How do you know when you should quit in a live cash game when you are ahead??

I don't play cash games very often but yesterday I played in a $1/2 cash game. I bought in for $100 and I very quickly won a couple hands bringing my chip count up to $187.

I was thinking that if maybe I fold a few more crappy hands I can leave the room with a profit for the first time ever.

But then I get dealt pocket aces and went all in after the flop. the villain shows a pair of jacks, and of course, catches a jack on the river. There was over $200 in the pot.

When do you think should be the right time to quit while you are still ahead in a cash game?

In a cash game you can leave at anytime. It's not like a Tournament at all. You could have left right after you win the hand that put you up to $187. Most of the players that I've seen leave right before the Big Blind is theirs. So they don't have to put another dollar in the pot. You were playing good and had some bad luck when the Villain cracked your Aces. Keep trying and keep your head up and next time you get ahead don't be afraid to leave right then. After all you are playing with your money it is nobody else's money but yours after you win it though real hand or a bluff it, becomes your's when you win the pot. You have the right to leave at anytime when playing. If someone gives you grief about leaving early then make up a reason like why you have to leave. I hope my advice helps you out and next time your up you leave with more than you started with. Good luck and see you at the online tables.

I personally learned that you should generally only leave if the game becomes unfavorable.
Obviously there are plenty of factors to consider, such as H.A.L.T.
Don't play, or halt, if you are Hungry Angry Lonely or Tired.

Otherwise if you are playing with a bankroll (money that you can afford to lose without jeopardizing your life situation, or those around you) then you should continue playing in a game if the conditions are good for you.

There are many factors to consider about the table you're sitting at and if it's right for you, your style of play, or even maybe your position at the table.


I suppose it's fine to leave with 187 if you plan on building a bank roll, and taking those little chunks you win and saving them so you can afford to play comfortably without being worried about losing a buy in.


cheers

My first time ever playing live on a Casino, I buy in for 100 in a 2/1 blinds.
I rapidly won 3 pots. and made it to 350, there was a guy that sensed I was new and wanted to outplay me, but I had it all the time and took his money.
for some reason, I did not leave, Then I got myself on couple of difficult spot and lost all of it. I still wondering why i did not leave when I was ahead. The only excuse I tell to myself was that I just got there and made the money. At least I needed to stay for a little bit longer.
The next time I went to the same casino same game. Won a big pot with pocket 99, seat for a bit saw a couple of flops and left. In poker you are going to win and lose often, I think that is the advantage of cash game, you can leave whenever you want .

for the cash game it is advisable to multitabler to reduce the effect of variance on your game. If you play only one table even if you play well. most often you will catch up with the variance. I do not play with all my banckroll in a single cash game and if one day it was the case and I managed to double then yes I would go out before losing everything.

Haha the Answer is in the Title....



Maybe stop at the doubling or close to doubling your money...

tauri103 said:

for the cash game it is advisable to multitabler to reduce the effect of variance on your game. If you play only one table even if you play well. most often you will catch up with the variance. I do not play with all my banckroll in a single cash game and if one day it was the case and I managed to double then yes I would go out before losing everything.

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I understand that when you are playing online, it is better to multi-table to offset the variance, but this is a live game. I've never heard of anybody multi-tabling in a casino poker room, but it might be interesting to see somebody try it. lol

I was thinking the same. Multi-tabling? lol


Online, I don't think you can improve your game multi-tabling.

drhousethebest said:

I was thinking the same. Multi-tabling? lol


Online, I don't think you can improve your game multi-tabling.

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Like anything else, it takes practice... and an enormous bankroll!

pcgnome said:

I understand that when you are playing online, it is better to multi-table to offset the variance, but this is a live game. I've never heard of anybody multi-tabling in a casino poker room, but it might be interesting to see somebody try it. lol

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Sorry I was tired and did not realize that you were talking about casino gambling. to better answer your question I stop playing when I do not touch enough good preflop hands. But it is always difficult to get up from a table when you win.

Personally I love playing low stakes live cash. Most of the players in our area out here are super soft and it's so easy to book a win.

