I have trouble knowing when to leave a live cash game. Often times, I win early and stay relatively deep stacked for awhile until I lose a big pot and then I leave...However, there are other times when I am down in a session and I will play until I am breakeven.

I just want a methodical method of playing in a live cash game without being "hit and runish" but also not chasing my losses.

Thanks in advance.

Another thing to add, is work on the side too, so I can't be playing 8 hour plus sessions except for the occasional day off I'm free.

When you have somewhere to be
When you start playing badly.
When you can't focus on the game.
When you don't want to play anymore.
When your'e playing deep and you've chipped up so high you are no longer comfortable. book the win and go have a steak.

What's the minimum amount of time you can sit at a table without people accusing you of being hit and runnish?

I play full time so I generally play long sessions. But honestly who gives a shyt? If you want to leave just leave. Play 1 hand stack some one...if you want to go - go. I play in vegas...there are a ton of short stacking ratholers here...do what is best for you

/thread

"Bout tree fiddy? jk OP

The truth is, you don't owe it to anyone else to stay for any designated amount of time. If you sit down and are bored sh**less in 15 min, or your gf calls and wants you to go "all in" with her, then go. The game won't stop on account of you leaving quickly. That said, I don't advocate hit-and-runs and regularly doing so will reflect poorly on your character if you play in a specific room all the time, but no one will care or even remember you ten minutes later. Go when you want/need to go.

Never succumb to social pressures when it comes to your money. Someone wants to call you a hit and runner? Thank them for the chips and walk away with a smile.

About as long as it takes for the Lakers to lose a basketball game... 30 minutes in some cities, a couple hours in others.

That makes sense. I was more looking for something methodical...but it's good to know that I can leave being up, even if I've been there only an hour.

While you're at the table all you owe your tablemates is to be respectful and follow the basic rules of the card room. Whether you have a thirty minute session or an 18 hour session and leave it's nobody's business but your own. I've seen degens accuse people of hit and running after a dude who's been playing for 8 hours wins a massive pot and leaves two orbits later. Nobody is entitled to a chance to "win their money back".

One caveat, if I know I am only playing a short session due to somewhere I have to be later I'll usually mention it in casual convo like "Hey I have to be in Santa Monica at 730 what time should I leave here" that way when I bail at 6PM after a 90 minute session everyone knew it was going to happen and I end up at the table with a lot of the same people regularly so likability is more important.

In the 2/5 games I play in players are coming and going it's no big deal. There's an old guy that mainly plays 1/2 that will come to 2/5 and play short. Then he will double up and he'll go back to 1/2 and if he feels lucky he'll come back to 2/5 in an hour. To me it's funny. We all had a big laugh about it last time he did it. Fact is that I have an edge over him regardless so it's just not a big deal.

The only players in my casino that seem to have a major problem with hit and runners are some of the recreational regulars that play 5/10+ I try to keep them happy but at the same time I'm not going to stay if the game is bad or I'm not feeling it. Last time they were playing 10/20 shorthanded they invited me on the table and I told them straight up that I'm just going to hit and run and their response was "Ok, that's fine" lol

That's a great idea...setting it up to your tablemates before you leave...I like that

As long as you are playing low stakes in a public cardroom, leave when you want. If/when you move up and the games are more fragile/have less staying power, some would say it is a professional's responsibilty to keep playing if there are rec players who want to gamble. That's pretty high though, like 10/20 in Vegas and maybe 5/10 in smaller markets.

That said, a recreational player should never feel pressure to remain in a game for any reason.

Awesome...I feel less bad now for having to leave.

Do any of you have a % up or down threshold either way that signals whether to leave or stay?

"Poker is just one long session" is what I read in a pro book a long time ago and it's true. When you think of it that way and try to keep stats that way you become less preoccupied with individual "sessions." Afterall, the entire foundation of poker is "long term," which doesn't have a definition per se.

I respect players who win and stop. I feast on those who don't. Do what's comfortable and worry less about what other players are thinking. Chances are they aren't thinking much.

Do any of you have a methodical way of managing a session?

i.e.

