Massive tilt problem

'ello

Basically - I'm after some advice. I've got a terrible tilt problem. The ridiculous thing is I know I'm doing it.

Good example today - I've been grinding away for a few weeks at .10 / .25 bought into a new site with $200 and was fluctuation between $275 and $350. I went bust a few times at the table, and got really pissed off, because I was desperate to get to my $500 figure, and move up a level to .25 / .50.

So I go on mega tilt and sit with my whole bankroll at a $1/$2 table. I get bad beat again for all my money (which I shouldn't have been playing with anyway) - and there we go. I have to start again.

Problem is - I've done it (the same thing) a few times now, and I just can't stop myself going on mega tilt, lol. It's getting expensive (but I'm depositing what I can afford). I am a decent player and when I'm playing normally (i.e not on tilt) - I am a winning player. But when I lose - it hits me bad.

So as I see it, I have a few options.

1. Stop playing online poker, end of.
2. Do not deposit and to build a bankroll from $0 (doesn't really appeal)
3. Some other system or solution which you could tell me here.

So - we all ready know I have a tilt problem, and that I know it too - so I don't need a bollocking. I already know I should quit after losing my stack once - but can't seem to do it.

I know that I wont' be the only one with a tilt problem, so any constructive ideas would be most welcome!

Ta!

I think you're being too hard on yourself. Even a solid, winning poker player takes time to build a bankroll. If you put pressure on yourself to get to $500 quickly, you're going to make mistakes when you hit the inevitable backslides.

Instead of focusing on the goal, focus on the daily progress you're making towards it.

Amazon.ca: Zen And The Art Of Poker: Larry Phillips: Books

Read this book

Both Seany and Vic give good advice. But (and I don't mean to sound harsh), but this is bollocks:

If you know you're tilting, you have to get up and walk away. YOU HAVE TO. Instead of opening another table, log out ASAP, get up and go for a walk, a smoke, go punch a punching bag, anything except sitting at another table while you're frustrated and trying to "win it back". Because you know that your play will suffer, and so will your bankroll. Only when you've cleared your head completely, and not feel the sting of that last beat, should you sit down and play again.

If you want to be a good player, you must learn to conquer your tilt.

1) Stick to a limit that you're supposed to play. Really.
2) Record your play with software like checkyourbets.com
3) Play for a certain amount of time & a certain limit of buy-ins.

#1 is pretty obvious, but the other two help me a lot as well. When I actually go and physically enter into a database what games I'm starting up, and how much I'm rebuying, it really takes away the impulsiveness of just sitting down at a table.

Also, if I lose 2.5 buy-ins at my given limit in a session, I'm done. I just can't think straight. And I play for a set time period, so I don't keep trying to get back to even. If you just take things one day at a time, then losing sessions just become blips on your radar. Don't let yourself get consumed by your performance in 1 session.

i set up a punching bag in my garage, it helps

yeah dont play when ur on monkey tilt, you just lose.

One big key here is that you wrote: "desperate to get to my $500 figure".

Good to set a goal, but NOT good to set a time limit for getting there. 'Desperate' poker is not good poker. Play your good game and you will get there - when you arrive ...

Many times I have gone to the casino expecting to stay for 'x' time with 'z' BR. Sometimes I'm out earlier, other times dynamite couldn't blow me out of my winning seat and dinner is now on the breakfast menu.

Patience, patience, patience. You say you've set a 'max' goal so you can move up - set a MIN goal as well, and stick to it. If the cards say it's not your day, realize that you CANNOT buy the day. Quit while you're a little behind and live to fight another day.

Remove 'desperate' from the thinking. If you'll play desperate poker at 10/25, you'll do it at 25/50, 1/2, 2/4 etc. and the end result will be the same.

Good luck backing off - it's NOT easy, but well worth it.

Don't set monetary goals in the short term, as they are antithetical to the real goal you should have: to make good decisions at the table.

Cause and effect.

You know when you're tilting. This is the first step, this is good.

Why are you tilting? Because you lost money. There's not even anything about bad beats or cold decks in your OP (before you moved up, anyway), so it's quite likely the cause of your tilt is simply a monetary thing.

Why is losing money causing you to tilt? It might sound like the stupidest question ever, but plenty of poker players manage to play through losses without jumping up a few limits to chase them. You're tilting because, quite simply, the money really means something to you. It's blatantly obvious from the tone of your post that it does. Why are you playing $25NL with 10 buyins? Why are you so eager to move up to $50NL? Why all the info in the OP about "I bought in with $x and was fluctuating between $y and $z"? Why does trying to build a bankroll from $0 not appeal to you? (I'm not suggesting that this is a great idea, I'm just asking, somewhat rhetorically because I'm going to answer in a sec, why the idea doesn't appeal to you).

The answer to all the above is simply because you are overly motivated by money. Now there's nothing immediately wrong with that, but poker, certainly at $25NL, should be more about getting a grounding in the game and having fun than making money. Are you really having fun playing poker? Would you be having fun playing poker if you were breaking even over 20k hands? Would you be having fun playing 20k hands of $25NL?

To be truly successful and tilt-free, you need to distance yourself from your poker bankroll. Think of it as a separate entity to your 'money', after all you yourself stated that you aren't playing with anything you can afford to lose. Your $200 that you deposited is $200 in poker chips, not $200 in green papery things.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into a solitary post on an internet here is a more general overview of what causes tilt and what we can do about it. Also, as Seany said, ZATAAP is a great read.

Well based on your opening post i would say stop playing in general until you can control your tilt by walking away or how i do and thats realizing that over the course of x amount of hands i will win the the long run because "BAD poker players hand out bad beats, and GOOD poker players recieve them" you want the bad players to hit once in a while so that it will keep them playing the way they are and eventually that means losing. I also prevent TILT by taking a break and saying out loud the money is not my money anymore so why should i harp on it. Focus on my game and realize that i will only lose more if i stay pissed off. But, until you can control your tilt to a degree i would say stop playing for now. The worst thing that you can possibly do (Trust me i've been there) is chase losses by moving up in limits. Remember "GAINS COME SLOWLY, LOSSES COME QUICKLY" that is the best piece of advice that i've ever heard.
Good luck on your quest. PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE!!!!!

really i do understand what your doing...all it is is self control...leaving notes telling yourself not to do it or even someone else like this forum telling you not too.....

I'd like to thank everyone for the words - really helpful actually

I was thinking of joining an online poker league as an alternative to depositing again.

See my post about this here.