This past Saturday night I played some $1/$2 starting off with $200, lost my first buy in by just running bad, AQ ripped it in vs my AK and got there. I flopped a flush and the guy rivered a boat. Flopped the nut straight and guy riveted a boat on me again. Reloaded for another $200 and long story short was just never leaving this table - was super passive and super fishy - hands started holding, I started winning and overall got in for $400 and about 9hrs later cashed out for $943 never moving tables at all.

For myself when the table is hot and you are running good - it's super hard to leave. I cannot always bring myself to do it. I was down about $300 at one point - ran it up to about a stack of $600 and almost left then and there just to book a win after what was a rough start. Glad I didn't but at the end of the day that would have been the smart decision in that spot and what I would've recomended to anyone else in my shoes.

For each individual their comfort levels are different. If you buy in for $100 or $200 and double your money and you are happy with those results - then leave and go home happy. I think winning anywhere from 2 - 3x your buy in is a good "rule of thumb" to follow when it comes to quitting.

I have been that guy running well, in for $100, up to over $400 and then broke soon after. You have to recognize that things can quickly go wrong and you can find yourself on the bad end of things - just like the OP talking about his AA getting cracked by JJ. I know that hurts but you have to recognize if you get your money in 1000 times with that guy in that spot, you are going to win 80% of those runouts. You did nothing wrong - be glad you have such a bad player at your table.

These lower stakes games can be very profitable. You have to roll with the bad beats and the suckouts and just recognize that those players put their money in bad against you. Just smile and get em next time. Often when I book a nice win at low stakes it's mainly because of 2 or 3 terrible players and being on the lucky end of a few coolers as well.

Good luck. I hope my perspective helps.

Jon Poker said:

Personally I love playing low stakes live cash. Most of the players in our area out here are super soft and it's so easy to book a win.

This past Saturday night I played some $1/$2 starting off with $200, lost my first buy in by just running bad, AQ ripped it in vs my AK and got there. I flopped a flush and the guy rivered a boat. Flopped the nut straight and guy riveted a boat on me again. Reloaded for another $200 and long story short was just never leaving this table - was super passive and super fishy - hands started holding, I started winning and overall got in for $400 and about 9hrs later cashed out for $943 never moving tables at all.

For myself when the table is hot and you are running good - it's super hard to leave. I cannot always bring myself to do it. I was down about $300 at one point - ran it up to about a stack of $600 and almost left then and there just to book a win after what was a rough start. Glad I didn't but at the end of the day that would have been the smart decision in that spot and what I would've recomended to anyone else in my shoes.

For each individual their comfort levels are different. If you buy in for $100 or $200 and double your money and you are happy with those results - then leave and go home happy. I think winning anywhere from 2 - 3x your buy in is a good "rule of thumb" to follow when it comes to quitting.

I have been that guy running well, in for $100, up to over $400 and then broke soon after. You have to recognize that things can quickly go wrong and you can find yourself on the bad end of things - just like the OP talking about his AA getting cracked by JJ. I know that hurts but you have to recognize if you get your money in 1000 times with that guy in that spot, you are going to win 80% of those runouts. You did nothing wrong - be glad you have such a bad player at your table.

These lower stakes games can be very profitable. You have to roll with the bad beats and the suckouts and just recognize that those players put their money in bad against you. Just smile and get em next time. Often when I book a nice win at low stakes it's mainly because of 2 or 3 terrible players and being on the lucky end of a few coolers as well.

Good luck. I hope my perspective helps.

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Good point!!

when to quit a cash game.

I don't think you can base it on a dollar figure but more on if you start making poor choices

