nabmom said:
In our last VIP question, I addressed bad poker habits and mentioned one of mine: Learning how to walk away from the cash tables when I was on a losing streak. As a follow-up to that question (
What bad poker habit took you the longest to break?) I thought I'd ask you cash game fans about this.
How do you decide whether or not to keep playing when you are having a losing cash session?
I've learned that the decision to keep playing shouldn't depend on how much I'm winning or losing—it should depend on whether I'm still playing my A-game.
If I can honestly say I'm making good decisions, staying focused, and not letting emotions influence my play, I'm comfortable continuing even if I'm stuck a few buy-ins. Variance is part of cash games.
However, if I notice signs of tilt—trying to win my money back quickly, calling too light,
bluffing in bad spots, or feeling frustrated—I end the session. I've found that playing while emotional usually turns a small losing session into a much bigger one.
I also like to have a stop-loss limit before I even sit down. Having that rule in place removes a lot of emotion from the decision. There's always another game tomorrow, but protecting both my bankroll and my mindset is more important than trying to recover losses in one session.
