I Don't Know How to Handle Losing a Large Pot

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CXC

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I've been playing poker for years now and one my biggest issues is and has always been my inability to control myself whenever I lose a big hand/pot. It's going to happen of course but I just can't seem to stop the slide when it does.
My game shifts from neutral to either ultra aggressive frustrated or timid like mouse. In each case, I go down like the Titanic because I'm either dumping or bleeding chips away.

I've developed a pattern over the years of loading up my account and starting off very well only to get in that situation described above and just lose everything.

Does anyone have any helpful advice or suggestions to combat this issue? How do you zone out and refocus when sh*t hits the fan?
 
vitalicharniak

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Remind yourself that luck is an integral part of poker, and it is she who encourages the players to return to the poker table. Treat the lost money as something to be loaned. If you keep your temper, you will win back them
 
DaveE

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It might take some time but you'll see them often enough that you just roll your eyes and adjust your play to how many chips you still have in play (if any).
 
Odysseus101

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As soon as you lose that hand, stop playing.

More importantly, all of this is part of a pattern, including the doing well before the big loss. Ideally, you want to stop playing before the that big losing hand.
 
Alex Sentsov

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I agree - it's a shame. But you need to keep yourself in hands. Otherwise there will be destruction.
 
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Aparajit

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I've been playing poker for years now and one my biggest issues is and has always been my inability to control myself whenever I lose a big hand/pot. It's going to happen of course but I just can't seem to stop the slide when it does.
My game shifts from neutral to either ultra aggressive frustrated or timid like mouse. In each case, I go down like the Titanic because I'm either dumping or bleeding chips away.

I've developed a pattern over the years of loading up my account and starting off very well only to get in that situation described above and just lose everything.

Does anyone have any helpful advice or suggestions to combat this issue? How do you zone out and refocus when sh*t hits the fan?

Hello, I have similar situation. When such things happen, what I advice you is SIT OUT for next 5-7 hands..

If you have Pockets or A K something then fine, or just sit out..

If your mind says, U will run out of blinds or like You are in 5th place before, now again lets go there to that place etc .. ignore all that.
Like if you run out of blinds let it be.. dont be aggressive at all. If you get easily seeing cards, click sit out button :) good luck
 
HennieP

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Figure out why losing upsets you. Do you expect to always win with big hands? Do you have a competitive nature maybe? Were you hoping to get rich quick by playing poker?

Find the reason behind the anger or unhappiness and deal with it. Poker is a game of variance. You're going to lose as often as you're going to win. The key is to minimize your losses and get maximum value from your wins. This is how pro's make a living. Not because they win more often.
 
WOLF55555

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First you need to calm down. Then look for the reasons of losses. To perform similar situation. And think why you lose.
 
vvalente

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Try to stop playing for a while, a day or two, and do other things you like. If you can not, poker may not be the best option for you.
 
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MoorsT10

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For myself, i have more issues whit the random calls you get in small stakes. Is bigger stakes an option?
 
BriceNice

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The main thing to remember when you lose a big hand is DO NOT try to get it back right away. I see this all too often, the big stack at the table loses half his stack, and gets super aggressive raising every hand out of position trying to get it all back in a hurry. What they fail to realize is they are basically turning their cards over by playing a wider range of hands which makes it easier to play back at them. Its best to take a few hands off (unless you get AA the very next hand) so you dont give off the appearance of someone on tilt, even if you are. Take a breath, gather yourself, wait for that button then begin to tactfully begin to rebuild your stack.
 
Kenzie 96

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Focus on how you played the hand & why you played it as you did, focusing on the results leads you, well, to where you are now.
 
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Spripe

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I have had the same issue as you and sometimes it still get me. It's very tough to do but since you are aware you tilt after losing a big pot you should take a break for a bit. Do some 10-30 minute excercise, make a snack. Try to come back with a fresh mind. And slowly try to not feel so bad for when it happens. We all win and lose big pots but learning to not tilt when losing is important here
 
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Adventurebound2

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I'll tell you from experience that laptops do not do well in kickboxing bouts...
 
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Yoo

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I had this issue and still happen sometimes what i do after i loose a big hand is to stay out of hands for some time.Yesterday i had around 50k on league and i lost til i had left 7k ive waited and at some point my stack was 480k ive finished on 37.And wasnt first time when ive reentered in game so miracles happen:D
Because of that poker is so funny.Try to not play next hands after you loose big pots and especially DO NOT go all in right after you loose cuz that all in is your doom most of time isnt covered by a strong hand is just your angry.I play my chips til the last of it.
 
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CXC

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I think one of thing that really gets to me is that I pride myself on being a patient and selective player. As HennieP suggested, it's almost this expectation in my head that because I only play premium hands and pick my spots that I should be rewarded all the time. Obviously not the case. I'll be honest, it frustrates me to sit at table for potentially hours and have my patience and discipline mean nothing. It feels like wasted my time. That's when the self destruction begins.

Hmmm. Never though about it like that before.
 
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rushdaman

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I call the feeling you are describing as being on "TILT". I will not play if i start feeling like that. I think the best situation is to take a quick break maybe a few hours to a few days and come back refreshed and not on TILT. It seems to work for me.
 
