Session Strategy (Managing your money)

[magic7s]

What is everyone's strategy at the table. It seems like 4 BB/100 is a good average. But of course there are highs and lows that go along with that. For example I played the other night for 222 hands (228 minutes). At some point I was up about 20 BB's. But I lost a few hands and that went down. I finished the night with 8.87 BB profit. Witch came to 4BB/100.

My question is at what point do you leave the table? After you win or loose X BB? What is a normal number.

[cartoonsoldier]

I normally leave when I feel I am running bad and need to take a break for a while, or have to leave and go somewhere like lunch/dinner, work, classes.

Apart from that nothing dictates when I will leave a table.

[bisonbison]

Forget money management voodoo.

Over the long run, if you are a winning player, the more hands you play, the more you will win. If you are a losing player, the more hands you play, the more you will lose.

The only game related reason to quit is if your play or the table quality has deteriorated over time.

[sublime]

My question is at what point do you leave the table?

When you feel like it. How much you have won or lost has nothing to do with it (unless it is affecting your play)

I am of course assuming that you have +EV at the table.

Welcome to the forums

[Rjeeves]

I find myself stepping back either when i'm exhausted or after a bad beat. Want to avoid both mistakes and tilting.

I don't really think about the number of bets i want to make in one night. Over short period, the game is simply too volatile...

[DMBFan23]

Annie Duke wrote somewhere that if she's down 30 Big Bets, she leaves, because to her that means she isnt playing her best poker.

[Webster]

4BB is a GREAT average!!

[Sidekick]

I usually have a set time for when I will get up and leave the tables. When I move to a table I know I plan to sit there for say 2 hours. I play my 2 hours and then get up and leave, whether I'm ahead or behind.

I then record my winnings (or loss) in my spreadsheet and go about my business.

Pretty much every book on poker, all the posts from folks that seem to be knowledgeable and my own personal experience seems to agree that how the cards run over the short term (less than say 5k hands) is simply far too volatile.

Sometimes you sit down and after 1 hour you are down 30 BB because you have lost on a nut flush, a straight, a full house and 3 times on trips. And every time you lose it was to some yutz that was drawing nearly dead until his miracle river card came.

Do I get steamed when those runs hit? Sure do, but what I don't do is let it affect my play. I just remind myself that is was only 60 hands and that in the next 60 hands I could be up just as much as I am down now and that I WILL be up that much at some point as long as I keep my head and continue to play correctly.

I try not to think of each session as how much I'm up or down. I prefer to look at each session and ask myself, "Did I play good, smart poker? Or did I make several blunders that cost me money?" If the answer to the first question is yes and the answer to the second question is no, then it doesn't matter a great deal to me whether I wound up ahead or behind. If I can answer those two questions with those answers after every session I am going to be way ahead in the long run.

For what it is worth, that is how I view things. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[kgrad5]

you should stay in the game as long as you feel like you are a favorite. the second you feel like you are an underdog be it your tired, making bad decisions, not thinking, etc. stand up. Money is not a factor.

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
My question is at what point do you leave the table?

[/ QUOTE ]

When the game becomes unprofitable - which is rare in low limits.