When to leave the game...???

[duck_butter]

Hello,

I play High Stakes NL and have found myself get into some frustrating situations lately. I will sit down to a game and find myself up 2,000 - 5,000 within the course of a couple hours. Inevitably I will continue to play (feeling great), and then I will hit a couple big coolers or a really bad run of cards and end up walking away from the session down or even. Mind you, I AM NOT tilting at all. That is one very solid aspect of my game, that I never let swings and losses cause me to play foolishly.

Last night I started a session up quite a bit, but then after two hours the game turned FANTASTIC. It had several HUGE live ones who were donating tons of money to the table. Although my initial instinct before they sat down was to leave with my winnings, there was NO WAY I could bring myself to leave this game. So I stayed and played for the next 5 hours and got about the coldest run of cards I can ever remember having. The fish just kept re-buying. EVERY OTHER decent player at the table had stacks of thousands in winnings that was literally gift wrapped for them by a few big donators. I ended up losing my initial winnings for the night and then some by the time the game broke.

I vaguely remember reading something I think Sklansky once wrote about, if its a good game and you're a favorite, stay in it and don't leave, even if you have to prop your eyelids up with toothpicks.

So I need some advice, I have been rather frustrated (not just from last nights game, but from a consistent pattern lately of winning pretty big, but then staying and taking a big downswing).

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO LEAVE THE GAME? I just feel weird leaving a game "Just To Secure My Winnings" when I feel like I am often one of the better players at the table. So I stay and play, but this many times (especially lately) leads to regret by the end of the night. I would particularly like to hear some input from other HSNL players, although all input is of course welcome and appreciated.