When to leave the table in cash game?

I'm asking this on behalf of my roommate. But when should you leave the table in cash games? He thinks that you should keep playing when you're rolling hot until the table breaks.

Or when you lose your buy-in that you have bought in for to take a break and move to another table.

He asked this because when we were in vegas, he bought in for $100 in $1/$2 and stayed at the table until his table broke, walked out with over $900. But he feels that there's a guideline to when you should leave because you risk yourself of losing everything you worked hard for.

I told him about Ferguson's rule of leaving the table when your chipstack represent 10% of your bankroll. But what other guidelines are there of leaving the table? Because lot of times, I don't follow Ferguson's guideline and just roll my chipstack higher when I'm running over the table. I have no discipline in leaving the table. I just leave whenever I want and play whenever I want. I also need some advice on disciplined guideline of when I should leave.

Interesting stuff I really think your first two sentences are a decent enough guideline of how long to stay and when to leave the cash game table you are playing at.

yeah, i too struggle a bit here and i will go on playing if i played good and get nice stacks though, but suddenly i will lose everything including my buyin into it. So, i will follow a method it is when your stack is doubled of your buyin i will leave the table.!( playsuji's exit)

Honestly, there are a load of different views on this one.

Chris Ferguson says what you quoted above. Guys like Barry Greenstein, on the other hand, will tell you to stay as long as the game is good and you can keep your eyes open.

I'm more in the Greenstein camp - not every table will be a great table so when you find one you may as well mine it for all you're worth. Leave when the table goes bad or when you're not playing well enough to profit any more and let the final amount you win or lose sort itself out.

I wouldn't go that far. If you double your buy in and the table rules allow it RATHOLE your buy in. Repeat every time your buy in doubles.

If there's fish at the table, stay at the table.

I wish I could tell you when you should leave a cash table, but I can't because I leave cash table when i'm broke or tripled my money.

stay until u feel like all tha donks are gone or do like me and i leve when i get 10% of my bankroll in tha room example: if i have $100 BR and play 1/2c room with $2 and i get it to $10 im out cuz $10 is 10% of $100

Using BRM, you leave the table when your 2X higher... So you go in to a 2.00NL table, leave when you hit hit 4.00$.
It's the same when SS...

If it's a good game I'll stay as long as I can, or until the game dies down again.

When to leave is dependent on the type of player you are.

PLAY ON until you lose 20% of your highest level (in one hand), then depart. No exceptions. Play TIGHT in CASH.

Until one is leaving the table, removing funds from play is disallowed in all the poker rooms I've played in...I believe that's general protocol?

If I recall correctly, Johnny Chan recommends leaving @ 2x buy in @ a profit or 50% @ a loss (ie: $200 buy in...leave @ $400 or $100). If I also recall correctly this is not what he was doing when he was 1st learning poker...his method @ the time = ATM . Personally I would deviate from the guideline if the game was really, really good though (keeping a mental note of the adj max amt I'm willing to lose) & leave when the seat goes cold or the table breaks.

Time that I spend at tables depends on the opponents and their stack sizes. If everyone at my table has gotten deep (200bb or so) and I think I have an edge I have no problem sticking around even if I have doubled up. If there are a bunch of shortstackers or nits at the table Ill leave usually. If your planning on playing sessions you have to be able to deal with 3 and 4 buyin swings, so I will stick it out at a table for a significant amount of time as long as I feel there is an edge. Table selection is really important, if you think your better than the competition and they have enough money to pay you off I def wouldnt leave. If oppo have money but hte edge is marginal theres always a better table. If they have no money just leave its not worth the time playing a bunch of ss nits.

OK - so a lot of people have cited a lot of rules and formulae for when to leave a table.

Here's a question: if you follow one of these "leave at 2x" type formulas, WHY?

Seriously, what's the reason? I'm seeing a lot of formulas, but not a lot of reasoning or justification. And if you don't have a reason or a justification, how do you know you're doing the right thing?

"I do it because Chris Ferguson / Johnny Chan / whoever told me to" isn't a valid reason, BTW

i set a limit for my self before entering the game. like if i lose 4 dollars where it either a gain or loss I would stop playing due to the fact that i know that I'll keep on going and will lose it all

Good point OzExorcist. I'm only able to keyboard about my reasoning (^^I tend to follow the latter guidelines rather than what Johnny Chan recommended -- because I'm primarily a recreational player in b&ms, playing $3/$6 & $4/$8 Limit)... JC's suggestion is a more disciplined approach for someone who is trying to grind @ the levels I play @; one of the ol' timers @ the San Diego casino I played @ follows this approach & consistently nets a $4K income (supplemental) monthly -- plays 5 days a week & leaves the table with a net $200 daily from a $100 buy in...it helps that there's a rack of white consolation for Aces Cracked.

If Johnny Chan recommended that I jump off a bridge...I'd do it -- not...but for a simple bankroll mgmt guideline 'maybe I'll try that & see if it works for me' might be in order (since the suggestion is coming from someone who's already been there, done that).

assuming you are following proper br management rules, leave when your opponents are playing better than you.

Erm... maybe I've missed it, but did you tell us why you follow that rule? What does it achieve, what benefits does leaving when you do give you?

