500 posts later...

500 posts, woo hoo! it took me almost a year to get here but i made it. no need for congrats as i feel that i don't spend nearly enough time contributing to the forum. well with that said, i thought i would post an article from Cardplayer that i thought was pretty sound BRM advice. so here it is, i hope you enjoy it. thanks again for everything, this place is the best.

What is Worse Than Tilt?


BY: STEVE ZOLOTOW |

Overconfidence is terminal




As a poker player develops, he realizes that tilt, also known as steaming, can be a terrible trap. A tough beat or two can cause the normally disciplined player to come unglued. He'll play hands, call raises, and try bluffs that he wouldn't have considered at the start of the session. He may switch to a game with higher stakes in his attempt to get even. On some occasions, maniacal play will lead to getting even or perhaps winning. Most of the time, however, he will lose more. Sometimes the loss is much more money and at a much faster rate than he would have imagined possible. Now what could be worse than that?

A player who goes on tilt almost always recognizes it later. He goes home and thinks about the crazy things he did in the heat of the moment. He vows never to let it happen again, and usually manages to stay disciplined for the next few sessions. In fact, a lot of pros manage to bounce back from occasional bouts of going on tilt by playing a series of long, tough sessions. For that reason, I believe that as bad as tilt is, there is something worse. To lead up to what it is, I'll share one of my favorite sports quotes of all times.

At one time, the Columbia University football team lost about 30 games in a row. Finally, they got lucky and won a game. Naturally, they lost their next game. A reporter interviewing the coach asked, "To what do you attribute today's loss?"

The coach responded, "Overconfidence!"

Strangely enough, overconfidence is almost certainly a bigger bankroll destroyer than tilt. The causes of overconfidence are the opposite of the causes of steaming, since it comes from winning instead of losing. But it has many of the same results; the overconfident player starts to play more hands, call more raises, attempt more bluffs, and move into bigger games.

Winning streaks result from a combination of skill and luck. In the short run, luck is a much more influential factor than skill, and the short run may be a lot longer than you think. A player who only rates to break even can have a winning streak of several months' duration without anything unusual happening. He just ran lucky for a while. If overconfidence sets in and leads him to play more hands, call more raises, attempt more bluffs, and move into bigger games, he is heading toward disaster.

In any one session, a disaster caused by tilt will lead to a bigger loss than one caused by overconfidence. Disasters caused by overconfidence are worse than those caused by tilt because it is harder to recover your equilibrium. A player on tilt realizes it pretty quickly, vows to stop, and almost always starts the next session playing his best game. An overconfident player will think his recent losses are due to bad luck. He will continue to play poorly against players who are better than he is. And he will often do it in games that are too big for his bankroll. The more he loses, the more he will blame his bad luck. Will he start to play better? Will he move down to a small game? Never! He knows he's better than these guys and he will keep on trying to beat them forever. Every cardroom has some of these guys wandering around. They usually are trying to get someone to stake them and are talking about how bad the other players are. Tilt is temporary, overconfidence is terminal.

Congrats on 500 posts Chiefer!

thanks dax.

I think this article was pretty well written. I have found myself on tilt many times and did exactly what he was talking about, ie. playing higher limits to retrieve the money lost, playing hands I wouldn't dream of playing in normal play, etc. I have learned to recognize those signs and I stop playing, I just turn the computer off and allow some down time. I have also experienced "overconfidence", I place high in the money or win and suddenly I feel like I can play anyone and beat them, WRONG... I definately get knocked down a few pegs after that, lol! It's all about balance and finding your rythem, if it doesn't feel normal you have to recognize the signs of tilt or overconfidence and adjust accordingly.

Ok I'm done rambling now

A quality 500th post Chiefer!

Very nice! Congrats on 500, and here's to 500 more.

thank you, thank you, i'll be here all week. don't forget to tip your waitress.

Is that anything like tipping cows?

it's a lot less messy and a lot less fun.

Dead on, that's why if you talk to people you'll find that maybe 90% of the online players are winners, and unless the other 10% are dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars each, that can't be possible. But don't worry, that's where the money comes in, when the losing players think that their wins are normal and losses are simply cold streaks. They keep playing because they "know" they're a winning player, yet keep dumping their money, claiming that their 2-year long losing streak is just because of a bad run of cards. Don't correct them, re-assure them that they're right, and then sit at the same table they do

Congrats chief on the 500 mark,WTG,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,buck

Congrats on the 500 mark. Keep up the good poker based posting

I concur.

Awesome!

thanks everyone, much appreciated. i hope to contribute as much as possible.

Enjoyed your 500th post!

Happy 500th post!

Liked the article. I've managed to stop playing when drunk or uber-tired and I'm now able to laugh in the face of bad beats, but I will plead guilty to slight over-confidence after a couple of wins/successes. Lets hope I can change this.