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Hey Everyone,

Since Black Friday I haven't gotten to play nearly as much poker as I'd like (I'm an American), so I've been working on my game by studying, reading, watching videos, ect.

I've been thinking a lot about my own play and I'd like to get some imput about my online cash game results.

I've done well at multiple forms of SNGs, MTTs and live cash games, but I'm a losing player in online cash games (I end up being a small winner w/ rakeback) and it's something I want to remedy if/when the games come back to the US.

One element of online cash games that I don't see discussed a lot is the ability of players to hit & run from table to table and how to deal w/ this. I've been reviewing old sessions of mine and it's something I've noticed happening. I'll stack off in some type of cooler situation and the player that has doubled up is then quickly gone from the table leaving me w/out an opportunity to keep playing w/ them.

It seems like one of the advantages of any type of online SNG or tournament format is the fact that the players are "forced" to keep playing until they bust. Not so w/ cash games.

It's true that live players could hit & run as well, but in reality they usually don't. It's just not a realistic opition to change games or quit after a quick double up in a live cash game.

Any thoughts on this? Am I thinking about this correctly? If so, how do people go about handling this situation in online cash?

it happens. maybe if the spot's real close, and part of the reason of making the play is to get information on a player, you might just let it go. just think of all hit & run artists as the same guy, and don't get frustrated, cause you'll see him again, and it doesn't really matter in the end. did you ever play Rush poker? it's kind of the same mentality we need to adopt.

Ask yourself what the problem is when a player is winning your money and leaves the table. Try to come up with a serious answer.

Ask yourself what the problem is when a player is winning your money and leaves the table. Try to come up with a serious answer.

That is awesome sir - What a fantastic way of looking at it. When you remove ego from the equation it's easy.

On a side note, I was playing the other day and noticed a guy sitting at about 10 tables ranging from $100NL to $400NL. Sat down and he raised then jetted after I folded. Basically was just trying to pick up 1bb at a time. Too bad I caught on and he lost a lot more when I kept 3betting him about 5-6 times in a row lol. Eventually he went away

You earn money by making correct decisions. Your opponent leaving the table is not a decision you make, and thus has 0 impact on your winrate. If it was somehow +EV for your opponent to leave the table, then you should be hit and running yourself all the time and get a crushing winrate. But that's not how it works obviously. You're trying to fix a problem that isn't there. What you should instead be fixing is the way you view the money. When an opponent stacks you, he doesn't have your money. He has his money. The money is his. And not yours. He won it. You can't win it back. If you stack your opponent, you won a stack. You didn't win your stack. You probably won it from someone else to begin it. I'm not quite sure how to best describe it but I think that should have gotten the point across.

nawhead said:

maybe if the spot's real close, and part of the reason of making the play is to get information on a player, you might just let it go.

but if we don't know if a guy's going to hit and run, i guess this can't apply...

general rule of thumb is that a lot of short buy's tend to hit & run. guys who get on a table and play monkey aggro and don't let up tend to hit & run. super nitty guys sometimes hit & run.

but anybody who fits the above description but are chatting it up tend to stay around i've found.

and sometimes i open a new table and i'm at the tail-end of a session, so i may seem like a hit & runner sometimes. but it's just the end of my session. like Grindcore said, don't take stuff like this so personally.

Thanks everyone for the imput (Especially Tackleberrys' post. You're like the Yoda of poker)
I'm starting to recognize it's not the hitting & running itself that is the problem, but my frustration/tilt/bad play that arises after it happens. Reviewing hand histories is helping me see spots where my game starts coming off the tracks shortly after I've lost a big pot to a player who's then immediately left the table.
Like I said in the OP, my results in online SNGs and tournaments are much better and I'm trying to work out why this is the case. Here are a few thoughts:
1) The players are generally weaker in SNGs and tournaments.
2) I think the fact that there's an actual stopping time in an SNG actually helps me to stay on my A game longer because there's an end in sight. The cash game is a lifetime game and I think playing too long when not at my best is an issue for me that is covered up by the SNG/tourney format.
3) The whole 'hit & run" tilty thing previously mentioned.
4) I'm SUPER competitive (In fact, if I lose at something, I'll pretend I'm not bothered and I don't care about losing because I'm THAT competitive.) and while this is helpful to my game in some ways; I find myself getting off my A game in online cash because of the speed of the game (Nothing crazy here, usually 4-6 tables max) and especially the lack of built-in breaks or ending points.
5) There is something about the way I'm looking at the money (Thanks Grindcore). Likely connected to my competitiveness.
Anyway, I could probably go on here, but if anyone notices flawed thinking please feel free to give me the business. Thanks.

You earn money by making correct decisions. Your opponent leaving the table is not a decision you make, and thus has 0 impact on your winrate. If it was somehow +EV for your opponent to leave the table, then you should be hit and running yourself all the time and get a crushing winrate. But that's not how it works obviously. You're trying to fix a problem that isn't there. What you should instead be fixing is the way you view the money. When an opponent stacks you, he doesn't have your money. He has his money. The money is his. And not yours. He won it. You can't win it back. If you stack your opponent, you won a stack. You didn't win your stack. You probably won it from someone else to begin it. I'm not quite sure how to best describe it but I think that should have gotten the point across.

I agree totally.

I think most people(me included) get annoyed when a player worse than us wins "our" money and leaves the table or sits out. The way I see it is that we lose an opportunity to play deep with a fish. So i guess technically it could have an impact on our winrate, say if a huge fish comes and sucks out on us for 100bb and leaves the table with a 200bb stack. If he stayed and didn't hit and run us we would have a massively +ev situation but if he leaves we no longer have that situation.

You earn money by making correct decisions. Your opponent leaving the table is not a decision you make, and thus has 0 impact on your winrate.

.

I agree totally.

I think most people(me included) get annoyed when a player worse than us wins "our" money and leaves the table or sits out. The way I see it is that we lose an opportunity to play deep with a fish. So i guess technically it could have an impact on our winrate, say if a huge fish comes and sucks out on us for 100bb and leaves the table with a 200bb stack. If he stayed and didn't hit and run us we would have a massively +ev situation but if he leaves we no longer have that situation.

didn't see this before i quoted and for sure like we lose ev but we didn't choose so w/e. If you cause him to leave, then get flaming mad (at yourself)

There's a couple of times where I think the knowledge of someone being a hit and runner makes for some strategy differences.

But yeah you really have to try to not let it bother you.

Just a part of the online game unfortunately, especially in heads up cash games.

What I was trying to accomplish by my post was to kind of get to the root of why we our mad. Like whether or not I get hit and run I would rather not have a fish leave the table with a deep stack. But you guys are right we cannot control what someone else does so it's better not to let it factor in to our play.

Its so weird when people talk about losing money to bad players. I actually rage out/have occasional tilt problems when I get obviously outplayed by a good player. Different types of ego problems I guess. I know I'm +ev against the 60/15 guy but the 32/25 guy who is making my life miserable might be wrecking my winrate/have to accept that he is very possibly a lot better than I am.