When gambling, when do you throw in the towel because you are losing?

[Alan Mendelson]

This is about losing and when you quit or throw in the towel about losing. It is not about winning or having win goals. It is strictly about losing and when you decide to stop.

To narrow down the choices and options, let's imagine that you believe you have an "advantage" in the game you are playing. The advantage could come from various things, for example:

At blackjack, you are an expert card counter.
At craps, you are a dice influencer or dice controller.
At live poker, you are a skilled poker player.
At video poker, you know the correct strategy and you are on a game with a positive edge or positive pay table.

But for this survey, we want to know when you decide to call it quits because even with your advantage, things are not going to plan.

So when do you call it quits and throw in the towel? Please take part in the survey and add your comments and thoughts. Thanks.

[regnis]

VP-70% of the cash in my pocket or the clock on the wall. I don't bring enough cash to play VP that I have to cut or limit my losses that much. VP for me is just to kill time.

Craps-25% of my line of credit. And this is to have $$ left for the remainder of the trip. As you know, if dice are bad you can blow the wad in 1st night.

I will admit that when it comes to horse racing, I am much like an advantage player in that no matter how much I may be down, I do expect and believe that I will hit something big and bail out. But I have many more ways than a royal to do that, and I am not dealing with an RNG. I am dealing with 45 years of experience and expertise--and playing against other players (most of whom are less skillful)--not against the house.

[Alan Mendelson]

I think a daily budget is more important than a trip budget because when you use a trip budget you run the risk of borrowing from another day because you might be having a bad run on your first day at the casino. And this is true especially for those who might plan a lengthy trip to Las Vegas. The last thing you want to do is have money for a four-day trip to Vegas casinos and then blow it all on the first day leaving you no more casino action for the rest of your trip.

[JamieV]

I mostly play craps. I usually call it quits when a one or the other of these things happen:

I lose 50% of session bankroll

Three consecutive 7-outs

I just can't seem to win a bet

I have gotten much better at recognizing when I'm 'off'.

[arcimede$]

I quit when I have played 7 hours. I didn't see that one in your list.

[Alan Mendelson]

I quit when I have played 7 hours. I didn't see that one in your list.

I think option #8 fits you.

[arcimede$]

I think option #8 fits you.

Option #7 is probably closer to the truth. I have figured out that I get fairly tired after 7 hours of play.

[redietz]

I'm with arci, only with the caveat that "I quit when my eyes hurt due to glare or too much smoke."

Why don't you take a poll and see how many people restrict their gambling to positive EV games?

[Alan Mendelson]

Redietz, I have another question: how many casinos have positive EV games available and where the heck are they?

[regnis]

Redietz--you are spoiled. We have nothing near full pay games in Chicago. In fact, today my eyes popped out when I got 50 for a full house. Then I saw that I had accidently hit JOB instead of Bonus because the screen was out of sync and leaning left. So my choice is play inferior games or don't play at all--unless I am in Vegas or AC.

[arcimede$]

I believe there are full pay opportunities in the Chicago area. Note that Alan has recently figured out that he is playing a positive game. There's more to playing smart than picking the machines.