Three Signs to Knowing When to Quit
In any form of gambling, knowing when to walk away is something that is often difficult and never gets any easier with experience. It’s like going to the batting cages, whiffing on ten pitches in a row and then packing up and heading home completely unsatisfied. The reason any of us gamble is to win money, plain and simple, so that when we fail to do so in a session we tend to want to hang around until we accomplish that goal. The problem is, losing can increase our long term overall losses because of the physical and psychological effects that can befall us from a bad run. No one ever really wants to quit playing, so here are a few signs to look out for in case you need help identifying when it may be time to walk away. These do not apply just to poker, but rather practically all forms of gambling.
1. Poor Decisions – When most players start to loss, their decision-making begins to deteriorate, sometimes to disastrous levels. In poker they’ll start making loose calls and begin getting overly invested in pots, often times when their hands are of marginal strength at best. If you notice that during a losing session you start to play too many pots or find yourself calling off bets when you’re pretty sure you’re going to be beat, you may want to consider giving it a rest for at least an hour if not the rest of the night.
2. Irritability - I don’t know about you, but when I’m winning at cards, I feel great. I’m much more talkative, I tend to play better because my mind is clearer, and overall I’m just in a better mood. You won’t see a lot of angry winners at the table, however there is never a shortage of pissed off players that are ready to strangle someone because they’re losing big. Early signs of irritability include acting confrontational against your opponents or the dealer, or just being in an overall grouchy mood. You’ll never play your best poker/blackjack or anything else in this mindset and should definitely consider taking a break.
3. Elevated Risk – This does also fall into the poor decisions category, but it also warrants it’s own little section. There’s a reason I don’t play a lot of blackjack anymore, I couldn’t handle losing. If I had two stacks of $10 chips in front of me and lost one of the stacks $10 at a time, I would then bet the entire other stack on the next round and try to instantly get even. Then when I would lose that stack, I would start pulling out $100 bills and asking the pit boss to let me play the cash and not even let the dealer turn the money into chips. Like me, a lot of card players and gamblers will increase their bet sizes in all types of games in order to try and win their money back, it’s THE reason why Vegas is racking in all the cash. I had to actually stop playing blackjack in order to kick that habit, and you want to consider the same path if you find yourself digging bigger holes the deeper your losses get.
By: Chris Iaquinta
