Win goals work fine when you reach them. I have high win goals. Rob chastised me for not walking when I hit the $25 straight flush. Well, the payoff on the straight flush and the subsequent AAAA on the $5 bonus machine (about $8K total) had not yet reached my win goal.
When I took my $4K royals on recent visit and took them to play $5 Bonus Rob chastised me again. But $4K is not my win goal.
When I play VP my win goal is $20K or more. Winning $4k or $8k only gives me more bullets to keep me firing.