Sometimes when I play live poker and do fairly well over a 2-3 hour period, I get the desire to end the session just to lock in the win. The main reason I do it is not for practical reasons, but because I really like the feeling of walking away from a session with a profit. I might plan on playing for 5-7 hours, but get up like $300 after a couple hours and just want to lock in the profit and positive experience.

I feel it's a leak though, as if I still have an edge at a table, I should stay and continue to play with that edge. I should not get into profit protection mode. Any mindset change I can try to change my behavior?

I believe warren buffet says he made all his money by selling too early or something…

2-3 hour sessions are fine… I’ve noticed it’s easy to win in that time period but after 3 hours your opponents get hand history on you and start adjusting.

So I like to either re adjust or change tables or finish session at that time.

Usually I allot a certain time to play but I also have a monetary goal. Once you hit your goal you can leave.

I've also noticed people try harder to beat the winners in the game, sorta counterintuitive since winners are usually playing well, but if you have a target on your back you may very well want to leave if you feel like people are after you. Also, play quality diminishes for a lot of people after a few hours, so not a bad idea to leave once you enter your B or C game territory and are no longer fresh.

I also find I have a more enjoyable experience if I book a win. Some of the worst rides home - thankfully rare - are the ones where I was up but lost it all towards the end of the session. Winning is more fun, let's be honest.

And you should probably rack up if you think your play is being impacted by the fear of losing your profits.

I think it’s a definite leak to only play half of your session when you are up and you have to find some way to stop doing it. It’s almost a guarantee you wouldn’t have stopped if you were stuck 300. Poker has a momentum to it and for most people, your win rate when up is probably higher than it is when you are stuck.

If you lose so be it, but you only ask the question “why didn’t I leave?” the times you lose, you obviously never ask it when you win a couple thousand from that point

Also, I don’t think your play should diminish after 2-3 hours, that’s very little in poker time, most people are just warming up at that point

I really think it depends on the person. I mostly play shorter sessions, my aim is 1 hour total.

Occasionally I’ll play longer than that if I feel like I’m still dialed in.

Once I feel like I’ve lost focus or can no longer think clearly about hands, due to tilt, outside factors, nervousness, or whatever it may be, I’ll try to end the session. Sometimes there are some in game triggers like bad beats or making a bad play that will cause me to tilt. I try to end the session at the next big blind when this happens. If it’s been a while since I had a winning session and get up big I do sometimes take a break for 30 min to an hour, because I feel like it helps me mentally to book a win.

While most of my sessions are 1 hour, I end up with quite a few 30 min or 45 min sessions also. Occasionally 2 hours, rarely 3-4 hours and super rarely longer than that.

If you can figure out how to keep yourself focused and playing solidly for longer sessions this could definitely be a +EV skill, but I think for a lot of people longer sessions are -EV. I need to take breaks to go to the bathroom, fill up my drinks, check the news etc. Not everyone is an emotionless being that can just play their best game all the time regardless of bad beats etc.

You can still get in enough volume taking short breaks like me, but you will be playing off and on all day. I have about 212k hands over 2 months playing normal (not fast fold) tables.

Oops just realized you are talking about live poker. Some of what I said probably still applies …

I had that flaw in my giddy-up too, pretty much for life. Couldn't shake it, as it comes from deep personality features and one's very goal of playing. If the win is a huge high, too much of an emotional high as compared to plying the trade, it interferes a little. If can certainly raise one's winning % of sessions, but costs in the long run. It can also leave you losing more than you win on average. But it certainly isn't all bad. I had tons of winning streaks in excess of 10 sessions in part because of this, including one of 31 in a row. And they weren't hit and run, just overly cautious when ahead say 500 or more. Not good.

Need to take breaks to go to the bathroom when you're planning to play for one hour?? I thought I had a small bladder...

Maybe it depends on why you are playing.

If you are playing mainly for profit, then yes, leaving early when doing well is a MASSIVE leak. Playing when you have a good image and can use that to your advantage is HUGE. Your goal is to play as much as possible when the game is good, to develop a healthy mindset and play within a bankroll.

If you are playing for fun/hobby, then by all means, leave when it suits you best. Its about having poker compliment your life, and the way it makes you feel is a big deal. Enjoying a nice ride home, the knowledge of a "win", and a few extra bucks may just be what its all about. For some that sounds like heaven.

If you're playing recreationally, I think it's fine to lock in a win and leave the table feeling good.

I think the only issue I see here is if conversely you play for too long when losing.

I usually do this because I am bad at deep stack .

Maybe that is part of my problem. Once I get a stack that is 3X a max buy, it definitely effects my tactics.