I've seen this question asked several times. I think it is useful to have a broad strategy around when to end a session. For me and in general I think it's good to consider several factors. Not necessarily in order:
1 - Am I still playing well? To the other poster's point. If you're hungry, angry / tilting, tired, drunk, etc you may not be playing your best game. In this case it's ok to book the win and come back next time (or at least take a break to calm down or get something to eat). Be honest about whether you are still playing your best game. If not it's fine to leave early.
2 - How much time do I have? It's good to have a general idea of how long you may want to play. Maybe it's 2 hours, maybe it's 8 hours. These aren't hard rules but it helps for reference. If you were only planning to stay for another hour or so anyway and you are satisfied with the session perhaps you can check out early and enjoy some of your winnings. Obviously you can continue to play past the time to if things are going well (or if you were down and trying to get back to even which is common).
3 - How good is the game? Live games can vary widely at low limits like 1/2. Some tables can be super soft and great, some tables can be much tougher with regulars and stronger players all over the place. Pay attention to others and your play style. If you are noticing others make mistakes it's probably a better table. If you feel like everyone is at least as good or better than you ask the floor for a table change. Also some players like to play tight and prefer loose aggressive gambly tables, some players like the loose passive weak games that they can bomb away at and get folds all night. If the game is good it might be worth staying a little longer. If it's bad then maybe finish early or at least switch tables.
4 - How attached am I to my current stack? This goes back to how am I playing as well. If you find yourself changing the way you approach hands because you're trying to protect your stack then it's probably time to get up. If you're making scared money mistakes it can often lead to losses. Eventually you will need to become more comfortable playing a deeper stack and if you're booking wins often enough you will have opportunities to try to play the deep stack for one more dealer for example without being afraid to play normal. That's not to say strategy doesn't change at all with stack depth but you need to be making the correct adjustments.
5 - More arbitrary goals. I used to leave early after doubling up often. This is a double edged sword that is probably better for beginners. I left some good games where I could have made more but I also booked some wins where I may have lost it all back. It can be good to start off this way until you get a better feel for yourself. As a side effect you may (as I did) have longer smaller winning streaks (I hit 14 in a row once and had several 10+ streaks). Eventually you want to raise your exit criteria in this regard to uncap your winning sessions though. That way you can have the monster quadruple up plus sessions as well. I've also cut things short based on a certain dollar amount or just booking a win after a losing streak for example.

What I'm trying to get at here is that it's good to be flexible but take multiple things into consideration and change the criteria as you grow as a player.

pcgnome said:

I don't play cash games very often but yesterday I played in a $1/2 cash game. I bought in for $100 and I very quickly won a couple hands bringing my chip count up to $187.

I was thinking that if maybe I fold a few more crappy hands I can leave the room with a profit for the first time ever.

But then I get dealt pocket aces and went all in after the flop. the villain shows a pair of jacks, and of course, catches a jack on the river. There was over $200 in the pot.

When do you think should be the right time to quit while you are still ahead in a cash game?

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Triple up then leave.

I think you should play as long as you have an "edge" and feel like playing.

I usually have a certain time that I have to leave at so, I just play until I need to leave, as long as the game is good.

I usually set the time limit (4-6 hours) and leave when it ends, no matter result.

time limit...clock in / clock out. don't leave after double or triple up...you could be missing out on more.

It might would not have helped you in that case, but i love to set a time limit and quit when timer is down to 0 regardless of profit / loss in that session.

This way i can be sure that i can play fully focused all the time and do not lose chips because i play bad because i lost focus or got tired.

Another approach would be to quit instantly when your stack exceeds a certain amount.
The moment you have 30, 40, 100 or whatever percent of your initial stack you leave the table. Helps secure your winnings but also shortens sessions and will stop you from playing the maximum amount of hands possible.

When I win or lose 20% I change tables

In a live cash game, I usually like to play for 2 to 3 hours. If I lose 3 buy ins of $100 each buy in, I will leave the casino.

Sometimes I end up leaving the casino because I am tired or done focusing after my 2 or three hours, so I will leave even though I am up or down only 20 to 40 dollars for the day.

eberetta1 said:

Într-un joc live cash, de obicei îmi place să joc 2 până la 3 ore. Dacă pierd 3 cumpărături de 100 de dolari pentru fiecare achiziție, voi părăsi cazinoul.

Uneori sfârșesc părăsind cazinoul pentru că sunt obosit sau terminat concentrându-mă după 2 sau trei ore, așa că voi pleca chiar dacă sunt în sus sau în jos doar 20 până la 40 de dolari pe zi.

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When you see that is does not work it is good to give up.I do so

Before starting a game session, you must set a specific amount of time for which you plan to play a specific number of hands.