Know When To Walk Away, Know When To Run

I have a leak in my game. Well, I probably have more than one, but let's focus here. I've identified it, tried to eliminate it from my game, yet I always seem to talk myself back into the same old trap. It's not knowing when to get up from the table. As I am writing this, I am currently seated at a juicy 1/2 NL game. I'm up $250 on the night so far. I'm starting to get a bit weary, my mind is wandering (as evident by the fact that I am actually blogging while playing), but for the last hour I have convinced myself that this game is just to good to leave. Which may be the truth. But then again, I could just be fooling myself. I say the game is good, because there are a couple of loose passive players that I have picked on all night still seated, and there is a LOT of $$ on the table..... over $4000 to be exact. So there are definitely some things to consider. Then again, I also was just getting ready to leave the table 20 minutes ago, when O.A.R's "Crazy Game of Poker" came over the Sirius radio, which I considered an omen for me to stick around. So my judgements aren't always based in fact. Then again, neither is my poker game. I know the statistics, the percentage plays, but a good deal of my game is based on feel. Probably too much (another leak to discuss at another time).

A few weeks back I was at the Tropicana in Atlantic City. Within 2 hours of sitting down I triple my $200 buy in @ the 1/2 NL table (basically all I play these days, either online or B&M). It's getting late and the game I was seated at breaks up, so I move tables. Within 10 minutes in my new seat, it is apparent to me that this game is much tougher than the one I was in before. I contemplate leaving, but then the rationalizations begin. "Did you really drive 2 and a half hours roundtrip just to play three hours of poker?" "Playing against tougher competiton will only make you better" "You got a free pass from the wife for this, she doesn't expect you home till sunrise! Don't waste it!" Not very good reasons to stick it out in a bad situation. But I did. And you guessed it, I wouldn't be telling this story if I didn't lose it all back, plus the buy-in.

I am trying. I just left the table I was seated at with my profit intact. And I have at least identified one of the problems in my game, and as GI Joe said, knowing is half the battle.