Trying to protect my wins

[bilyin]

I often quit a game because I am ahead and I fear that I will give all my winnings back plus more. In an attempt to cure this tendency, I often stay even when ahead......sure enough......I give back all my winnings more often than not and reinforced my fear. Should I just yield to my tendency to quit a winner?

[chesspain]

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Should I just yield to my tendency to quit a winner?

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I thought that "winners never quit." Or is that "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Damn, I get confused.

[Kenshin]

[quote
I thought that "winners never quit." Or is that "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Damn, I get confused.

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I believe the expression is "A rolling stone never wins"

[gymrat]

#1:How long are the winning sessions we are talking about here?Maybe 45 min...an hour after you sit down?If that is the case,I personally would advise you taking maybe a 10 min break,walk around and have a talk with yourself.Cover starting hand selection,etc,etc.Then go back and play,but play right. #2:If the winning sessions we are talking about are maybe 6-8 hours?Then you might be running into a problem where fatigue,not bad luck,is costing you your wins.Then it is entirely proper to cash out,coming back well rested and refreshed. Something to think about,as you have a MERRY CRRISTMAS!!!

[Al Schoonmaker]

From a profit-maximization perspective the stay or go decision should be completely independent of whether you are winning or losing. It should be based entirely on your EV. If the game is good, and you're playing well, stay. If the game is tough, or you're playing poorly, go.
Ignore COMPLETELY whether you are ahead or behind, except as an indicator or your future EV. The fact that you have been winning suggests (but certainly does not prove) that you have a positive EV. You should therefore be MORE likely to stay when ahead than when behind.
Read Mason Malmuth's "The silly subject of money management." The title might be slightly different because I'm away from my library now. It's in one of his essays books.
Happy Holidays to you and everyone else.
Al

[CrisBrown]

No, it's "A stoned roller never quits moss."

I'm almost sure....

[CrisBrown]

Hi Al,

<<Ignore COMPLETELY whether you are ahead or behind, except as an indicator or your future EV. The fact that you have been winning suggests (but certainly does not prove) that you have a positive EV. You should therefore be MORE likely to stay when ahead than when behind.>>

I'm glad you added the qualifiers, because I've read this advice "naked" far too often not to comment.

I think whether you're winning or losing is ONE of the factors that should influence your evaluation of the table and whether to keep playing. Obviously, if you're down at the moment because you just took a hideous beat when your AA got cracked by 94o, then it doesn't mean a whole lot. Similarly, if you're up at the moment because you just cracked AA with 94o, it doesn't mean a whole lot.

But if you've been playing for 100+ hands (1-2 hours online, 2-4 hours B&M) and you're significantly ahead or behind, and not owing to any bizarre outcomes (good or bad), that's probably a pretty good indicator of whether this is a good game for you.

Cris

[bernie]

i've gone through that. and it really sucks blowing back wins.

1 way to train yourself is to set a time limit for your session. then no matter whether you're up or down, you leave at that time. this can help take your mind off the end result. tailor it as you get more comfortable.

when i looked at my records, i noticed most of my winning sessions were within x hours. when i played longer, my profit would drop off. so i set my time to the x hours. then expanded it from there. just a thought.

b

[Al Schoonmaker]

Bernie,
You're to be congratulated for several things.
First, you keep good records. Most people don't, and it costs them.
Second, you drew an intelligent inference from them. Most people don't, and it costs them.
Third, you acted on that inference. You know what I was going to say next, so I won't say it.
I know I can't play well after about six hours, and I rarely do it.
Dan Negreanu wrote an article about quitting at the same time each day. Sorry, but I can't remember the title. It is almost certainly on cardplayer.com. Click on magazine in the top left corner, then on writers. It was more than a year ago.
Check out whatever articles seem reasonable. If you read the wrong article, so what? All of Dan's articles are worth reading.
Regards,
Al

[gymrat]

Nah,you got it wrong too.Its stoned moss rolls real well.Try that five times real quick with a buzz.(disclaimer:I of course have no personal experiences with buzzes,or anything else that i'm going to admit to)Is buzzes a word??