Don't leave based on how much you have won/lost - that's really illogical/bad thinking. You should be basing your decision to stay on purely objective factors - can you beat this table? Is it a profitable table to stay at? Are you on tilt? The amount of money youve made/lost at the current point in time is just the result of a few hands - it's a short term result that should have no bearing on your decisions.
If a game is good, and you're not tired/tilted (i.e. you're sure you can beat it) then you should stay as long as possible. Whether you're up 2 buyins already, or stuck the same amount, the table is profitable and you're beating it so you should stick around. Who knows when you'll be able to find that one fish who calls down to the river with any pair again? Stay at the table and keep making good decisions, in the aim of making the absolute most of the fish (even if the short term results are that you're being rivered in several pots and your stack is swinging around).
By the same logic, if a table is bad, then you should leave. It's hard to leave whilst stuck but its important to recognise if you're being exploited at a table or if there are simply easier games available. There's no point stubbornly sticking around at a table full of tight regs trying to get even when you could just leave and find a far fishier table which you'll be able to exploit easier. Being "even" or "up" at a table is irrelevant anyway - every player downswings and loses hands in the short term and you can't possible expect to quit ahead in every session that you play. If you try to do this you'll end up playing too long at bad tables, and even leaving profitable tables too early just to preserve your session's profits.
Session results are irrelevant in the long term and you'd do well to just ignore them. Until you have a good sample size of say 25,000+ hands you won't have a good idea of your long term win rate anyway, and so the results at one specific table, or of one session (or even of a particular week) shouldn't cross your mind at all as a poker player. Just observe how the other people are playing and what's happening in the pots you're playing. Are you getting it in good and being unlucky? If that's happening a lot its probably a fishy table and you should stay. Are you getting put in lots of difficult spots and making marginal calldowns not knowing where you're at? Sounds like your opponents know what they're doing and are possibly exploiting you. It's not an exact science but being able to "observe" your situation objectively irrespective of your ego or how much you're up/down is an important skill that you'd do well to learn.
Something which might help you would be to set a time limit on your games. Sit down at some tables and tell yourself you're going to play X hands, or play for 2 hours, and stick to it. The only instance when you can change this is if there's an extreme scenario - and that doesn't involve being "up" or "down" certain amounts. Pay attention to table dynamics and how they are changing - if the fish get felted and replaced by better players it might be best to move table or quit earlier than you had intended. If tables suddenly become really fishy it might be best to keep playing beyond your initial goal, provided of course that you're not tired or on tilt.
Don't leave based on how much you have won/lost - that's really illogical/bad thinking. You should be basing your decision to stay on purely objective factors - can you beat this table? Is it a profitable table to stay at? Are you on tilt? The amount of money youve made/lost at the current point in time is just the result of a few hands - it's a short term result that should have no bearing on your decisions.
If a game is good, and you're not tired/tilted (i.e. you're sure you can beat it) then you should stay as long as possible. Whether you're up 2 buyins already, or stuck the same amount, the table is profitable and you're beating it so you should stick around. Who knows when you'll be able to find that one fish who calls down to the river with any pair again? Stay at the table and keep making good decisions, in the aim of making the absolute most of the fish (even if the short term results are that you're being rivered in several pots and your stack is swinging around).
By the same logic, if a table is bad, then you should leave. It's hard to leave whilst stuck but its important to recognise if you're being exploited at a table or if there are simply easier games available. There's no point stubbornly sticking around at a table full of tight regs trying to get even when you could just leave and find a far fishier table which you'll be able to exploit easier. Being "even" or "up" at a table is irrelevant anyway - every player downswings and loses hands in the short term and you can't possible expect to quit ahead in every session that you play. If you try to do this you'll end up playing too long at bad tables, and even leaving profitable tables too early just to preserve your session's profits.
Session results are irrelevant in the long term and you'd do well to just ignore them. Until you have a good sample size of say 25,000+ hands you won't have a good idea of your long term win rate anyway, and so the results at one specific table, or of one session (or even of a particular week) shouldn't cross your mind at all as a poker player. Just observe how the other people are playing and what's happening in the pots you're playing. Are you getting it in good and being unlucky? If that's happening a lot its probably a fishy table and you should stay. Are you getting put in lots of difficult spots and making marginal calldowns not knowing where you're at? Sounds like your opponents know what they're doing and are possibly exploiting you. It's not an exact science but being able to "observe" your situation objectively irrespective of your ego or how much you're up/down is an important skill that you'd do well to learn.
Something which might help you would be to set a time limit on your games. Sit down at some tables and tell yourself you're going to play X hands, or play for 2 hours, and stick to it. The only instance when you can change this is if there's an extreme scenario - and that doesn't involve being "up" or "down" certain amounts. Pay attention to table dynamics and how they are changing - if the fish get felted and replaced by better players it might be best to move table or quit earlier than you had intended. If tables suddenly become really fishy it might be best to keep playing beyond your initial goal, provided of course that you're not tired or on tilt.