early warning to possible bad play

[omega man]

I have been playing around with different approaches while playing 2 tables of 2/4 limit.
1.My first approach was to start with 200 at each table and if i lost 60 at one table i would try and recover back to overall profitability for the session and start over.
2.My second approach was to play 500 hands for the session and come off no matter how much i have made or lost.
3.My third approach which i am thinking of using next week is to play 500 hands and if i am in profit come off, otherwise continue to try and make a profit for that session.
This has the added benefit that if ur playing badly you will often be playing beyond 500 hands,and playing will become a sort of sentence and may teach u to play better or look at your game
The adage for this post is one very important one PROFITABILITY reigns.
I would welcome comments and i also feel a psychology degree would be useful to all poker players.

[Piemaster]

I think of your 3 approaches, number 2 is the best by a country mile. Trying to get back even can be a fatal mistake that often sees you slide further and further into loss. As time goes on you get more and more desperate to get back even and will find yourself going on tilt. As you say, you will be playing when you don't want to be and it will be like a sentance, but this is far from a good thing.

Profitability might reign, but not in the short term and 500 hands definitely qualifies as such. Over that many hands a winning player will be almost as likely to win as lose. If you have played your session and are down, shrug your shoulders, log off and go and get on with your life. Don't turn poker into a chore or a prison sentance as it will kill the enjoyment and also adversely affect your results.

[Tyhunt]

why stay at a table where after 500 hands you are still down? Either you are having a bad run, are not one of the top two players at the table etc. Another thought and old saying, never chase losses chase wins. IE play past the 500 hand mark if you "cannot " seem to lose, we have all had those days at least once Get out if you cannot seem to win

I agree with Pie #2 looks to be the best option.

[omega man]

tyhunt i am not staying at a table after 500 hands if i am down,i am thinking of staying at 2 tables after 500 hands its the combined effect.
I agree it may well be right to continue also if ur still winning,but u could end up giving back winnings.
Could it be that playing 2 tables, 500 hands may need to be more?
this takes about 2.75hrs of time at stars on fast tables.
i tried approach 2 last week.
result 5000 hands profit $91.50,not great my pokertracker showed me where i went wrong,i lost $141 with one pair hands,ie i was not folding when i knew i was almost certainly beat.

[the_hawk]

I don't especially like any of the three "approaches" you mention above, but like the others, if you must pick one of the three then #2 is clearly best for me.

[omega man]

thanks hawk
I do have the checked hands filter checked.I read somewhere either here or on 2+2 that if this was checked and you were negative u needed to look at your game.
The % given which was optimum was 47% and 57% for 2 pair hands.
Piemaster playing 2 tables do you think 500 hands is ok for a session or do you think it could be more ,2.75hrs for 500 at the moment.

[Piemaster]

Sounds about right to me. When I play 2 tables at once I tend to clock about 200 hands per hour, so very similar. In fact, when I only played as a hobby, 500 hands was about the length of my sessions.

And yes, I did have a very high percentage of losing sessions (about 45%)

[omega man]

thanks piemaster
i am taking this more seriuosly than a hobby though, as i i have not been working properly for over 2 years now.
I have played some 3/6 and that is my next move up back to that level.
I do seem to have problems handling the variance and down days.
When i play 2/4 if i lose 300+ in a day i stop so at 3/6 this would become 450+.
I know you just have to take it on the chin and maybe see where you went wrong,but its still hard to take.
any advice or help would be very welcome.