No, things have not really improved, mainly due to me finding it easier to stop playing rather than actually having to make the sustained effort required to beat a habit ive been doing for years.

The above comment is probably a firm indication as to why i tilt in the first place ... just way to lazy to confront problems head on.

Over the last few months .. my volume has dwindled to almost nothing and each 40 minute session i do play is a repeat performance of the previous one.

It really matters little if im winning or losing, im playing levels now that mean the money is meaningless tbh.

So i dont understand why i feel the need to let my emotions get the better of me in such situations.

This is exactly what im feeling ..the accumulation goes back so far its almost impossible to stop when it starts.

But why would someone suffer from injustice tilt when in reality they have not lost money in poker ?, ive never really had a prolonged massive downswing, ive had 15 buy in swings over the years but that seems pretty standard and many many players have had far worse, so where do the feelings of injustice stem from ?

I shall read these chapters again.

I shall have a look in the book as where you discuss this, could you elaborate ?

Will spend the weekend reading a lot from your book, thanks again Jared.

easily the best pokerbook ive read. reading it a 2nd time now.

To be honest I've had a big problem with losing ever since I was a young child. This has definitely been a problem for me in other games too. I know that I've gotten worse at chess over time rather than better, and find it hard to concentrate.

Luckily (or unluckily) for me I don't lose much in most games that I play. But in poker this is of course impossible. I used to think I wasn't bothered by losing, but now I realize that I am and I'm not really sure why. I guess maybe I feel like I am a bit of a failure when I lose. Like I am wasting my time.

Yesterday I played for 100 minutes, and towards the last 15 started losing a few pots and playing worse until I stopped. I didn't make any huge mistakes, and was still up a lot of money, but I still didn't feel very good in the end.

That's a crazy amount of time. Expect it in 8-15 business days, and i know it was shipped out yesterday.

Have you had a chance to read any of the excerpts?

Intro/Tilt Chapter
Inchworm
Fear Chapter

What mental game issues affect your game? It may not be obvious how the book can help, but if I know what you're looking to improve, I can tell you some specifics.

Sounds like you nailed it. So the question is why aren't you willing to put the work in to correct your tilt problem? Laziness isn't an excuse, it's a symptom. Skim through the motivation chapter then as well.



I'm not assuming this is true for you, but a common one in the situation you're in is this: Deep down you expect or wish that you don't have to work hard to play well or control tilt. When that doesn't happen, deep down it doesn't feel fair, it should be easier. Another possible reason: It's unfair that you haven't won more money.

What do you think?

What have you found/learned from your work over the weekend? Made any progress in understanding thing better? Better understanding is always happens before your able to increase control and correct these problems.

Feeling like a failure makes sense as a reason why losing would cause pain, but there has to be more, for it to be that excessive. What I suspect, is that it's not just about feeling like a failure, but that failure feels more permanent and long lasting. The way you can test this is by thinking back to a time that you lost, and assume that you knew at that moment you would improve in the future.

If knowing you'll improving in the future, instantly makes failure less severe, then the illusion of permanence (page 220) is something you want to check out.

I also suspect there may be some perfectionism affecting you as well. Have a look through pages 118-121. Plus, read the beginning of Hate-losing tilt: 108-113. You might also benefit from reading about the Fear of Failure 167-171. Although, fear isn't a problem, there may be some advice in that section that still applies to you.

Feel free to post more if you have further ideas/thoughts. Cracking these problems is a process and until the underlying cause is identified, you're job is to keep working to better understand it.

Ive been reading the tilt and motivation sections again over the last few days.

I think we all would wish we did not have to work hard at things to get rewarded sometimes .

I did believe i could just stop tilt whenever i really wanted to and tilt was almost a joke thing i used as to why i did not bother putting enough effort into my game or volume..

I dont think i feel its unfair that ive not won as much money as i would have liked over the last couple of years, thats mainly due to the fact i know ive hardly put any effort into poker and ive probably got out exactly what ive put in over the time ...so thats fair enough ..

One thing springs to mind ... I was playing snooker the other night with a friend .. we happen to play for the same team in a local league and i suppose we are quite competitive against each other ..

I was basically being beaten and beaten quite badly by him that night and for a good couple of hours i used every excuse under the sun.

Things like the run of the balls, the fact i would leave him a easy shot, he left me nothing, he had more flukes than me etc etc yady yada yada

All i could think about then was your book and how this is exactly how i react in poker ..just exactly the same scenario repeating itself in another situation.

All my focus is on negative stuff and absolutely none of how i was actually playing .. as if any of this could be my fault !!

I then started to think .. hang on ... it is your fault, your not playing great because you are focused on all kinds of rubbish and not on one important factor ... my own game ! and how i was playing .

Once you finally take responsibility for what your doing and not trying to blame everyone else for your short comings ( in a given moment ) ... you actually start to re-focus and things become easier .

Its fair to say ive moved on to rambling mode here ...so ill stop

I shall carry on reading the chapters ive mentioned earlier .. and over the next few weeks i shall look to take more responsibilities in what im doing rather than looking to blame someone else.

If all else fails ... ill blame you Jared

Just finished this book and truly feel like it was the missing link for me. I come from a competitive sports background and have always found progress in my play in sports through perfecting my mental game. Before this book I thought I was doing that in poker too. But, after reading this book I firmly believe I wasn't even close to scratching the surface! By coincidence I started reading this book during a progressive downswing in my game. I knew it was just variance and I was biding my time but for some reason this time the losses were stinging a bit more than usual. I decided to take a small break and "refresh" but as I started reading the book I realized that during my "refresh" periods I wasn't really doing anything positive for my game. Instead I was just hoping the downswings were gone when I decided to get back to the table. Through reading this book I learned so many new things that can be done on a daily basis to mentally exercise my game. Just wanted to say THANKS Jared! I'm so happy you put this in a book form that I can keep with me and refer back to when I need occasional reminders on how to mentally master my game! Cheers!
Stacey

Anyone do the questionnaire in the back of the book? Thoughts? Was it helpful?

Nope, you're overgeneralizing. Not everyone wishes it.

That's logical, but I wonder if the emotional reaction is based on a part of you that believes you deserves or should have gotten more. Perhaps the same part that wishes you didn't have to work hard to be rewarded...


YES! YES! YES! That's exactly right. Take responsibility for your tilt problems, do the work, and see where it takes you. I know you'll improve. It may be hard, there will likely be setbacks, but that's the process. If you need more help I'm happy to give it.

Always good to have a back-up plan

Just ordered this book, looking forward to reading it

Just had to chime in and say that this book, despite only having read half of it, is mindblowingly good.

I never realized how much of a mental game fish i was.

Ive always had winners tilt and wanting to book winning sessions, so the first session after starting to read the book lead to my biggest winning session ever.

Thanks a lot for writing this book

Couldn't agree more! Congrats!

Excellent! Really happy to hear the book helped you to realize how big a mental fish you were and that you've seen immediate improvement. It sounds like you embraced that idea and really did something about it. Congrats on your progress so far!

The good thing about the book is that chapters 5-8 are really issue focused. So if Motivation isn't an issue, you don't have to read that section. So, it doesn't surprise me that you've improved having only read half of it. Do make sure that you read the conclusion. It may be the most important, shortest part of the book.

Thanks for letting me know and if you have more thoughts/feedback in the future, I'd love to hear it.


One of the good things about the book is that you may only need to read half