being sucked out on by players at the lower stakes... 1/3-2/5-5/10 is a normal daily occurrence.
on a personal level, it takes MUCH MORE than 3 buyins to make me tilt.

As it well should for anyone who is properly rolled for their stakes.

Thing is OP, it doesn't matter how much any of us responding to you lose before quitting. Your situation is completely dependent upon one thing...you. It depends on your roll and the impact it has on your life, your ability to continue making good decisions while playing stuck, etc.

Used to be 5 buyins when I first turned 21, i dropped 5 dimes playing 2-5 more than a handful of times. Then realized that when you lose you play bad, and when you play bad sometimes you aren't a winner in the game anymore, now it's 2 mostly, or 3 buyins if the game is really good. For limit I wouldn't think it'd matter, cuz you aren't face with massive bets, but I'm a limit game tuna so who knows, I'd suggest only playing when you're confortable!

I'm drunk!!!

For me it's 3 buyins of 100bb, that's the most I can lose before I start tilting. I play No Limit Holdem though, not sure how much would that be in limit game. Online I usually quit after losing 40 big bets, but i never played limit live.

Awww... we love you, too.

Kenny: It can be really difficult to continue playing your A-game in the face of continual cold-decking / river beats / perceived terrible play in the mix-game. The variance in that game is truly astounding.

In general, it is important to ask yourself some questions when you are getting beat up badly.:

1) Are there multiple weaker players than me at the table?
2) Are any of the stronger players tilting or playing worse than normal?
3) Am I still playing my A-game?

Re 3), I have found helpful to have a quick self-check mechanism to determine my current mindset. For me it is pretty simple. When I am becoming frustrated and less focused than my A-game, I tend to place my chips in the pot faster and sloppier. When I am playing my a-game, I place my chips methodically in neat stacks with the same rhythm and tempo.

I challenge myself to not splash my chips for a whole session. It sounds silly, but if I can't control the simple act of betting chips, how can I expect to always make the best possible decision in a hand?

As long as you can HONESTLY answer those three questions 'yes' 'yes' and 'yes', I don't think it makes sense to have a stop-loss. I have made some epic comebacks recently in good games when I've managed to stay focused over many hours.

As long as the game is good and your playing well, not on tilt etc.

too much

I agree that losing a few buy ins SHOULDN'T make us play worse, but for most people it does. I think the OP was asking to try to get a concensus on what amount most people set as their stop-loss, and it seems to be around 3 buy-ins.

If you personally can lose 5 or 10 buy-ins and still be playing your A game, kudos. I hope OP can do this and that one day I learn how, until then, two or three times getting chips and it's gnight for me.

The game is not good (for you) if your opponents keep seeing you lose. Whether due to coolers or poor play, that psychological anchoring will assist their play.

Good info: Thanks for the response. In this case I would say 1)yes 2)probably not 3) 80-90% a game. I really didn't want to leave this game as there were two big fishies that liked to cap everything PF. Not unusual to see j5ss open 4! And atc cap. You don't see this in the 30/60 very often, at least not in my experience so all it would have taken is 2 good pots to put me back to near even as most of them approached $1500-$2000. One of the fishies went on a 6k half hour heater before dumping 3 back and leaving.

Strange thing is I didnt feel frustrated at all throughout the night, I lost the most I have ever lost playing poker in one night but still left with a clear head. I know when I'm tilted (doesent always mean i stop playing lol) but this wasn't one of those nights. I just wanted to know if others thought it was a good idea to have a stop loss or if it's worth playing in a good game even if your down xxx amount.

I feel your pain...

Really crazy games are gonna be good. obv. But they will also have much higher variance. I've experienced the same playing in private NL games. All the fish were just rich and super aggro-donks. They'd open to like 8-12x in 5/10, squeeze a 6x open and one caller to like 50bb with A8o... Make non-sensical bluffs, etc. These games are amazing but variance is much bigger than normal.

So not true. What could be better than a table full of players thinking you're a donating fish when in fact you've been getting coolered all night and are playing your A-game?

i dropped almost 3k the other night playing a mixture of 2-5/ 10-10..the most ive ever lost in one night, felt gross..

2 or 3 buyins but I play 1/2 NL and usually only 3-5 times a month.

If I lose 2 buyins I take a minute and evaluate how I am playing before coming in for a third. Did I just get coolered in 2 big hands set vs set or something like that? Did I make some really bad decisions? Am I playing bad? Am I the worst player at the table? Am I tilting?

I have only gone to the 3rd buyin 3 times, first time I lost it (playing bad, and this was before I took a break and evaluated myself), other 2 times I ended up breaking even on the 3rd buyin once and winning back one of the previous 2 I had lost the other time.

If this was my job or part of my source of primary income I assume I would have a greatly different outlook