* % up or down
* Double up?
* Get stacked
etc???

Yeah this. I feel bad getting up sometimes when taking more than 50% of the cash off of a table that is running 6 handed. (now 5) I can't help it I feel bad, but I do it anyway. In poker if you don't learn to stop giving a flying f*ck about stuff like this you are never going to make it. So again I have the feeling too, but I ignor it.

Personally I set a time limit before a session. During a session I keep asking myself, "Am i playing well? What do I know about each of my opponents?" When those questions no longer have the answers I want them to have, I get up even if I have not reached my time limit. If I reach the time limit and still feel I am playing well, I will only stay if the game is really good. If not I play through MY UTG hand and rack up during what would have been my BB.

Makes sense...so nobody has a stop loss or % up threshold they follow?

You should leave a short handed table unless they've reduced the rake.

Some people do leave at these points. These are known as "Money Management" schemes.

If a player does not change his style of play over time, no Money Management scheme will turn a loser into a winner.

A player has an hourly rate in a game. That hourly rate can only be altered by changing the skill difference in players, not by changing the stopping point.

Listen to the wise Rabbit. What SillyRabbit is saying is that they know they tend to play worse after a certain duration. After this duration, SillyRabbit reevaluates the game. Is this game still beatable? If not sure, SillyRabbit leaves.

The only reason you would do this is if you know you play badly when ahead, or play badly when behind.

I used to have this problem; I would consistently lose one or two big hands a session, wiping out any results from good value bets or steals.

The reason for my bad results was not a bad stopping point, but rather bad play. I had many large weaknesses: one of them was an over-willingness to stack off deep with Top-Pair Good Kicker against tight or passive villains. Once I plugged this hole in my game, my results improved, and I lost my stack less frequently.

Of course, I still get stacked: I get drawn out on, I get coolered, or I just make a big mistake. But it happens less often than it used to. And it happens less often because I examined and improved my play. No Money Management system will give this sort of improvement.

Terrific Insight! Sounds like sessions should center around how well you are playing instead of predetermined time frames or targets.

A reasonable stop loss point is vital to winning play, especially in big bet poker. A losing, run bad image actually lessens the edge a good player has. Some purely math based guys will argue with this, but they would be wrong. I don't care how good a player you are, if observant opponents are watching you get crushed, for ANY reason, they become inspired. They take more shots at you, they make more hero calls, bet thinner for value. These are not situations that you want to be playing under. So don't. Give each session a little rope in the form of 2 or three buy ins, top off as you lose hands and if it doesn't work out take your loss and GTFO.

Conversely, when you are winning, and I don't care how it is happening, the converse is true. People stay off your back. They get out of your way, they hesitate to play back at you light, and the game is just that much easier to beat. These are the situations that you want to find yourself in. Once I get there, I try to stay in the game until the dynamic changes. These are the days you can turn a toothpick into a lumberyard.

The whole idea of poker player as casino applies more to Limit Poker, Where mathematically sound play trumps all. In big bet poker, image and psychology are hugely important. Your edge can not be defined in a simple way like the house having 0 and 00 on the roulette table, giving them 5% off the top no matter what happens. Edge in big bet poker is much more nebulous, and is constantly changing due to player profiles, typical mistakes of participants in the game, relative position, you name it, and it effects the balance of the game.

It is relatively easy to beat lower stakes NL in most venues. The skill set is pretty well understood. After that it is all personal and money management.

SqredII has the correct diagnosis but IMO not the correct prescription. The change in image/psychology/etc. should lead to a change in style of play, not necessarily getting up and leaving.
Also, assuming there is more than one table, you can take all of the image part away with a simple table change and go back to being the "casino."

I am somewhat new to grinding live poker so I will put it like this:

I honestly believe more often than not I am the best player at the table (I play 1/2 so not hard to be), so I will play 8-10 hours. The deeper the stacks, the higher my hourly will be. If I win or lose big pots does not matter to me really. WHat matters is making the correct decision, not tilting, not going on winner's tilt (this is a huge issue for me currently) and staying sharp. If you cannot do these things, then just sit out.