Dealing with tilt

[usmc2doc]

CardsChat Diary

Personally, I just got busted out of a 30,000 ACR tourney. Two hands back to back. First hand, I had KK on the bb and called an all-in from the button for roughly half of my stack. He shows Q7h. Flop gives me KA3 with one heart and he hits runner runner hearts. VERY NEXT HAND, I am dealt AA and the same guy shoves with AQo and flops a Q and hits another one on the river. I dang near threw my computer across the room lol. My first thought was to come here and write it out and honestly, it has helped to calm me down. I think just being able to share my frustration helps alleviate the tiltmeter. It was still painful because we were approaching the bubble, maybe ten spots out. Definitely made me question whether or not it was rigged, but I just needed to vent and remember my good spots. Not sure if I would do anything different in these spots because I feel like I made pretty standard plays. The only alternative would be to play ridiculously nitty just to get in the money buuuuttttttt who does that? Am I wrong? Thoughts and opinions?

 

[prizzy711]

Man it really, really, sucks when a guy sucks out and you bust. I try to think, "I'm glad he is in here." So I can get paid other times.
I watch the streamers. They take these bad beats pretty darn well (except for lex getting busted from wcoop main last year). I assume it gets easier the longer you have been playing.

 

[zinzir]

I know the great game we all love to play has a lot of ups and downs built into it and I think I've came a long way from how badly I used to tilt when I was younger but I still have troubles after losing a few hands in quick succession that I'm pretty far ahead in.

I feel that as I've started to take poker more seriously this is something that can seriously limit my progression in the game as my tilt has caused several shorter than planned or the not uncommon happenings of me just spewing when I try and play while I'm on tilt.

What are some of the ways you deal with tilt? I feel like walking away when I start to feel it happening is smart and obvious but I'd like to develop the discipline to be able to play while when things aren't going my way.

The first message that transpired from your post was that you really enjoy playing poker. Because of that, when the thought of "maybe it's time to quit" pops into your head, it's definitely time to quit, you are already past the point where quitting can still be postponed. That's how the brain works when you do things that you like, not only poker, but anything pleasurable and addictive. So don't try to fight it, just move on to other things, that's always another day for poker. You play poker for fun and for money, when you are on tilt you lose money and have no fun. Compensate for the time you take off when becoming aware of tilt by staying longer when things are going well for you at the table.

 

[2d_Sparrow]

Thanks for posting!

I think the two best ways to deal with tilt is one, talking about it with someone, a friend, coach, whoever. Secondly, is to practice being aware of it and finding the best ways for you to relax when it does happen.

Lots of people have suggested some really good ways to relax and take your mind off of what happened. The things you should focus on is one, to be aware of how you're feeling and to try and calm your emotions. Walking, deep breathing, meditation, a hot shower, anything that you can do to calm down first is good. Next, you can try to be aware of why you think you're tilting. Generally all tilt can be traced back to some sort of illogical behaviour pattern. Identify this and either question it yourself or again go to a friend or coach and question your illogical behavior, don't judge it, accept that it is there, just question it. Next you can decide how you would like to react instead, as in what you think an appropriate reaction should be.

I think tilt will always happen and its difficult to control our behaviours. But what you can control is the speed in which you calm yourself and the amount of situations that make you tilt. The more you work on the less that will occur. Think about it as in right now you have lots of reasons to tilt, if you work on all of them they will all go away. But as you live your life you will be affected by other things which will again cause you to tilt. Regular work on these will cause you to tilt less and have a better experience at the tables.

 

[dlam]

Again I was tilting today. The only cure really is to avoid playing poker or play as little hands as possible. But what happens is that I start thinking about this hand or that hand that I wanted to play but decided against it and starting following the board. What helps me not get tilted is that once I muck the hand, I don’t follow the what if’s I played this hand. A borderline hand I normally don’t play early I will play in position. Also need stronger than normal hand to play in early position. Cause really I don’t make much in the pot in early position as oppose to later position in later betting streets

 

[MishkaZL]

In my case, everything is very simple. For me, poker is a hobby and I only play for my own pleasure. So I always try to just make the right decisions and play the right poker, without any negative emotions. I think this is the best way to prevent tilt.

 

[thetick33]

have a very short memory on bad beats get back on the horse asap... if have to take a walk do that etc.... I don't tilt really but also do not play above my means so im playing cause i love to play.... being a person who hates losing hard at times especially if know your playing perfectly imo..... but you just got to say yep thats poker keep getting in good and doing right decisions and trust the process

 

[Michel_11]

Today in the monthly 1k freeroll for Brazilians my notebook suddenly turns off. When I manage to turn it back on and come back to the table I arrived with 3 BB's and obviously the pair doesn't hold against two higher cards that hit a pair on the river. Impossible not to be angry ...

 

[peaceofcoke]

1-Villain PF bet size, UOPFR/PFR-4BET/3BET. 1-Position. 2-Chips Hero vs Villain. 3-Villain ranges and flop seen. 4-Outs and pot odds 4 both 5- Actions analysis. 6- Villain AF. 7- CR percentage 8-bet to inspect opponent. 9- WTSD%. 10-Pot commitment.

 

[Badday94]

Personally, I just got busted out of a 30,000 ACR tourney. Two hands back to back. First hand, I had KK on the bb and called an all-in from the button for roughly half of my stack. He shows Q7h. Flop gives me KA3 with one heart and he hits runner runner hearts. VERY NEXT HAND, I am dealt AA and the same guy shoves with AQo and flops a Q and hits another one on the river. I dang near threw my computer across the room lol. My first thought was to come here and write it out and honestly, it has helped to calm me down. I think just being able to share my frustration helps alleviate the tiltmeter. It was still painful because we were approaching the bubble, maybe ten spots out. Definitely made me question whether or not it was rigged, but I just needed to vent and remember my good spots. Not sure if I would do anything different in these spots because I feel like I made pretty standard plays. The only alternative would be to play ridiculously nitty just to get in the money buuuuttttttt who does that? Am I wrong? Thoughts and opinions?

This is some crazy bad luck. I got tilted just reading this. How is this even possible. Things like this happen but afterwards you feel like you never want to play anymore. I know you posted this a long time ago, but I hope you're ok and that luck changed fir you lol

 

[ringworm]

If you know you're playing well and just getting unlucky, you can be confident in your play knowing that over the long term you will be a winning player. In the short term, you may have bad beats and unlucky losses. In order to win over time, you need the bad players who will occasionally get lucky against you. Be thankful that they are there making bad plays.

 

[Raphael Zabel]

If I'm playing well and things still go wrong, I prefer to stop the session and come back the next day, or after a few hours. It is a difficult task to learn to deal with the ups and downs of the game and to know that this is normal.

 

[green_ruckus]

How my room mate used to handle being tilt

My former room mate is a pretty good player and built a bankroll from 0 - 10k+. He even managed to live off of poker but as his room mate... It was horrible. He used to slam the desk and yell a lot so within about 3 years of pro poker he managed to break the desk!

 

[pribalt49]

In poker it is not you who play, but a card, there is a good card, you can win, but if not, then you will not do anything, luck and patience will help in this, you can hit weak players who drain their chips with a weak card, although in poker there is no weak card, you can win with any card if you are lucky.