Is stop lossing a sensible way of capping losing sessions?

What % is considered a benchmark for ending a losing session?

Is this a chicken sh*t approach or a sensible one?

It's sensible, if you know you play worse on a downswing. If losing x buy ins doesn't affect you mentally, then there's no reason for stop loss.

And because of this there is no universal guideline. You're just going to have to judge for yourself when your losses start to affect your win rates.

I wouldn't recommend it, as you should stop when you are making poor decisions, and not be so results orientated.

Although if you know you ALWAYS start tilting when you lose x amount of buy-ins then it is a sensible thing to do.

You should continue to play if you feel you're making correct decisions and the game is good. If you're running bad and it affects your decision making and/or the game turns for the worst (aka the fish leave) then so should you.

i agree with all of the above comments that stop loss is pointless for someone who doesnt tilt. But i would probably recommend the stop loss to pretty much anyone because 99.9% of players play worse when they are losing and some even have serious tilt problems. IMO, the only people who shouldnt use a stop loss are pros such as nanonoko, who mass multitable and have a mechanical game which doesnt seem to have much variance (i could be wrong on this btw).

Phil Ivey has a (online) stop loss of about 1-2 buyins, he seems to know some stuff.

assuming you're a winning player, stop loss = stop win.
so you should only stop if you know you get affected by the loss and play worse

Is this true, can anyone confirm? That's pretty interesting. I heard he plays short sessions but I didn't know he has such a stop loss. Thanks.

Yes this is true that he has a stoploss, but im not sure if it is two buyins. I cant remeber who (Ashton griffin maybe??), but on this weeks 2+2podcast, a young online pro, talks about how ivey waits till someone is losing and is tilted and then he will jump in and play them.

The day someone can lose 5 buy-ins in a session and still be playing 100% is the day I crap a golden egg. You might be able to still play profitably but certainly not 100%.

Thinking that you are not at least affected a tiny bit by your results in an ego problem.

I totally agree, its a joke when people say they dont tilt, just ****ing admit you do cuz everyone does.

i saw brian townsend lose quite a few buy ins (can't say how many for sure think it was 7 or 8) to isuldur1 then come back to beat him. that happeneed only a few weeks ago when isil made his return.

i tilt myself after losing a few buy ins but don't think you can say everyone does

I don't know Brian Townsend, but the above doe not prove he doesn't tilt when he loses several buyins.

Yea this.

To find your stop/loss all you need to do is fill in the blank.

I would have trouble sleeping tonight if I lost______.

Uh oh my stop loss is less than 1 buyin!

This is a very important question you’re asking,

Most people get confused about this one. Even if you are a great player, you must have enough of a bankroll to sustain the inevitable losing streaks. Quitting simply because of how you are doing that day, or continuing to play simply because of how you are doing that day. In other words, you are in a game and you have lost x number $$ so you quit, only to come back tomorrow. Well, that is a silly concept because it is all one game.

If you are a serious poker player, you are playing by the week, by the month, not by the day. And if you for instance are in a very good poker game, you don’t quit simply because of how you are doing. You quit because the game has gotten worse, you quit because you are tired. You quit because you don’t want to win too much and have them not invite you back to the game. These are all proper reasons but not because I am going badly or I’m getting bad cards that day, because I’ve lost a certain amount, or because I’ve won a certain amount. This is simply incorrect. This is not my opinion, this is simply incorrect.

If you will play in a game where you have the advantage, the more you play, the more you will eventually win. If you play in a game where you have the disadvantage, the more you play the more you will eventually lose. There’s no way of getting around that. The only thing that matters when you are gambling is to play when the odds are in your favor, when you are the best player, when you figure to win. And when you are in that situation play as long as you can. When you are not in that situation quit at the first opportunity. That’s really all there is to say.

The fact is, that if you get into a game, let’s say a 2/5 NL with $1,000 buy-in game, and after the first hour you find yourself down $700, you know that it is very unlikely you can get that $700 back that day, especially if you play properly, which means to throw most of your hands away. So, of course, many people start playing bad hands in order to try to get that $700 back. This is silly and wrong. The correct thing to do is just to play as well as you can, hope to get $300 of the $700 back, and once in a while you will get the whole $700 back.

Well, how does one do that? And the answer that I’ve found is you have to sort of trick yourself. You have to just say “It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose, it only matters that I play well. And the way you can get yourself to do that is by having pride in yourself. I’m not here to win, I’m here to play well. Be proud of the way you’re playing. You have to realize that a day you lose can make you money at the end of the month just the same as a day you win because if you lose $500 and a bad player would have lost $900 then that means there’s $400 more profit at the end of the month. That’s one trick. And the other trick is to simply realize that you figure to win a certain amount per hour in the long run. You’re coming to work, you’re not gambling, and you are constantly just playing your best in the hopes that, or in the certainty, actually, that you will eventually win what you are expected to win. And you don’t think about any individual result, you don’t think about any individual day, and, in fact, you don’t even have to count your money, while you’re playing or even after you’re playing. If you’re a serious poker player, it doesn’t matter what the score is at the end of the day, because the score continues onto the next day.

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Fantastic post always_tilting, really fantastic. I have been trying to constantly tell myself to play well and not worry about the result. Obviously, easier said than done. But it is really more fun this way, to try to play well and not worry about making money. I'm sure this is the best way to get better. My college tennis coach used to always tell me to focus on the process, not the results. The results will always follow. The same thing applies in poker 100%. Thanks for reminding us.

It's a good approach because anyone can tilt but more importantly and what most posters are missing, is when you are down your opponents are UP. They will be playing better on average and be more likely to push small edges with their winnings. Combine this with your losing image and your opponents will on average be putting you in tougher spots and being down you are more likely to overplay close spots/look for value that might not be there.

At the end of the year I want to spend the majority of my hours playing when up and with opponents who are down. This is best achieved with a stop loss and playing long when up

Agree with check check lay.

Case in point:

You're playing 2/5. All of a sudden this deep pocket whale shows up and starts opening to $100 every hand they play.

At the very least the game stakes are effectively raised, potentially putting your bankroll at risk if you don't have a stop loss.

Equally important, sometimes that fish is actually a shark in disguise who runs this routine repeatedly and wins all the money. If you haven't encountered this sort of higher stakes shark before, you likely will at some point if you're ever on a table with significant money. Regardless, on average when you're down several buy ins your opponents will be better than when you're up.

That's before even taking tilt into account.

Anyway, I won't go as far as to say everyone needs a stop loss, but I personally have one. It's big enough I have only hit it once in the last several months, but it's there. You just don't want the stop loss to be so low that it starts cutting into your volume.