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This meant I was at more risk than most of losing all the money in my account - to do so I would only need fail with four successive buyins. However what my system guarded against was any massive losses in a night.

Running out of money in my account prevented me from simply reloading at the table over and over again. Having to deposit money back into the poker account is a sobering process. In the very least it gives you a cooling off period in which to consider whether you really should be playing at a certain table that night - or at all.

When I moved up to NL $2/$4, my transactions were in units of $250 but the principle was the same. At the start of any night I would never have more than $250 available to lose before having to redeposit money. Losing two lots of $250 would signal time to call it a day, (and if will power alone is not enough, this can be enforced by having daily limits put on your account).

Admittedly some days I didnt stick to my system and these would often be the most annoying ones. Perhaps I had accrued a couple of grand without bothering to withdraw, then hit a bad run of cards combined with "going on tilt" (tilt is when a losing streak affects the way you play, generally making your play more rash and increasing your loses). Before I knew it I could have blown 8 buyins and bust out my account which was usually followed by a restless night's sleep.

The dangers of going on tilt cannot be understated. The key fact is that most people on tilt don't realize that is the case. Usually triggered by a moment of very bad luck, playing on tilt will believe that every pot they lose is the result of more bad fortune, when in fact it is due to playing badly. Often players will be determined to get their bankroll up to where it would have been had they not suffered the initial bad beat, so start taking a lot more risks, another costly error.

Another favorite tactic of old was the so called "Hit and Run". Say you started at a table with 15 dollars, then you would leave as soon as you got up to 30. You would then cash out your $15 and join a new table. Sometimes it would make you unpopular among the more observant players, but it was well worth it for its effectiveness.

The mechanics of sitting at a table with a large stack are far removed from having a small stack. With a small stack you can afford more easily to go in because you feel you are favorite, with a large stack this is too dangerous. The more chips you hold, the more you stand to lose. It will be much harder to call that $7 dollar flop bet because you think he is bluffing, when you know he could put you all in for £25 after the next card.

Of course there are advantages to having a large stack. Playing with a bigger stack will alter the table's perception of you and allow for more intricate plays. Also, when you have the largest stack at a table, your potential gains will be highest as you can match any person's bet and put them all in if you choose.

None-the-less, these benefits are not enough to entice me to continue playing with a large stack. As a beginner I reasoned, "Why learn how to play with a big stack when there are 100's more tables to start over on?"

Now I cash out in and out in units of $500 but feel I am more disciplined than ever. I play a lot more limit poker where you can bring your entire bankroll to the table if so inclined. Therefore with each buyin I make a note of my leave table marks. On 20/40 Limit this is usually 300 dollars - if I lose $300 dollars I'll leave. Also if I get up a bit, but start to lose, I will leave as soon my stack is $300 off its peak, even if I'm still up for the session (a more sociable version of hit and run).

I don't understand why luck in poker seems to come in such runs. It appears you are lucky for a period, then something changes and nothing goes your way. As a mathematician, I know the game has no memory, so your previous luck has no effect on what will happen next. In theory, if you suffer a lot of bad beats, that is no reason to leave the table, but typically when you do stay, you just continue to run bad.