Bad Loser Blues

I need to learn not to care when I lose but don't know if I can. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you have a mantra to help you tolerate when bad players hit their 2-3 outer with ease? The rage I have is extreme and I go on insta-tilt, which prevents me from playing any decent volume.

I know in my heart that tournament pokeR is unfair and I have to put up with confused blackjack players being successful. My downswings seem constant and it seems like more of a freefall. How do you keep registering for more punishment? I want people to play badly but I have this need for justice that's not mixing with cruel variance.

Drob, I know what you mean. I too used to feel the bad beat rage. I believe the longer you play, the easier the beats are to tolerate. It's a part of the game, and the suck outs are inevitable. They go both ways though. You will put the bad beats on others. Try to just chalk them up to variance. I try to instantly forget the beats. Pretend they didn't happen.

It's hard for me to cope with tilt ... I usually do not play after a couple of days ...

When you have downswing try to remember when you was upswing and believe that upswing will come again. Every one had a time when feels unbeatable and every hand you play you winn. So there’s time when you can’t win even with AA. Last night I played tournament, 100 hands was dead, then two good hands make every thing different. Only thing is can you wait?

I too used to care or worry about everything to the point of having very serious ulcers. Then one day I was talking to an old timer and he said when I let all these things bother me I was the only 1 it bothered no one else cares. He went on to say if nit does not bother anyone else why should I let it bother me? I consider this to be the best advice I ever received!! Don't let it bother you bro, just play another game and do it better!!!

A good way to look at a bad beat is to just be happy and shrug it off. You made all the plays you could and the other player got INSANELY lucky. Nothing you can do but laugh and keep your head up. If it's a sick beat and you can't control your emotions try to stop playing before you tilt and rip your whole bankroll

Keep playing poker and learn to win. Plus, we need to keep you, in the game. You will get better with time, I think. Good luck. See ya, at the tables.....

I have the same problems, I've become the Bubble Boy many times, and every time I turn into a psycho) And I start to feel like a loser. But then time passes and we again continue to play further, the most important thing is not to fall into tilt and stupid not to lose the entire bankroll. You need to be able to leave the game until that time until you calm down

Thanks for the replies, lots to think about there.

I just came off a minor winning streak where I bumped my roll about 30BIs but I dropped about 10 quickly about after. I know that we have bias when we play but I don't think I've ever had an upswing based on suck outs. Tho downswings tends to be that way for me, not that I don't get it in bad. Upswing for me is when results match odds.


I wonder how that affects variance. When I suck out on players I tend to gain the minimum, maybe get a few BBs out of it because I know not to get my stack in. When they are the one with 2-3 immediate outs, I get stacked. Not that I think it's good to get it in bad but I do wonder how it'd affects EV. Obviously I do suck out and stack people but when that happens, I feel my play was standard and I just ran into a better hand. Yesterday I only played one game and shoved my 11bb stack from unopened button with 33 but SB had QQ...I made a 4 flush. So it's not like it doesn't happen but I'm not matching losses from similar run outs happening to me.


Hurts the most on bubble...I feel your pain Vorem. I am resisting the temptation to go up in BIs to try and make up losses, if anything I play well below good BRM. Hurts less but I gotta do more volume. I can be a little bitch about losing and even feel victimized by not getting playable cards. Poker's so rough when the best playable hand you've had in 6 levels is K3s. That puts me on tilt too.


One thing I am trying to do mindset wise is to celebrate getting away from good hands. Recently I have been very happy when I make good folds. I think that shows some growth .

Take it as it is, sometimes you lose, sometimes the others win.Try not to risk all your chips and only go into the battle with good cards, meaning pairs T and higher, strong Aces. As it is free, you will even find people, that don't know, why they won this hand. They just had a feeling....

The longer you play, the better you can deal with it. Because you made the experience that there are bad days, even if you play the same way. When I started with poker I was so many times on tilt and hit on my table. 2 days ago I really got a very very bad beat against two player. They were both playing absolutely crazy and stupid (all in with 53o and such things) Then both went all in from Button and SB. I had AA in the BB and was sooo happy..What should I say: Both got the split-pot with AJo and J9o and my tourney was finished...I did not get mad but I did take a 10 minute break, because I needed to calm down. If they were good players, ok it would have been better to handle. But you need do accept, that THIS can happen all the time..