Live card room problem - when to leave

Studying leaks in my game is always very difficult. I think I probably do more things wrong than right on some days, but other days I am extremely positive and think I played great. But I still have the problem with cash games as shown in the example below:

I bought in to a low-stakes NL game for 50BB and played for about 4 hours when I was sitting on 130BBs.I thought about leaving but decided to carry on until eventually I lost it all. Of course the last hand was a cooler where I flopped the nuts and a maniac called off his whole stack chasing 3 outs and hit one of them on the river. But thats a massive swing (-130BBs) and I got up and left for my "drive of misery" home.

Why can't I leave with a win. This seems to be a recurring theme., I chip up nicely and maybe I start playing bad, or maybe the other players figure me out but more often I seem to lose my whole stack when I get AA or KK and get it all in pre-flop against some lower pair who gets a set or flush or straight on the river. I have tried to keep the pot small when I am deep stacked but the other guy always wants to push all-in with his QQ or JJ so I have to call with AA or KK. Sometimes I flop the nuts and then get my stack in just to get drawn out on. Most of the times when I lose my whole stack I have got all the chips in when I am ahead.

Maybe I should be glad these idiots are drawing so thin and I should stay longer and buy back in knowing I can win it back again if I play longer. But I do not do this. Losing my big stack seems to happen to me after I have already considered leaving so its easier for me to get up and leave right away. ie. at 5pm I think I am winning $250 so I should leave but I will just play for a little bit longer. At 5.50pm I lose my whole stack and think damn, Im going home. I was going to leave anyhow so why put more money in - just play again another day.

So why can't I leave when Im ahead. Is it an ego thing - I am winning and can win more so I will play just a little bit longer. Is it "addiction"?

I think I have to set some limits and see if it helps. Maybe have a set time to stop playing whether I am winning or losing. Or maybe quit if I lose 50% of my stack or as soon as I double up. Or maybe I should hit and run. I know Daniel Negraneu says the latter 2 options are one of the biggest mistakes players make - leaving a winning table when the hit a target amount or playing a hit and run. He says if you are winning and running over the table you must stay until thats not the case. But maybe I cannot see when it changes.

So figuring out when to leave a table and leaving with some profit is definitely something I need to work on.

Big Sunday but no luck

This Sunday was the FTOPS main event worth $2.5million AND the pokerstars 40Billion hand special Sunday million event worth $4million. I entered both tournaments (via satellites) but had no luck. I also played a slew of other tournaments with mixed results. Mainly losses :-)

Heres how the 2 big events went:

- Pokerstars $4million - I wanted to play smallball poker at the start but this failed miserably when I got KK and was raised by an idiot with A-10 offsuit. I called and the flop came 9-9-8. I bet and he raised so I called. I was worried about the pair of 9s so wanted to keep it cheap. The turn was a J and I checked, he bet and I called. The river was the Q and goodbye to 70% of my chips. A short while later after chipping back up a little bit I got them all in pre-flop with AA and lost to JJ that flopped a set.

- FTOPS main event - this went a lot better and I played small ball and contantly chipped up getting to about 30bbs (18,000 chips) when the blinds were 300/600. When we got to 400/800 I played a couple of marginal hands where I open raised in late position was 3bet all in so I had to fold. Then I played a pot where I lost the hand on the river (surpise!). I was down to 11,000 chips when the blinds were 500/1000 and picled up KQ in late position. Now I was the short stack at the table and looking to make a move. A played in mid position who had been quite aggressive open raised the pot and I decided to 3bet all-in with the KQ. I was hoping for the fold but praying if he called it would be a marginal hand and I could double up so I had some chips to play with again. He called with AK and that was the end of that!!

In hindsight I should have waited for a hand where I opened the betting - I could have waited for a pair or AK/AQs as I still had over 11bbs. The table was very LAG with most pots open raised and 3bets so it was not really easy to pick a good spot. But I could have waited.......

Of course the flip side is what if I had won that flip. Then I would have 22,000 chips and been able to make some plays. I had basically chipped down from 20bbs (16,000 chips) to 11bbs (11,000 chips) waiting for a hand that I could re-raise all in or that I could open with and not fold to a 3bet. But I was very card-dead and probably getting frustrated. So when I saw the KQ and I was in late position I just went for it. No regrets......except I did regret it when I lost :-)

Thats my Big Sunday story........

Finally got rakeback on Full Tilt

I have played on Full Tilt since I started my poker journey in 2007 (see blog history) but I created an account before they offered rakeback. When they started offering rakeback it was only to new customers and existing users were somewhat screwed (good customer policy that). Eventually the complaints were heard and existing customers were told to apply to rakebackpros.com and they would be added to a list for consideration.

I applied in early 2009 and was told I would be added to a list and contacted. I never was (more good customer service).

Finally last month I emailed support at Full Tilt and Rakebackpros again and told them how long I had been waiting. I told them I really really wanted to continue playing on Full Tilt with rakeback but if it was not forthcoming I would move to other sites.

I guess I got the right person in support. Within a week they had approved me for rakeback and the rakebackpros guys had contacted me with instructions.

So now finally I get back 27% rakeback on all of my play. It seems rakebackpros.com are the only official site that Full Tilt will deal with for existing customers. They have worked quite well so far, transferring my rakeback amount into my account each Friday. On their site they have a graph showing how much rakeback you have made for the current week.

So I am very happy to finally have rakeback!!