How do you know when to walk away from the table...?

[BigPhish]

[WildBillHickok]

Sounds like you've got it under control, Phish...you're doing great! ...to be able to walk away...most, and most are losers, would stay and start playing lesser hands or pushing hands too far...we'd all have a tendency to do this, but to have the control to quit...that's super!
i do the same thing, if after an hour and a ton of unplayable hands, i quit too...maybe even 30 minutes.

[briachek]

[Cactus Jack]

I'd rather stick with the advice I've read so often from the pros. If you feel good and are enjoying the game, then stick with it. The cards will come. They always do. (Although I went through a two-week stretch when I "couldn't catch crabs in the Combat Zone," as an ex was so fond of saying. If you're in a game you think is profitable, stay in it, if you are feeling good. However, you have to beware of your frustration level so it doesn't get you into playing too loose.

If you're playing .50/1, it cost you a buck and a half every round to post the blind. If you do not get a playable hand for three rounds, it's, what, $4.50? If you can't make that in a single pot, then why are you playing at all? And if you don't get a playable hand in three rounds, you might do worse than calling it a night.

During the stretch I mentioned above, I played a live $45 buy-in tournament. Played for the first hour and won two very small pots. I didn't lose any hands. The last bet I made didn't cover the big blind. Now, that's being blinded to death. It was frustrating. It sucked. But it taught me one of the best lessons I've gotten so far. I have the patience to play this game well.

Just trying to think of another game, any game, where you can wait for the game to come to you. Bridge? Nope. Cribbage? Not if you don't want to smell like a skunk. Chess? No luck involved. Risk? Well, now that one actually might be pretty close.

You can sit there all night waiting on the cards and know, eventually, they'll come your way. When you get your KK cracked by AA, or your QQ dusted by 6-3o, that's a different story. You have bad luck and you should shave your head and go live in a cave.

Now, let's flip it a minute. You're more likely to stay too long when you get GOOD cards. You win five hands in a row and think you're bulletproof, and start playing any two cards. You reraise like a madman. That poor play was just a bad beat, you say. And, before you know it, you've given back every dime you won on those five hands, and then some. You shoulda quit when you were up, pal. But, we don't. That's the real trap.

CJ<-who let this happen to him, yesterday.