When do you quit winner?

[binions]

Assume:

1. You are ahead in the game,
2. You feel fine physically
3. The table is still full (6 at 6max, 9 at full ring).

When do you quit a winning session? They say your poker career is one long session, and that quitting winner in any particular sitting is meaningless.

In NL hold'em, however, where 1 mistake or 1 suckout can wipe out your entire evening's profits, I am not sure this is always correct.

Shouldn't you consider quitting if:

1. Some fish bust out and pros take their place, such that your edge is gone.

2. More than X% of your entire poker bankroll is on the table (X dependent on your risk tolerance and your edge in the game).

3. You have so much money in front of you that you lose your aggression and start to play defensively to protect your win.

Any other thoughts on when to quit a winning session?

[Caballa]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Some fish bust out and pros take their place, such that your edge is gone.

2. More than X% of your entire poker bankroll is on the table (X dependent on your risk tolerance and your edge in the game).

3. You have so much money in front of you that you lose your aggression and start to play defensively to protect your win.

Any other thoughts on when to quit a winning session?

[/ QUOTE ]
1. Yes.

2. Only if someone has you covered, obviously.

3. This is a leak in itself rather than something to justify leaving a table.

[Marlow]

1 seems like a legit reason to leave.
2 and 3 almost seem like the same thing. This happens to me from time to time -- and I do leave when I start playing defensively. My rule of thumb is whether I'm still in the "zone." Usually I'm making a killing when I am there (all decisions are easy, it seems like villains are playing with cards up, etc), but when I feel myself coming out of the zone I know it's time to stop. Very often situations 2 and 3 can precipitate the change in mental state. I tend to lose a lot of money when I come down. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Just a last minute edit, though: I consider this "come down" to be a huge leak for me. I'm now working hard to plug it. But even so, I still respect how I'm feeling and don't push [censored] too far when I'm not in the right frame of mind.

[Janis N.]

Actually if you feel that you don't play deep well and there are good players also deep with position on you then leaving is a good option. Similar to #3 in a sense.