Thank you for posting on this issue. This is the very reason I am here looking on this forum - I am struggling with this problem as well. I see this as a big mental barrier that I have to overcome and I am not sure how to navigate it right now.

A little about my situation: I recently moved up in stakes to 1/2 online and after playing for a couple of hours will be up $250-$300, sometimes even less at $150-$200 and I feel an urge to log off and call it a day. It can even affect my play and I can start to play scared and defensive, instead of aggressive which helped me get to that profit in the first place. It's a weird feeling inside I am having a hard time shaking.

I tell myself that those were great days when I was grinding 0.25/0.50 and 0.50/1.00 and this is how much I would have made working at my former Server job for a full shift and that it's good enough for the day. I can then enjoy the rest of my day with my kids and family, but I still feel like I am leaving a lot on the table and should be making more money by putting in longer sessions. I am not the main financial provider in the family and I don't really need to make a whole lot, but more is better right? I am also taking a long-term approach to my poker journey (3-year plan to make $100K+/year: $50K in year 1, $75K in year 2, and $100K in year 3), and am on pace so far in year 1, but I would still like to have more money now.

I also really HATE losing sessions, especially if I was up a good amount earlier and end up down. When I am down I can play for 10+ hours in a day to try and grind back a win. Most times I can get back to even or a little ahead but a couple of times I have made it even worse and end up being down $500-$1,000. Then it takes me 4-5 days to get that back.

To try to combat this moving forward, I am making a Poker Schedule and setting hours as a measurement of my sessions instead of looking at the daily dollar profit in the hopes that if I force myself to play a certain amount of hours in a day/week then maybe this will take my focus away from my daily profits. I also tried to hide my bankroll balance on the site in the past so I don't know exactly where I am at, but this hardly ever works and I always end up peeking.

As you can see, I am a first-time poster here cause this is exactly the situation/problem I was looking for and would welcome the opportunity to work with others on overcoming this. Any ideas or feedback would be most welcome. Thanks again for posting about this as it helps to know that I am not alone in this struggle. Best of luck to you and everyone else on their own journey.

I'm not that familiar with the current state of online poker, and don't know what site you're playing on, but I have to think that planning to make $100k per year two years from now is almost certainly unattainable unless you just happen to run extremely well, in addition to being an expert player.

Do you only play live poker?

Also, I might have misled you in my post, when I say year 1, I don't mean this is my first year playing poker. I have been playing for over 20 years since pre-Black Friday and steadily for the last 10 years online. It's not unattainable.

It's just that I am using 2022 as a benchmark Year 1 for this chapter of my poker journey: no other job and starting with a $5k bankroll, like a clean slate. I am pretty certain I will be starting Year 2 with a bankroll of $20K+. From there, we'll see...who really knows?

But really, this is not what I am looking to discuss here, and we will only really see if I can reach those goals two years from now, so it's not that important. They're called goals for a reason right?

One of my problems right now is I don't play for enough hours, and it stems from the other problem of quitting sessions too early. I know I have to put in more time. I play closer to 20 hours per week right now when I should be playing closer to 40. I do know that for me to reach my goals, I have to get over this mental speed bump of thinking that $300 is enough to be up to quit and shut it down for the day too.

Any ideas?

Have you monitored your results in the first few hours of play and compared to your results for the next few hours? What might work for you is to play multiple short sessions rather than staying and not be playing your A game. YMMV

This is a very interesting take on it. I like it. I can almost guarantee that my win rate is higher earlier in the session than later, especially lately when my focus is on my session profit. It hits at the problem in multiple ways as well by taking away those long sessions where I am most likely chasing and probably not playing at my best either. I could even use bad beats as "session enders", especially when they happen towards the end of a planned session. I can just cool off knowing that I will be back at it soon enough. Shorter sessions - like 2 hours max.

I would then obviously have to do multiple sessions in a day though, more than two, maybe even more than 3 somedays, which isn't ideal as sometimes I like to just be "off" for the rest of the day. Being "off" ain't easy either, but that's a whole 'nother beast for 'nother day. Just gotta figure out a schedule that would work but I like the idea of shorter sessions and utilizing it somehow.

It's a great point you make and solution you bring up. I am definitely going to be chewing on this for a while. Thank you Polar Bear.

Your tactics SHOULD change from 100BB to 300BB.

Just make sure they change in the correct way!

Study deepstack cash game strat!

If you feel uncomfortable deep at the same table, you are perhaps outmatched!

The deeper you are, the more position becomes important: The latent threat of you stacking someone deep is unspoken.

I feel the same and I would like to say to take it easy on yourself.

I find that in all things in poker we need to advance step by step.