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wils18

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Losing control of the game and patience is better give yourself some time otherwise you will come over a hand on which you can lose much of your money
 
Erpherk

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Sounds like you are playing a cash game, i would say stop playing after your lose big hand, is best to play thinking clearly. If this is the cause of your losing should be a easy fix.
 
kbaker420

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Hard for me too

I have the same problem, thinking on it its hard not too depending on the situation its hard for myself to untilt after a big cooler bad beat, i always think in the back of my mind "Seems to happen to me alot" get it in good only to lose. Hard to bounce back sometimes but its not impossible theres always room for improvement on my part
 
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subsinind

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I've been playing poker for years now and one my biggest issues is and has always been my inability to control myself whenever I lose a big hand/pot. It's going to happen of course but I just can't seem to stop the slide when it does.
My game shifts from neutral to either ultra aggressive frustrated or timid like mouse. In each case, I go down like the Titanic because I'm either dumping or bleeding chips away.

I've developed a pattern over the years of loading up my account and starting off very well only to get in that situation described above and just lose everything.

Does anyone have any helpful advice or suggestions to combat this issue? How do you zone out and refocus when sh*t hits the fan?


Just few months back saw a player with pretty healthy stack of 600-700 change tables to my table because he wanted to see the TV better. He played almost every hand raising and reraising and stacked another 200 in no time. All this in a 1/2 game. He was cruising but very talkative and boastful of previous plays and that was his downfall.

After one hour of steady play he took a bad beat. Lost 250. Soon after another bad beat and started complaining that this dealer always deals him bad river. Then another beat which he played badly and he was just up 100 for a 300 effective stack now. Still pretty talkative but his demeanor has changed and more complaining about the dealer.

After 30 minutes, he bought in! Now put his headphones and stopped talking. Another 30 minutes, he bought in twice - 200 full stack once and then half stack for 100. He soon busted and left in disgust.

In total, he last 3.5 full stack buyins for a loss of 700 bucks but this is NOT including his stack size when he came to this table. He actually lost 700 in profits and another 700 of his buyins in a matter of 3 hours. At 1/2 which has a win rate of 12-15 bucks an hour, that loss is a total-wreck.


At the end of the day, he still blames the dealer.
Tilt is bad. Over confidence is bad.
Take a break or get the f outta there when you take the beat and it pisses you so much. You will actually end up making money.
 
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danielbalaci

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As soon as you lose that hand, stop playing.

More importantly, all of this is part of a pattern, including the doing well before the big loss. Ideally, you want to stop playing before the that big losing hand.

That's not going to happen if you are in a tournament or just trying to do a mission or to make points and you are pressed by time, even if you stop playing for some minutes you still experience the frustration of loosing previous hand. So is not that simple ...
 
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danielbalaci

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Hello, I have similar situation. When such things happen, what I advice you is SIT OUT for next 5-7 hands..

If you have Pockets or A K something then fine, or just sit out..

If your mind says, U will run out of blinds or like You are in 5th place before, now again lets go there to that place etc .. ignore all that.
Like if you run out of blinds let it be.. dont be aggressive at all. If you get easily seeing cards, click sit out button :) good luck

Is not that simple, this it will not going to happen very often ...
 
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Tricky123bet

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In cash games your winrate can be dependent on you staying away from tilt as much as you can. It's so fragile. It's even more important than actually playing bette4 than your opponents. If you are a good player but manage bad beats very poorly and tilt hard every time it happens to you, good luck is all I have to say, unless you DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
So just quit playing after every bad beat. The solution is right there for you, but I must admit executing on it can be tough. But if you can learn to do this it will increase your winrate by a lot, or make you a winning player instead of a losing player. That's just the way it is.

I have the same problem, thinking on it its hard not too depending on the situation its hard for myself to untilt after a big cooler bad beat, i always think in the back of my mind "Seems to happen to me alot" get it in good only to lose. Hard to bounce back sometimes but its not impossible theres always room for improvement on my part

A change in mindset would be of good help to those who struggle with tilt. I think in the way of math and probabilities, which helps me to deal with bad beats. For example getting it in with JJ against a fish that calls with 55, and he sucks out with the 5 on the river. I know the probability is about 18% for that to happen, but 82% of the time I will win that pot. And you should just feel good about it when that happens. You know that it will earn you so much profit in the long run that a simple bad beat won't change anything.
When people don't think about the probabilities in poker, they automatically assume that when they get AA in against KK, they will always win. But poker doesn't work like that, which would be naive to think.
So I don't get upset when a bad beat happens. So what? It's not like bad beats are going to disappear. Why call them bad beats anyway, because they are inevitable and is a part of poker. I know anyway that I earned money from an EV perspective.
I obviously dislike bad beats, but because of the good feeling I get from knowing it was a profitable play, it negates the negative feeling from the bad beat.
No one is immune from tilt. Not even the best players in the world, but they can control their tilt much better.
I would say read and learn about expected value (EV) if you haven't already. Because then you will be able to understand exactly how much money you are expected to win in the long run for a certain situation in poker. So I often show no emotion to bad beats when they happen, but can actually sometimes smile when a fish sucks out on me, because I know he basically will just shove money my way in the long run if he keeps playing that bad.
But when you are running really bad, getting a lot of bad beats (which will happen from time to time, cause you know, we can't run good or average 100% of the time), it will be very hard to not tilt, and leaving the table is probably the best option.

But if you get upset over a single bad beat YOUR GAME WILL SUFFER A LOT from that.

Edit: I am by no means a pro at tilt control and neither am I that good at poker. But I think that the entire biggest reason that I can be a winning player at all at the microstakes is because I can handle tilt better than the average player at microstakes cash games online.
 
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