When do you call it a day?

I'd imagine that most people have a set amount they're willing to lose per day or per trip and stop there, but what about when you're winning? I often read about people who win a decent amount of money, only to lose it the same day. In fact, I had a friend who recently won $2000 very early on in slots and ended up with a net loss after taking it to the tables. And I was playing with roulette with a fellow, who, down to his last $5, put it on a single number and hit. He then proceeded to continue playing and lose it all.

Personally, I'd probably quit for the day after a relatively big payout on slots or roulette. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't stop playing blackjack or craps until I had 2x what I walked in with, because it's a much more gradual process getting there.

When I can't drink any more.

It really depends.

If my only plans for the day are gambling, and I lose my entire bankroll early, I'm kinda stuck, and call it a day then.

However, it rarely gets to that. Often, if I'm down a significant amount, I'll take a break. Relax and regroup.

I may end up losing it all, but make it last until about the time that I was gonna call it quits anyway.

Otherwise, I generally play until a pre-determined end time.

I don't think it's realistic to set a win limit and stop for the day. Maybe take a break so that you don't end up playing stupid with the winnings, but stop for the day? Unlikely.

Its the casino that wants you to stay.
If a player wins big, really big, the casino manager will offer him a room. If he has a room elsewhere they will offer him The Presidential Suite or some such bait. He stays the night, he gambles the next day, he leaves broke.
And of course it is the player who cooperates in this. The pusher sells the heroin, the addict presses the plunger on the needle.

If you win massively, stop playing. Or play only with your normal buyin and normal limits ... and stick to them.

If you lose massively, stop playing. Sure things can turn around on the very next spin of the wheel but that wheel will be there tomorrow too. Meals, booze, a jazz trio somewhere, bartop VP just for free drinks, heck, even a slot machine! Just keep it low key. There are pools, movie theaters, bowling alleys, tv, tv-movies that won't appear on your credit card bill, etc. There is a hot shower or jacuzzi upstairs, a rack of goodies and a tv remote. Can be cheaper than continuing to play when your luck is bad.

If you really and truly need action... perhaps a cabride to the outer reaches of Hendertucky can be the cheapest investment you will ever make: two dollar craps when your luck is bad is better than 25.00 craps when your luck is bad.

I remember early in my gambling career such losses. My wife would win $400 with a SF in 3 Card, only to have it go down the drain in a frenzy of table games a few hours later. To chase the losses of the gain, spend the original investment too -- it doesn't come back. You leave the casino down $500 wondering why you didn't leave $400 ahead.

Quitting when one is ahead is difficult to do, especially if it's early in your gambling session. Late in the session, it's easy to take a jackpot and just leave if you were planning to leave in a short while anyway. A careful bankroll strategy needs to be created such that you can lock in those wins. Usually that means separating out your win while playing with the rest of your budget on other things.

A typical budget for a session for my wife and I is around $400. If we hit a $1,000 jackpot, then we still have the $400 budget, meaning that we leave at least $600 ahead. We've learned that there's no point to chasing a loss as the casino will always be there on the next session, plus when you lose a bunch of money, you tend to get reckless looking for the one-time return. This takes you inevitably to a 4-card table, a center bet in craps, or a high-variance long-shot VP machine -- you have a very good chance of losing the rest of the bankroll and leaving frustrated this way and without money for your next gambling session.

For all games, I usually buy in for $100 - $200 and see where it goes. I try to lock in wins in increments of $100 and losses in the same increment. Once it's gone, or the win goal's been hit, I get up and leave.

If you're out of control on the money, take out the money before hand and leave the bank cards at home, in your car, or in the hotel safe. That way, once your money is gone, it's gone, and you must plan your session out that way.

You can use my method, free of charge: play until your buy-in or bankroll si gone, but keep any winnings past, oh, half the buy-in. For exmaple, at a 3 card poker table I'll buy-in for $50 (no sucker bets, most of the time) and play until it's al gone. if I win $10 or $10 past the buy-in, I'll keep playing that, too, until it's gone along with the buy-in. But if I win $30 or $40, I'll barricade that behind the buy-in chips and won't play it. Sure, I'd still wind up down $10, but it's better than down $50.

But as DJ said, it depends. If I get tired of playing I'll stop. If I feel sleepy I'll stop. If I win 2x my buy-in I won't touch those winnings that day (I may the next day). Most comonly, though, I'll stop if I think I've hit a losing streak. And that of course is quite subjective. For all I know the next ten hands would all be trips had I stayed. Fortunately there's no way to tell.

For me, it depends on the type of trip. If I'm only at the casinos near home for a day trip, I'll take a break if I get hit too hard early on, maybe play some .25 VP or even .01 slots with 9 line bets (the 20 lasts a while at .09 cents a spin, even if the Grannies look at me with disdain). I'll usually take $4-600 to play with. I prefer low limit games ($5-10), but will play Pai gow at $15-25 if it's available (both tiles and poker). If I double my money in a certain short period of time, I'll lock it up and take a break.

Now if I'm with my wife, then I'll usually find her and play the aforementioned .09 slots with her while she takes a bath in the slots, but otherwise I'll stick to a daily money limit - So far it's kept my gambling losses to less than $500 a year, which is impressive enough for me, since I average 3-6 visits, including one weekend or Vegas trip a year. This year I'm only down $80 over 8 trips, which I call a success.

-B

When Face 86's me out the door. Or someone else in Surveillance with a "Barney Fife" complex !

These questions always baffle me. Nobody asks 'when
do I stop eating' or 'when do I stop working' or 'when
do I stop driving'. You have goals for almost every
activity you do. You stop working when the shift is over,
stop eating when you're full, stop driving when you arrive.
Why is the casino any different. Have a goal, when you
reach it, stop. And because every game in the casino
has a negative expectation outcome, a goal is even more
important. If you have trouble stopping when you have a
goal, you have a big problem. Just like you would with
anything you couldn't stop doing.

I have always believed that when someone gets thrown in the pool the party's over.

Quote: Llew

I'd imagine that most people have a set amount they're willing to lose per day or per trip and stop there, but what about when you're winning?

I do not have a "win limit". If I win, I will press half my winnings until I lose. I then reset to my original bet and start over. If I lose three in a row, I will color up and end the session.

If I double up in a session, I will take my original buy-in off the table, and only play with house money, that way, I don't dip into my own money. As stated above, there is no need to chase when the table turns cold. Do other things, even if ahead for the trip. This is a difficult discipline to practice when you run into rough patches, but it is a lot less fun to have to sit in the sportsbook watching horse races, because you are totally broke.

Quote: ncfatcat

I have always believed that when someone gets thrown in the pool the party's over.

OR, that's just when the crazy pool party gets started..........