When is it time to stop?

I have a question. If your trying to make poker profitable, when should you leave the table? I buy in with 2% of my bankroll. Should you quit after you double that? When is a good time to call it quits in general at a cash game?

I've heard it said that you should quit when you double up,but I've kept playing and doubled up again, but also have lost everything to,so I guess just to be on the safe side, yea bank it and walk away with a smile

When ever u want to.


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Leave ONLY when the fish (who you've clearly marked) goes broke and doesn't reload.

It all depends.

Who are you playing against? If its is against players that you think you are flat out better than then try to make them all go broke (but don't be cocky and think you can beat anybody at any time, be a realist.) If you are playing against players you do not have a lot of info on or you think are just as good then have a set number in your mind on how much you want to win and how much your willing to lose. Once you hit one of the other just simply leave the table.

When I play full ring, I pick a number of hours I will play. I might stay if I am having a good session and the game is good. (Loose and paying off better hands) A lot of guys will hang in when they are losing and play longer when they are not winning; when they double up they quit and won't continue. I like having a big stack and using it against players; so I won't leave when I double up, especially if it happens early in a session.

Never leave when you double up unless you believe the players are better than you and you got majorly lucky. if your winning on that table why would you leave your letting more profits slip through your fingers.

I disagree. The point of poker is to make a profit. If you double your buyin thats a 100% gain in a matter of minutes or 1hr. Thats impossible and unheard of in any other investment. If your theory worked, then the OP wouldnt be losing his profits and needing to make this thread.

There is a big element of luck in Poker not to mention the variance. a table of bad players can be a time bomb as well as a godsend. If you have doubled your money in 1 session and are happy and are likely to lose if if you keep playing then its best to leave IMO unless the OP has big dreams of being a full time Poker Pro then practicing his A game in long sessions battling through the variance would be beneficial I admit.

There are only 2 "poker" reasons to leave. You should also probably leave when your girlfriend shows up in sexy lingerie, but that's obvious.

1) To prevent tilt from hurting your win rate.
2) There are no more easily exploitable players at your table.

Leaving because you've doubled your buy-in is crazy, because that usually means there are bad players at the table and now you can win even more from them when they make mistakes because your stack is double its normal size.

Also, some excellent advice there. Limiting the number of hours you play limits how often you tilt. People tend to play their longest sessions when they're losing & tilting.

When I sit down to a ring game i have a set limit as to which if i lose that I leave and do not rebuy. If im winiining I will stay on. I like to play at least 50 hands or more. But some games I dble up quick within the first few say ten to 15 hands. If I was to leave then is that considered hit and run what is ettiquete?. in this matter.

leave the table if you ever have 10% of your bankroll or more in front of you

If your not comfortable playing deep then that's a perfect reason to leave a table and then re buy for 100 bb else where.

Deep play takes alot of skill and different approaches to the game so it shouldn't be dismissed.

I see your point, and if I was deep on another reg, I think you'd have a really good point there. But even if I was uncomfortable playing deep stacked, I'd still stick around if the table fish had 200bb's as well.

In any business u need targets and objectives - failing to plan is planning to fail, and all that stuff!!!

I can understand where people are coming from, however it does not make business sense.

If u r looking to make money playing poker, u first of all have to have an idea of how much, when, how often, etc.

That would determine when u quit a game.

good advice guys. Yea usually I wait til the fish leave, but I wasnt sure if I was on a run if I should go ahead and try my luck towards the better players. Some times it feels like I am just on a good run and any 2 cards can beat anyone.

From my personal experience i noticed it's usually best to quit while you are ahead, it's no shame in that.

haha yea i wish i could convince myself of that at the blackjack table...

It is difficult for me to accept any reason to leave a winning table. If you are doing well and you believe you are better than the other players, then the advise whould be to play on and just not let fatigue set in. This covers the first point above.

The other valuable point on the thread is about not wanting to play deep stack against a short stacked fish, which is probably a good point for reasons beyond my comprehension....

Luckily I am only playing 2NL and I consider myself better than all the other players (maybe I would do better to revise that)