2:19am: I get emails all the time asking if there’s a set routine I follow as pertains to cashing out. I hear horror stories about people winning big one night, only to lose it later and find themselves wishing they had cashed it out while they could. Personally, I don’t think the “cash out quick when you hit big” method has any validity to it (unless you are a losing player in the long run), however I do think that anything that is systematic and gets you into a routine in poker is always a good thing. Therefore, if you haven’t developed a system for cashing out, you should strongly consider it. So with that said, what’s mine?

First off, I always keep a set amount in my account. I won’t say what that amount is, but let’s say for the sake of argument $2,000 — which by the way, is more than enough for a $50 heads up sit n go bankroll. Let’s call this amount my “threshold.” On my net worth/bankroll sheet it’s always written down as having $2,000 in my PokerStars account, even if I actually have less in it. Let’s say I go 3-7 on the night and the final net profit is -$225.00. Let’s also say that I go 7-8 the next night, for a final net profit of -$87.50 . That brings my two day net profit to -$312.50. However, no worries because I’ll never write down that I’m actually down. I just don’t cash out until I’m up over my threshold. Wouldn’t it be nice to never have a losing day?

With this method, there are no losing days — just days. What this does is puts you in the right mindset of “I’m never down because I always win in the longrun”, so you only have to worry about how much time it’s gonna be until you’re able to cash out, not if you’ll be able to cash out. It might take you 2-3 days to get back to the threshold, so when you’re down you’re not really “down”, you’re just working for free at the moment. If you know for a fact that you’re a winning player in the long run, then you will be able to take full confidence in yourself knowing that you’ll always get back to the threshold.

So how much over the threshold should you cash out at? That’s totally up to you, but I recommend 2 heads up matches.

There is also another system for cashing out that I think warrants some consideration. I call it the “true expectation” method. Why? Because you’re paying yourself on a “per game basis”, according to what your long term expectation is. For example, let’s say according to Sharkscope you have an average profit per game of $5. Assuming that the data is valid, you can figure out a set number of matches everyday that you need to play in order to earn what you want. That being said, let’s say that ideally you’d like to make $100 per day. Well, in order to make $100 per day with a $5/game average profit, that would mean that you should play exactly 20 matches a day to assure that you will make an average of $100 per day. Notice I didn’t say “assure that you do make $100 per day.” That’s because deviations will occur, but will always average out to exactly $100 over a large sample size. If you don’t prefer playing a set number of games per day, try just simply paying yourself $5 per match and play as many as you’d like. Once again, since we’re working with valid data, you’re paying yourself according to true expectation — so as long as you have a sufficient amount in your account to handle the swings, you will almost always be at, slightly above, or slightly below your threshold. There is a small catch to this method: you need a REALLY big sample size before you can circle a number and call it your true expectation. For heads up sit n gos, I wouldn’t try this until you have at least 1,500 games under your belt.

These two methods are very different, but they have one thing in common: they are systems, and systems are an important part of playing for a living. Do you have one?