As a beginner player I try to focus each session on a few clear goals that I'm looking to improve. And I've realised I really can't have too many at one time since I am learning new stuff each one competes with the other for the amount of attention I can pay.

At my current stage, I am ok with quitting when I feel too deep.

Considerations here are: I want to protect the stack against the horrible feeling of playing two hours and then make one mistake to oblitarate it. This is part being result oriented, part is warranted lack of confidence: I want to be further ahead and more knowledgeable on other basic skills before I play deep where mistakes are magnified.

If I am not relaxed and ready to lose what I have in front of me when making a big decision I think it's actually +EV to stand up. I know this is an area to work on and it will come in time. I might have a sub-goal to try and push myself a little bit each time, change the mindset to deep-playing each session.

I also need to be realistic when it comes to being tired: learning the game, paying attention to it all is exhausting, after a few hours I am spent and stop paying due attention to my opponents, maybe table change and I find myself lacking read or looking less for details of hands and following the action. It must be +EV to leave then. I will build up that stamina.

Other priorities


The priority for me is to perform well on the journey, not maximizing profit this session, because I recognize I am still way way away from a solid competency and I think I am NOT a winner at this live game I play.

Next session my goals are: I want to carefully enumerate ranges of my opponents while playing, taking my time in face of pressure to list and think about what they might have, because I sense this is the department I am lacking the most.

Keeping track of pot better and SPR.

Be more mindful of opponent frequencies pre.

This is a lot! I feel I am in a better place detaching myself from the original 120BB I buy in for than I was a month ago, as for getting comfortable once I sit on 300BB, it just has to take the back seats to my current path.

Don't trust people telling you it's -EV without consideration


Often people and books work under the un- or out-spoken assumption you are a comptent player that can maneuver post-flop. If that is the case, then sure, you are leaving money everytime you stand up from a good table.

But that is big IF. Only you know where you are on your journey. If it winning tilts you, I know it does to me, you've got an area to work but it doesn't have to be your most pressing concern. Say you don't know your opening well from different position, than I'd say that's your first thing to address!

As for specific advice

First, what is the issue?

Are you not rolled for deep play? Wait then.

Are you unsure how to play deep? Go read about deep play.

Are you scared of losing what you accumulate? Maybe you could buy in for more, so you are now playing deep from the start and when you're at your sharpest.

Are player with big stack in your game bullying others and play wild? How do you plan to adjust?

This then all should feed into your next session goals and expectation setting.

The results of this study is mostly going to be based on variance and not really an indicator of being more or less focused

I don't really think poker is best played as a bunch of hit and run sessions. Most good sessions are longer, where you start to get a history and read on players and hopefully learn to adjust to them better than they do to you.

And the way this usually turns out is that your losing sessions are longer and your winning sessions are cut short

Variance will certainly play a roll but in your second paragraph you state why you think longer sessions are better. Note if they are adjusting to you better than you are to them short sessions are better for you. The more you deviate from a pure GTO style the more likely you do better with short sessions unless you are very good at changing gears when they start to try to exploit your style.

Since this person is on a poker forum I'm always assuming more information would usually be of more benefit to them and they would adjust better. But if that's not the case and also get tired after two hours poker might not be best hobby.

But not to cloud the issue with all of that, always leaving sessions early to book a win is a leak. So giving a potential excuse such as you might be tired after two hours enables it to some degree. But we all pretty much know the longer sessions will usually always involve being stuck, even if you are tired.

I think it’s fine in no-limit if you’re uncomfortable playing with a super deep stack—if you’re up 3 buy-ins or whatever and the amount in front of you is significant enough in real-world terms that you will be too too risk-averse to play winning poker.

(My state only offers spread-limit, which eliminates that problem. The most they can bet on any street is just 50 BBs!)

Otherwise…If you’re a winning player, every hand you play is a good investment, so leaving early is costing you money. And that’s bad!

yes and no. This forum generally treats poker like every penny matters, and I generally agree with that bc I'm on a never ending goal to always improve. If you are a pro, sure, you have to log the hours.

But as a different perspective, if walking away a winner gives you a life win, then do so and don't feel bad about it. I don't care how juicy the game, or how perfect you play, at 1/2 and 2/5, you are not going to make life changing money on any given day.

I have no idea if it would work for others, but my hourly rate increased significantly when I started playing less and walking away sooner. I now mostly play only on easier Friday and Saturday nights and I quit when I'm bored, tense, or not enjoying the vibes at the table.

I think just in a common sense way your uncomfortable bankroll wise with low ng the money. That or you may not put your winnings towards material things which is a reward for playing well. Try listing some good things you want to buy for yourself or family or friends and should make the "grind" easier in that sense.