When to quit playing

22 January 2019

By Frank Scoblete

When to quit
Last week I showed how the cliché of “quit when you’re ahead” really wasn’t and isn’t the be-all and end-all of knowing when to call it a session or a day or a trip. People who get ahead on the very first decision aren’t going to leave the casino.

So when should we quit play? Is there a true and ready formula for doing so? No, not really. But while I can’t give us an absolute answer to the question “when should I quit play?” I can give us some ideas of when would be a good time to quit.

So let’s look at some situations where leaving is called for and then look at the internal clock that most of us have in a given day.

Situation one: You just had your head handed to you and you’ve been wiped out. You lost your session stake. You are thinking of taking out another marker or going to the ATM or credit machine. No sir, quit play right now and don’t come back for at least eight hours or, if you are staying in the hotel, don’t come back until the next day. Getting wiped out is the worst thing that can happen in a casino and you were just wiped out. Leave, right now, leave.

Situation two: You’ve been playing for three hours and you feel tired, you are up a little, or down a little, or maybe even, but you think “I’m getting tired. Should I quit now?” Yes, quit right now. Asking yourself that question is the clue to get up and end the playing right then and there. Your brain is telling you to do so…so do so.

Situation three: You’ve given yourself “X” amount of money to play a given session and you have a good win after a couple of hours but two things are happening in your head:

• I really want to leave with a win, but
• I really want to keep playing too.

So now you either quit playing which you obviously don’t want to do or you take half of your win and play with that money. That’s the way to go (or some version of that). If you keep winning, you occasionally take another half of the new winnings and play with that. You keep playing until you lose the half win and then you leave. Or, if you say to yourself, “I’m tired and I’ve won a lot” then you leave. This is a situation where you can have your cake and eat it too.

Situation four: You have a dinner date or show tickets or you really want to work out or meet your spouse and/or date or your friends. The casino is not going away. It will be there after all is said and done with all you said (“Yes, we’ll go to dinner” or “Yes, let’s see that show,” or “Yes, honey I’d love to meet you in our room at 10 o’clock”) and all you’ve just done (“I’ve been playing for five hours already”). Stop playing and do those other things. Tomorrow is another day.

Situation Five: You’ve been drinking. You start to bet more than usual. Is it possible that even with booze flowing throughout your system and your brain is a little (or a lot) fuzzy that you realize you will be screwing up by betting more and more money? I hope so. Quit and go to sleep

Your internal clock speaks loudly to you. What is this clock? Why is this clock important to you? Next week my friends, I’ll talk about our internal clocks.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. Frank’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, and at bookstores.