When playing online poker, how much can you take before call it quits for the night?

Question

After a series of beats (not terrible, but I was still the favorite), I was on my 3rd SNG in 2 hours when early on I get dealt Q,7 of spades. I limp in from the small blind and flop comes A, K, 10 of spades. I flop the nut flush! I check and one other player bets the size of the pot. I call.

Turn comes and it is 5 or 6 of hearts. Opponent again bets pot. I call.

River comes 10 of diamonds. I go all in. Opponent calls. He flips over a pair of 10s for the 4 of a kind.

That was all I could take! Hopefully I will do better tonight!

Answer 1

Losing 20 big blinds in a cash game or three single table s'n'g's in a row without cashing is my limit.  I always wait a minimum of five minutes before leaving one game and starting another.  If, after that 5 minutes, I look back at my last play and shake my head in disgust, I stop immediately.  If my judgement is so poor that I called an all-in early on with a draw or tried to push the tightest player in the game off a hand with nothing in my own then it's time to get some sleep.  I've had some nights where I've quit while I was still more or less even just because I wasn't getting any cards.  If I sit at a table for two hours and get 3 hands worth calling a raise with then I'll go do something else.

Answer 2

You did the right thing. Right play, and right time to quit, lol.

After a bad beat like that, no matter who you are, it takes some time to recover your poise and composure. This is what puts players on tilt, which causes them to make bad playing decisions, resulting in more losses.

Sometimes it is best just to quit, and try again later, or the next day.

Good luck at the tables.

Answer 3

As long as you know you are getting your money in with the best hand, I would not worry about the results.  You had the flush and you wanted the opponent to call with a lesser hand, and he did.  Watch this situation play out 100 more times and you'll be quite happy with the results.

Answer 4

i recently started tracking my hands, and i found out that there can be wild swings in probabilities. for example, one day (while i was staying even) i won 9 out of 13 times with pairs vs over cards, which is much higher than the average. however, the next day, i only won 2 out of 8. therefore, now, whenever i see a consistent negative probability swing, I quit for the day and try again later, move down in buy-ins, or just try again the next day.

Answer 5

When someone flops a set, depending on how conservative a player is, you can expect a lot (if not all the money) to go into the middle.  Granted, you did take a beat, but the case 10 on the river just made it seem worse than it really was.  Going to  the river, he had 10 outs - 3 aces, 3 kings, 3 5's (or whatever it was) and the case 10.  So it wasn't that bad a beat.  

Generally, I try to either double up, or lose one buy in, and then I'm out.  The reason being, is that, by that time, I start to lose focus.  Having played for a while, you start to get a feel for how focused you are in a game.  If you start to go on tilt, get bored, or just become too antsy, that's when I'd call it a day.  

Good luck!