "that isn't worth it."

You could make a list of conditions that make a good game and a bad game if need be, but it seems like you can do that automatically, you just have trouble acting on that awareness of the game turning 'not worth it'.

Once you have the thought that the games 'not worth it' and you start justifying why you sould continue to play, that it in effect a tilt process taking place in your noggin.

Instead of continuing to play until you piss away 1/2 a buy in you could instead walk in the bathroom and flush a grand right down the toilet. Then you could stand there and think to yourself "I'm a friggin idiot for flusing a grand down the toilet" but at least I didn't piss away more than that at the the game I was just sitting in so it was a +EV play. Then think "next time I will flush only $500" OR just recognize the tilt and stop playing in the moment and keep all the money you worked for.

[creedofhubris]

I think it really depends on how you place yourself relative to the sharks and the fish. If you're much better than the fish and you break even with the sharks, it's still worth playing, though perhaps "marginal".

I tend to stick around a game until the fish goes broke, but I'm mostly playing 5/10, so there aren't really any players out there I fear.

Today I had a shorthanded instance where a very good and aggro player sat down to my left, there was another strong aggro player there, fourth player was decent, but the one fishy fishy made it all worth while, I told myself. I feel that even if I just hold my own with the other x good players, I am getting 1/x of the fishy's stack...

[r3vbr]

Playing in a tough game improves your skills.
Gotta factor that in as well.

[IHateCats]

This is one of the non-technical things that I frequently notice when I review big hands from losing streaks, I'll pull up the HH and frequently the first thing I wind up thinking is what the hell am I still doing at that table when it's loaded with tough regulars, I never would have sat down at the table as it is then populated in the first place. Lately to try and avoid this, I've set my pc to give off an mp3 audible alarm every 30 minutes to remind myself to review the tables I'm on and to get the hell off tables that the expectation has gone to crap on. It's largely a discipline issue, though just saying that isn't a cure all.

[slickpoppa]

I think one of the best ways to avoid this leak is to something other than poker going on in your life that you can get really excited about. If you have something to look forward to, stepping away from the computer to do that instead will be easy.