Also, the rules Johnny Chan and Chris Ferguson provide (I'm pretty sure) are meant for no limit or pot limit games. If you're playing limit you're not risking your whole stack on any given hand so surely there's less risk in staying longer if the game is good?

I agree with Ferguson's ruleset ... just being conservative; but I'd still have my bankroll. Far too easy to let this sport become an addiction and all the woes that accompany that.

Originally Posted by bazerk
...Personally I would deviate from the guideline if the game was really, really good though (keeping a mental note of the adj max amt I'm willing to lose) & leave when the seat goes cold or the table breaks.

I've only read one book by Johnny Chan, Million Dollar Hold'em Limit Cash Games & it was a couple of summers ago (but I'm thinking I read it there, would have to locate the book to confirm). I don't adhere to JC's rule since I am a Limit recreational player...I have been known to stay @ a poker table 24 hrs if the game is really good (& it can be since it's a Full Kill game)...plus the Bad Beat Jackpot & other promotions are enticing.

I think another important aspect are the villains' stacksizes. If I'm the only one who is really deep and all the others only have around 100 BB, I don't care if the table gets a little bit tighter. So in my opinion, the most important thing is that you feel comfortable in the situation and that you are not too scared about loosing all your money. There is no use in keeping on playing, just because you haven't reached your set goal but you really feel uncomfortable.
So I don't stick to strict rule or amount, but I tend to leave the table whenever I start to feel uneasy about the situation, be it because I think there is too much money at risk or because the table gets tighter or something else.

+1 on that ftp vid post bazerk, basically summed up everything i was gonna blabber on about in this post

Hey Bazerk. That sums up about everything. I liked OZExorcist's comment the best but that video wraps up everything about when you should leave the cash game with the professional poker players explaining why you should not leave when you're rolling hot and why you should leave early when losing and quit for a day. This put it the best. Stopping when losing is the main discipline.

I am partial to the Furgerson rule.

Various "rules" are fine, but they are only guidelines. I was in a live $1/$2 No Limit game at a casino on Sunday evening. There were several decent players, no real table bullies, and two fish. I bought in for $100 and planned to leave if I lost that. Playing tight aggressive and not getting many good hands, I only played about 10 hands to the flop and only about half of them to the river and walked away with $460 after 3 hours. I avoided playing against the solid players and concentrated on the two fish. They fish each went through $500 before they began talking about leaving or switching tables. About that time, another player left and an loose, aggressive player sat down. With the fish leaving and the loose aggressive player sitting down...the game was changing. That was my cue to take the money and run. If the game is good, stay...if not it's time to hit the bricks.

I have a hard time just as many of you. Im glad I read this thread. I need to devise a way that I can make a good profit but then be able to leave before I lose it all.

Leave the table just before your Big Blind =).

the easy way out huh....

I'll play. When I play cash games, I do like to leave when I've doubled up. It's a habit I developed in my noob-hood (which seems to go ON and ON, dammit, but that's another post).

Why?

Because I found that in an evening of play, very often I would double my buy in at some point. I might lose some later, but over an evening of play, there was some moment in time when I had 2x what I started with. Well, says I, what happens if EVERY night you just quit playing when you double up? Isn't that pretty much a guaranteed winning play? It was. That's what I did, and following that method I ran $30 up to $300.

Short answer: it just seemed like a good idea, and in practice, it worked.

RF

I will leave the playing tables when I cant make profits from there any more...I would like to choose to play in another table rather than reload $$ in the same table...and most importantly...it's time to leave when you get tilt and starting to lose yr bankroll...

I'm not sure why anyone would consider leaving a table when they're winning and feel they have a significant edge over the table?

Once I double up and become the chip leader at the table, it's hard for me to figure out when to leave also. Generally what I do is continue to play as long as I'm comfortable. If my stack starts dwindling or new players come in that make me nervous, it's time to leave. Mentally though I try to play with only my excess chips > than my 2x buyin. I want to leave the table with at least twice what I paid.

What is ratholing exactly and how do you do it?

Thank you very much for wonderful advices. To conclude the general tip, it's better to stay at a table when you're running over the table. Knowing when to leave is still a problem. Here's what happened.

My roommate was in vegas. He bought-in for $100 just to see how it is at $1/$2. He was playing garbage poker since everybody at his table were playing like shit. He rolled it upto over $1100 and had a huge control of his table. And then later, this one good player flopped the boat and pretty much outplayed my roommate who ended up catching his straight on the turn. So my roommate was down to $900. He was still up compared to what he bought in for. He was thinking about leaving at this point. But the player who took some portion of his stack left the table.

His question was
Should I still leave?
or
Should I keep playing?

He didn't know what to do and figured that he needs help at this point, which is why he asked me to find out for some advices.

He keeps thinking because his thoughts go back and forth from "i think i should leave since I lost the control of the table, i lost table image and my luck ran out. everyone knows how I play now"

to

"eh, my main problem is resolved since the shark left the table. I should keep playing. I can crush these guys."

In the end, he still walked out with over $900 but he, me also, wanted to know how to have a discipline of knowing when to leave.

Some would say leave and call it a night with your winnings, some will say stay as long as there are fishes. Don't know which advice is better. This is the second question I want to ask. I'm wondering what most people would do in this situation.