I get this urge all the time. I can't stand it.

I play live only, so once I quit, I'm headed home for the evening to book my session into my stats log. If I'm ahead after a couple hours, I feel strongly compelled to call it a night just so I can come home and put a winning night into my log.

I did this tonight, after winning a rack in two hours.

I know this is totally irrational, and probably downright stupid, since it may mean that I'm quitting an easy table (although I usually try to avoid this if it's obviously an easy table).

I think being up, and then losing my winnings to go back to even, feels almost as bad as losing... like I knew I should have quit while I was ahead, and I didn't. That feels really stupid.

I know I should think of my game as one long session, and that it makes no sense to quit while I'm ahead without some rational reason to do so (like the table gets a lot harder all of a sudden.)

So why do I get this stupid, compelling urge? Does anyone else do this, and what to you do to combat it?

Ive had to battle against this urge for my entire 30 year poker career. I have no advice to offer you. Sorry mate.

The worst part about quiting early because you're ahead = that's when you opponents are much more likely to be on some level of tilt and irrationally chasing after pots. Add to that the fact that you're playing close to an A game because your confidence level is likely to be higher than normal.

The only reason I can think of is you are a long term loser and you know it and hate it. So a win is a reprieve from reality, if only for one night. So you take the reprieve and run with it. This enables you to enjoy poker while being a long term loser, since you get periods of winning that you extend by preventing the possibility of loss, again for one night. So you book your little win, and get to feel good until your next session. That's a pretty big payoff when you are more used to the more frequent bitterness of defeat.

So basically, this move is Pavlovian. Up a rack? Positive reinforcement. Let's leave and extend pleasant feeling. Down a rack? Keep playing until unstuck so session provides pleasure. Only usually that does not work out and you leave loser.

Session orientation is the biggest indicator that mentally, you are an amateur and do not believe any of the gambling concepts that you know to be true. You just want the safety and pain avoidance of a booked win. Very common leak.

I've been keeping records of my poker playing since the mid 90s, and I'm a long term winner, so that isn't it.

This occurs more when I'm playing on my own Bankroll because it equates to actual things in life I need. When I am being staked I just play til I don't feel like I have an edge anymore and try and win as much as possible. But this is a problem I have been dealing with for awhile and it sucks because I don't know when the change occurred.

never

I have had that feeling before too. Well I have to pay X or buy Y and I am up that much so I guess its time to leave. The only way I got over that was by building up a bigger bankroll and not having to worry about money.

I've noticed lately that if I win a huge amount of money from extremely loose players, I tend to feel like I can afford to speculate more to win even more, and I usually find myself losing half my profits. If I were to ever feel like I should quit while I'm ahead, THAT would be the reason. But then, I could just discipline myself to keep playing tight poker.

That's the spirit, I thusly say! Don't quit while you're ahead! NIT while you're ahead!

if there is nothing else you can proof to yourself, why no?

Really, "losing your profits back" in a session is equivalent to booking a win, coming back tomorrow and getting hammered for an amount equal to what you "lost" by to getting up...except you might be less +EV in the new game.

Another thing is to find your standard deviation as an hourly figure, and be prepared for the true nature of your swings. When I saw +/- $135 st dev for my own numbers (at live 1/2-1/2/4), it instantly erased the sort of mental trap you've described.

GL

Had a terrible attack of this tonight. Sat down at 6/12 LHE, immediately won 5 pots, and was $276 ahead in about 20 mins.

Decided I'd rather spend the evening at home with my wife watching baseball! Talk about a hit 'n' run. LOL.

I'll go back later after the baseball game is over though.