Fighting the Tilt!
Tilt - Definition:
Player experiences a run of exceptionally good or bad cards or a bad beat, which leads to him TILTING - playing without any respect to his money. His playing style shifts a lot from his "Perfect Play". He plays in a highly emotional state, he doesn't feel he can win no matter what, he calls just to find out if he's beat again. To put it shortly, he reaches the state where he doesn't care about his money anymore!
Now, if you're new to poker, and all your opinions are about poker are just what you've seen on TV... you might think that only bad players and gambling addicts tilt. The sad truth is, EVERYONE DOES. This was a big surprise to me, when I started playing, and even though I considered myself as having STEEL NERVES and self-control of a Tibetian Monk, it didn't take me long time to subdue to tilting. Tilting can't be stopped, you can only train through hard work and difficult effort to control it, and just stop playing when you notice the symptoms.
Ok so, here's my solution, with actually proven results.. no downswings other than a few big pots I've lost due to correctly bluffing when the board for example has straight and flush, and the fish calls huge pot with second pair... or bad beats.
1) Whenever I lose a big pot due to a misjudgement, I look at the hand history, and try to see what went wrong. I ask friends for their suggestions on how they would have played the hand. But I used this concept when I played Warcraft 3, and it worked for me very well. Instead of getting mad and punching my fist into the wall, I trained myself to love losing games - because that's when you learn something new, and thus improve.
2) When I lose a big pot due to bad beat - a lucky, very improbable draw, I try to assure myself that I did the right play, and I'm the moral victor. And in the long run, it is he who makes the right decisions, who makes money, not the man who wins due to lucky draw.
Thus, Whenever I lose and can't make a moral comeback using the two aforementioned techniques, I stop playing, and go jog or hit the gym. It doesn't matter to me if I just started the session and I had the day free just for this. The most important element in a poker player, is self control. This is my way of controlling, that I'm playing only when I can do it at my best. And if I play only at my best, I win every single session. Releasing your anger in sports (or at least walking in fresh air to a grocery store) is a great way to cool your nerves, releave stress and make a moral comeback. One more suggestion, if you tilt often, you should over-bankroll your limit. If you play with 30xbuyin, it hurts MUCH less to lose a stack compared to 15x or 20x buyin.
On another note, I've been working out nearly every day for a few weeks now, and I'm getting in great shape :P Being in good physical shape improves my concentration mentally too - I'm more focused when I play, and I can carry out longer sessions at my best.
$1600 Bankroll now baby, yeah!
Player experiences a run of exceptionally good or bad cards or a bad beat, which leads to him TILTING - playing without any respect to his money. His playing style shifts a lot from his "Perfect Play". He plays in a highly emotional state, he doesn't feel he can win no matter what, he calls just to find out if he's beat again. To put it shortly, he reaches the state where he doesn't care about his money anymore!
Now, if you're new to poker, and all your opinions are about poker are just what you've seen on TV... you might think that only bad players and gambling addicts tilt. The sad truth is, EVERYONE DOES. This was a big surprise to me, when I started playing, and even though I considered myself as having STEEL NERVES and self-control of a Tibetian Monk, it didn't take me long time to subdue to tilting. Tilting can't be stopped, you can only train through hard work and difficult effort to control it, and just stop playing when you notice the symptoms.
Ok so, here's my solution, with actually proven results.. no downswings other than a few big pots I've lost due to correctly bluffing when the board for example has straight and flush, and the fish calls huge pot with second pair... or bad beats.
1) Whenever I lose a big pot due to a misjudgement, I look at the hand history, and try to see what went wrong. I ask friends for their suggestions on how they would have played the hand. But I used this concept when I played Warcraft 3, and it worked for me very well. Instead of getting mad and punching my fist into the wall, I trained myself to love losing games - because that's when you learn something new, and thus improve.
2) When I lose a big pot due to bad beat - a lucky, very improbable draw, I try to assure myself that I did the right play, and I'm the moral victor. And in the long run, it is he who makes the right decisions, who makes money, not the man who wins due to lucky draw.
Thus, Whenever I lose and can't make a moral comeback using the two aforementioned techniques, I stop playing, and go jog or hit the gym. It doesn't matter to me if I just started the session and I had the day free just for this. The most important element in a poker player, is self control. This is my way of controlling, that I'm playing only when I can do it at my best. And if I play only at my best, I win every single session. Releasing your anger in sports (or at least walking in fresh air to a grocery store) is a great way to cool your nerves, releave stress and make a moral comeback. One more suggestion, if you tilt often, you should over-bankroll your limit. If you play with 30xbuyin, it hurts MUCH less to lose a stack compared to 15x or 20x buyin.
On another note, I've been working out nearly every day for a few weeks now, and I'm getting in great shape :P Being in good physical shape improves my concentration mentally too - I'm more focused when I play, and I can carry out longer sessions at my best.
$1600 Bankroll now baby, yeah!
posted by Durandal at 9:16 AM
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