Leave or Stay? Cash Game Decisions

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

It’s one of the toughest decisions when you are sitting at a cash game whether online or live. You’re running good or running bad or running indifferent, at some point you will need to leave the table. There could be fiscal, mental, or court ordered reasons to stand up from a game but it will happen even with Super Man stamina and a blimp sized bladder. Sometimes these decisions are easy and sometimes it’s a struggle to talk a degenerate brain into giving up the seat.

Tuscaloosa John returns to his usual guest spot position and and takes a look at the money side of the decision. When do you decide to leave a cash table based on where your stack started and how it’s looking.

Deciding To Leave The Table
by Johnny Kampis

One of the hardest decisions you’ll make in any given session of poker isn’t just related to calling a big all-in or how much to bet with the nuts. For me, the hardest decision is often when to leave the table. As your average poker degenerate, I have the unfortunate knack of sitting too long at a table trying to get even while having a losing session. Sometimes I also like to leave too early when running well to book a nice profit when I should probably stay and play with the fishies.

There are a couple of devices I have begun to use to decide exactly when to quit at the point during a game when I am considering leaving. You may want to give these a shot yourself.

1) The Last Profitable Round – The goal here is simple. At the point you are considering leaving a table you wait until you are a net loser from one under the gun until the next time you are in the same position. For example, if I am sitting on a stack of $256 while under the gun and then post the big blind with the same-sized stack I will continue to play until it is my blind again. If the next time I am under the gun and my stack is $256 or greater I will play at least one more round. If my stack is now less than $256 – even one dollar less – I will stick to my plan and leave the game.

2) Half the Profits – There are few feelings worse in a poker game than to build up a big win and then lose it all back, sometimes even losing your initial buy-in back or worse. When I race out to a big win I use this device to ensure I retain some of my profits. If I am playing 1-2 NLHE and race out to a $400 win during the session I will make a mental note to leave if at any time my profit is reduced to $200 for the night. As long as I keep winning I will continue to play until I get tired and decide my mental acuity has dropped to the point I should go. As my profits go up so does the amount I am willing to lose back. If that $400 profit goes up to $900 then I would leave if my profit were reduced on the session to $450. This device prevents me from leaving when the game is good. Instead I will leave after I have suffered some losses and have the potential to go on tilt.

I am not a fan of win goals, but I do adhere to loss limits. Usually, I will stick to a loss of only two buy-ins (and often will leave after losing just one buy in for bankroll protection). Otherwise, I use one of the two devices listed here the majority of the time to determine when to stay or go

Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Tuscaloosa Johnny

Permalink | February 4th, 2010 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

9 Responses to “Leave or Stay? Cash Game Decisions”

Swail Says:
February 11th, 2010 at 5:49 am
I think if you want to be a pro you should be above all of this stuff. If you feel good, your image is good, you have the roll and the game is good, then you play. If you feel tired or you judge the game is getting bad, then you quit it. Honestly, if you’re a winner and you have the bankroll then I think it’s a waste of mental energy to dwell on short term swings and let them affect your decisions regarding when to quit. There are so many fluctuations in this game, might as well just get used to it and focus on the betting. But that’s just the way I think about things, and I mainly play limit holdem, so I don’t often deal with the stress of being stacked.
TuscaloosaJohnny Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I think you may have misunderstood the post. I do not advocate leaving a good game unless you are tired. These are merely devices to use when you are on the fence about leaving a game, and would likely leave in a matter of minutes or a few rounds around the table.
Swail Says:
February 17th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Ah right, you say you aren’t a fan of win goals. I’m with you on that. But do you think NLH is different limit poker?
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March 13th, 2010 at 2:33 am
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March 22nd, 2010 at 6:02 am
just win the money and go,or you can give me some suggestion
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March 31st, 2010 at 5:56 pm
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May 27th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
This is a nice article…I always stay too long.