managing your sessions....

[dedmoney]

Do you guys stop playing if you hit a certain level?

For instance, last night in 525 hands I was up 100ptbb and then in the next 70 hands gave all that back and then some, and was at -60. By the time the night ended, I was at around 900 hands and up 60 ptbb total.

Is there a point where you just get up and do something else, happy with the win? Because of my other commitments, I basically block out pieces of time, so last night I was about half way through my poker time when I hit the 100 bb mark.

How do you manage your time/seesions etc? Will you play until you get unstuck or do you go in with a set time/# of hands or just go by the seat of your pants?

I'm in the beginning stages of learning NL, so I have been trying to log as many table hours and hands as possible.

Any thoughts?

[kolotoure]

I play when I'm +ev and stop when I'm not

[BukNaked36]

I typically play 2 hour sessions.

Negreanu wrote a nice article on it. A lot of issues with financial targets - pressing to hit the target, hit target but why stop when you're playing well, etc... and basically came up with a time limit as being the most reasonable.

[redCashion]

OP, the question is whether you gave the money back through bad play or not. If not and you think you were still playing well at the end of your session, then there was no reason to stop.

I found the playing over 2 hours was -EV for me, so now I usually stop after 90 minutes and will only go beyond 2 hours if I've found a really juicy table that I don't want to let go.

[dedmoney]

Well, that would lead me to another question, what do you do post session to review? Usually I look at the biggest pots I've won and lost to kind of look at them from a distance, then look at players I played against trying to get a nice buddy list of tragets together. Anyone else have post session things they do to help their game out?

[squidladder]

I've found that anything over an hour with out a break is -EV for me. But I suppose it all depends on your on concentration level.
You probably review your sessions and figure out when you start playing -EV.
It's different for all.

[Imrahil]

If you're doing bad and you are not disciplined enough to keep playing your best then it's best to quit. If you're doing very well it's best to keep playing as you're either playing great, or you're at a very good table (for you).

[redCashion]

I look at the biggest losses from a previous session, but I also look at any table where I lost say a half buy in or more. Alot of those tables won't be lost with a big hand, but with a bunch of small ones, usually something like cbets gone wrong or people looking like they caught their draw forcing a fold in a medium sized pot.

But I like to make sure that if a table is fighting back, I'm making adjustments and not playing too agressively.

[BombayBadboy]

I try to play longer sessions when I'm winning and the games are +EV, but I have a hard time keeping an even keel. When I'm ahead bigtime, say 4 buyins, I have problems staying aggro. When I'm stuck, its the other way around. And that should be the other way around. Get it? /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I dunno, I never say to myself I'm going to play for an certain amount of time right now. I just start playing and try to play my best. When I feel I'm slipping/ starting to tilt I sign off.

[Phytopath]

I think Stop losses are okay, your brain can get pretty fried and you can tilt easily after you are down a few buy ins. I usually try and stop playing if I am getting killed, because this usually leads to tilt.

I never use stop wins though, it seems like a bad idea...either you are playing well, your opponents suck or you are getting lucky. If you are getting lucky your opponents tend to be more cautious against you or do the opposite and start playing back at you --> all the better for you.

I think setting a hand/time limit is good, also taking breaks is good.

[reutel]

I really start noticing when I am not focused anymore. I'll just stop when my brain gets fuzzy, usally around an hour. After a half hour break I am ready to go again

[kabouter]

I play 2 hours a day most of the time, sometimes 2 hours in the morning and evening if I have enough time. I hate it if don't end in the plus though, so sometimes when I played 1 and a half hour, and I'm only $2 up or so I still call it a day, because I don't want to end the day losing money.

[LMAO]

[ QUOTE ]
I play 2 hours a day most of the time, sometimes 2 hours in the morning and evening if I have enough time. I hate it if don't end in the plus though, so sometimes when I played 1 and a half hour, and I'm only $2 up or so I still call it a day, because I don't want to end the day losing money.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is booking a win, not really a good thing, it shows the wrong mindset for poker. poker is not about the short term so one day should not matter, you're whole poker career is one long session.

[checkmate36]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I play 2 hours a day most of the time, sometimes 2 hours in the morning and evening if I have enough time. I hate it if don't end in the plus though, so sometimes when I played 1 and a half hour, and I'm only $2 up or so I still call it a day, because I don't want to end the day losing money.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is booking a win, not really a good thing, it shows the wrong mindset for poker. poker is not about the short term so one day should not matter, you're whole poker career is one long session.

[/ QUOTE ]

In some aspects booking a win can be something thats ok to do every now and then.

An example is a basketball player at practice. Lets say shaq who sucks at shooting free throws. When he is done for the day practicing his freethrows, he should stop after he makes one. That will allow him to leave the practice session on a positve note. He will have a postive memory until he comes to practice the next time. Much better than thinking he missed that last shot for a day or two until he begins his next practice session.

After a long stretch of losing poker sessions due to a poor run of cards but not poor play, booking a win may help create a positive outlook on your game as a whole, esp while your in your dry spell that we all fall victem too.

[kolotoure]

This is a good thing during a long downswing but a lot of live players do this consistently and are costing themselves a lot of EV

[HitNRunPoster]

quitting early when you're up might be a nice thing

makes you feel good and stuff, keeps you motivated to continue.

whatever, it's all one session, but do what's best for you.

[_dave_]

I prefer to review big loss hands before starting a session.

After I finish a session invoving some big losses, if I review my hands there and then I will learn/remember very little (other than b**stard suckout omg!!!)

If I return to the previous sessions bad hands after a good night's sleep in a fresh state of mind, I may well notice an error on my part. And while the thought of losses is annoying, if bad hands are reviewed before a session I tend to learn from the mistake much more - Notice the error and make a concious effort to avoid doing the same again in todays session sorta thing.

Also, revieing a bad session immediately after it happens tends to exxagerate tilt, causing me to sleep in a worse mood than I would otherwise - this is never a good thing. Going to sleep without reviewing at least lets me maintain the illusion "oh well I played fine but got sucked out on", which is far less stressfull (to me) than "oh I played like a tard" - If i discover this sort of play in the morning, at least I have a day to try and correct the matter /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I do like to review my big winners before I sleep if I'm on a heater though, lol. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

YMMV,

dave.

[carnivalhobo]

[ QUOTE ]
I play when I'm +ev and stop when I'm not

[/ QUOTE ]

sure in a perfect world, but im pretty sure i could play +EV (perhaps very slightly at times) all day long and sleep 5-6 hours and be ok. Theres more to life. I hate being forced into playing a short session, so if i have somewhere to be in an hour, i dont play. If i get stuck i usually play longer sessions and if i win big and start to play bad (protecting winnings, or being unwilling to make high variance plays) then i quit and go have fun. I gave myself a rigid hand goal this month, and so far that has helped me put in extra time when needed to stay on pace.

[ImprovinNewbie]

i play until something lets me know i cant play my best anymore. sometimes its because of a win, frequently if im losing, or time. i used to play marathon 24 hour sessions (online thats a long ass time) but now i play 5 or 6 1-2 hour sessions during the day. this has helped me book many more wins.