How & When To Cash Out in Poker

There are times that people end up playing too long and losing all of the money that they won when they should have cashed out and gone home. While this is a common problem, fortunately there are ways to curtail or at least limit these occurrences.  How one goes about it will be different for each person. Ultimately, each person will need to decide what works best for them.  In this article, we will discuss a few ways to determine when it is time to cash out.

It may be time to cash out once a person has reached their betting limit, after a set amount of time has passed or when they get a certain “feeling.” None of these will be right for everyone. It will take some time and experimentation to determine when the right time to cash out is for a particular person. However, it is important that a person is able to figure this out for them self and as soon as possible.  Below, we will take a look at some common tell-tale signs that it is time to quit playing and cash in one’s chips.

Once you have reached your betting limit

Some individuals get into trouble when they stay at the poker table too long. This occurs because they either had no plan prior to entering the casino or they allow emotion to chuck their plan once they start playing. Either scenario can be dangerous and costly. It is always a good idea to determine ahead of time how much money you will spend. Once you reach that limit, whether you are up or down, you should stop playing and cash out if you have won any money.

As you become more experienced, you may be able to follow your gut a little more. However, in most cases it is best to collect your money and stop gambling as soon as you have reached your betting limit. Some people will ignore this advice especially if they are on a losing streak. Determined to right the situation and win back what they have lost, they may continue to play until they have spent all of their money. This is obviously what you want to avoid.

After a set amount of time

Setting a time limit to gamble and then cashing out after that time has passed is another sometimes effective option. For example, you might want to give yourself four hours to gamble. When that time is up, you will cash out. Placing these types of limits on oneself can be good for both new and veteran players because it provides a little structure and discipline to a person’s play. Once they reach their pre-determined gambling time limit, it is time to stop playing and cash out. This might be a decent option for persons who never know when to quit on their own.

When you have “that feeling”

This may not be a great strategy for individuals who are just learning to play poker or who do not have a lot of experience with the game. Cashing out when you get “that feeling” is best for people who have been playing the game for a while, have developed good instincts and aren’t largely ruled my emotions. These individuals are better able to determine if they should cash out or keep playing.

Knowing when to accept your fate and cash out can be difficult. If you are on a roll, you will likely not want to stop playing. If you are losing you may not want to quit either because you want to desperately turn things around. However, it is important that you come up with guidelines that govern when to cash in your chips and go home. If you have some sort of “rules” in place, it will be much easier to quit. If you are simply going off of your emotions, you can end up in trouble really fast.

In Summary

In this article, we discussed three ways to determine when enough is enough. They included cashing in once you have reached a pre-determined betting limit and after a set amount of time, you may want to give yourself four hours and then promise to cash in after this time. Lastly, and this is for experienced players, consider quitting when you get the feeling that it is a proper time to cash in. People that are just starting out may want to follow more structured guidelines. This is because they may not actually be operating on instinct but on emotion which can be a bit dangerous and risky.