When do you quit for the night?

[Restox2]

I started playing some 1/2 limit couple nights ago and kinda liked it after not playing it for so long and tired of the SNG's. I started out tonight with 40 bucks on two tables and in 1 and half hours I was up 145 dollars on the two for a total of 65.00. Now I know thats not alot of money but thats a a ROI of amlmost 80%, if my IRA gained 20 % in a year id be happy and I have a job so this is just part time fun but I dont mind making a little change doing something I like.
I thought about just quitting and calling it a night but I said im gonna play till 11:45 to make it an even two hours, man I wish I had quit. In a 5 minute span I lost 2 nut straights to full houses on the river, lost an A high flush to a full house on the river then got KK and the other guy had AA. One hour and a half and im up 65 and in 5 minutes ive lost 70 on those hands. I later went on to play another hour and lose 35 more. So my question at what percent ROI do you guys quit or do you play till your tired or say im gonna quit in 3 hours no matter what or what do you do?

[One Outer]

I think I can speak for entire forum when I say that ROI isn't applicable to cash games.

I imagine some people quit at certain set times or stop losses, but that's dumb. Legit reasons to quit:

-the game isn't good anymore
-you aren't playing optimally
-you're tired, hungry, etc.

In a cash game it's all one long session.

[Harv72b]

[ QUOTE ]
-you aren't playing optimally

[/ QUOTE ]

If you aren't playing your best but still have an edge, that's not a reason to quit.

Basically:

-The game does not hold a positive edge for you. Either because your opponents aren't bad enough, you're too tired to focus, you're tilting, whatever.
-Real world obligations force you to quit. I.e., food, work, wife, masked gunmen, etc.
-You run out of money.

Which is not to say that one cannot or should not set a stop loss point (or a stop win point); if you're playing recreationally, and especially if you know that you tend to lose focus after losing or winning X number of bets, stop the session when you hit that point. There's also nothing wrong with setting a specific time to get up, so long as you stick to it (unless the game is just soooo juicy that you can't leave).

And yeah, us cash game guys think in terms of big bets per hour, not ROI. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Bob T.]

I plan on playing a certain amount of hands over the course of a month. So, unless the game is unusually good, or bad, I play until I have completed the hands for todays budget.

[One Outer]

[ QUOTE ]
If you aren't playing your best but still have an edge, that's not a reason to quit.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's essentially what I meant. You know, for the record. I suck at de articulations.

[SNOWBALL]

[ QUOTE ]
I started playing some 1/2 limit couple nights ago and kinda liked it after not playing it for so long and tired of the SNG's. I started out tonight with 40 bucks on two tables and in 1 and half hours I was up 145 dollars on the two for a total of 65.00. Now I know thats not alot of money but thats a a ROI of amlmost 80%, if my IRA gained 20 % in a year id be happy and I have a job so this is just part time fun but I dont mind making a little change doing something I like.
I thought about just quitting and calling it a night but I said im gonna play till 11:45 to make it an even two hours, man I wish I had quit. In a 5 minute span I lost 2 nut straights to full houses on the river, lost an A high flush to a full house on the river then got KK and the other guy had AA. One hour and a half and im up 65 and in 5 minutes ive lost 70 on those hands. I later went on to play another hour and lose 35 more. So my question at what percent ROI do you guys quit or do you play till your tired or say im gonna quit in 3 hours no matter what or what do you do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I tend to play until I am tired or until I have something else I need to do. I will push myself to play as long as possible if the game I am sitting in is unusually good. That's when the real money is made.

[RossSi]

I play online and live. Usually around 2/4 or 3/6 online and 4/8 or 5/10 live. I find that I can play for 3-4 four hours live but that online I tend to lose focus/interest after 1-2 hours. Must be the extra hands I guess.

One Out is right. Cash limit is one big session, but I find i like to leave when I've been winning and I find my focus wavering. It's really a personal call, but bear in mind that in the end everyone gets the same distribution of cards so it's your skills the make the difference and play as much as possible when you have a skill advantage. That's gravy.

[Qwijibo]

For what it's worth, if I'm up 80 percent, a masked gunman isn't getting me to leave.

[fishyak]

1) If the table is sweet, man up and keep playing, ahead OR behind. (I do set a hard limit on my losses at any one session. I hit that and I am INSTANTLY out the door. NO exceptions.)
2) Since sweet tables don't last forever, (fish do get filleted and leave) the next issue is physical condition. Am I making good decisions? Warning signs of time to go: Saying to yourself, "Oh, what the hell." and calling. When you get too tired to do the mental analysis, unless the table is just rocking, gotta go, or at least take a significant break.
3) ROI is an SNG issue. I posted a basic question about ROI earlier this week in the STT Strat. forum, and did I collect abuse. This group has been MUCH nicer to you. BB/hr. is the way we measure success.

The above are "all things being equal" considerations. Put these rules in the context of your life. Did you work BEFORE poker and are you tired? Do you have to go to work early tomorrow and an f/up there would be REALLY expensive, etc. So set expectations before you sit down to play that fit your life, but if the table is HOT, man up and PLAY.

[ichthyologist]

[ QUOTE ]
BB/hr. is the way we measure success.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would qualify this by saying BB/hr. is the measure for live play, BB/100 hands is the measure for online play. (Nitpicky, perhaps, but true. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] )