So lately whenever I lose a big pot, I tilt and play more aggro in order to try and recoup my losses. Even if those losses were profit for the session.

For example tonight I was up a grand, table changed from nl to plo, and bought in the plo game for $1,000.

So everything in front of me was profit for the night.

I lost a $400 pot and as soon as that happened I started playing way too loose w crappy cards, to try and make the $400 back. All this did was increase my swings and shorty after I went busto.

I'm incredibly mad at myself for donking off the rest of my stack, and playing cards I would NEVER play, had I been of clear mind.

....so, how do I combat this form of tilt ?

-thanks

first step is recognize it.
only you can overcome this.

with experiece. that means a lot of spewing until you build up the right habbits.
people are naturaly unbuild for this game so we need to train our minds to tolerate a lot of bulsht imo.

You have to learn look at poker as one really long session because that's what it is afterall. After you lose a pot, the money is gone so you have to just get over it. Do the same things you did before you lost the pot to win the money back.

When I read a case like this, you either have one of two problems. You are either a winning player who tilts too often, or a losing player who blames their losses on tilt.

In the former case, then correcting your tilt issues is a worthwhile exercise.

In the latter case, you should focus on quitting gambling.

Third case, Break even player with tilt issue/ blaming tilt ; could take either way but quitting would be prudent course.

Play with smaller stakes (if available) while getting a handle on tilt. As stakes increase the money involved is more significant and pots lost produce bigger impulse (lower stakes>> smaller).

thx!

I do the same as the OP.
I'm up $700 in a live 2/5 game then lose a few small pots and I'm only up $400.

now I'm focusing on winning back the $300 and it affects my play.
the end result is that I usually lose more $.

now how to remind myself 'it's one long session' when I'm on tilt?

Best way to understand "one long session" is keep notes on hrs, money i/o and check in monthly. After a few months, you'll be able to see the huge drain of spewwy sessions.

When it's gone it's gone. It doesn't belong to you anymore and never really did. It's only yours when you cashout. If you're in the mindset of trying to get back your $400 or whatever amount, then you're deluding yourself and it's unhealthy. Your mind deviates away from focusing on playing as best as you can and instead fixates on some arbitrary number that means nothing. Playing to make money rather than for pride, to battle with regs, thrill, etc etc ironically means being able to let go of whatever you lose better than others can. It's fine to be bummed out about it for a minute, but once it's gone it's out of your hands and time to move on so you can play the next hand.

Lol i have the opposite of this problem as long as I've played my best made the most +Ev decisions and my opp. sucked out im totally okay with it

Don't focus on money focus on your play (ik its starting to sound cheesy but...)
I think i just read something about galfold bucks (almost forgot about that)
see how much galfold bucks you've aquirred and just look @ that.

You have to realize this...
Do i really want to tilt right now and get mad over someone sucking out on me like ik its going to make me play horribly/not my a game so i have 2 choices:
-either leave now
-or continue playing stoically

I choose the former option a lot and it saved me tons of money. BUT im starting to choose the latter option, you just have to man the fk up and get through it like anything else in life or at least save some money and leave

Tbh reading all this sht has made me think about the donkey players at my local casino now ik what they are thinking/feeling when they lose a huge pot to a suckout. Therefore im gonna switch my strat up when some player i think is going on tilt roflll just realized this.
The lower stakes the more tilty the players...

I was a winning player then nearly bust my whole roll from tilt which made me stop and decide to rebuild from 2nl as penitence and work on my mental game. It's the best thing that could happen to my game really as tilt and the mental game in general is the most important thing you can work on.

I've still got someway to go but i haven't fully monkey tilted in some time and i'm taking my mental game seriously - i'm only a casual player but the philosophical journey is an interesting and powerful challenge.

All the above advice from people is great and I would like to humbly offer a change in mindset that might help you - you have to think about poker as an endurance test - how many good decisions with bad outcomes can your ape like cause and effect brain take? The stronger you are at this the stronger you are at poker and making clearer decisions... get there how you will but you are fighting against being an animal and attempting to understand chaos and stare at the void. So when you lose you must see your own tilt control as a reward and a success equivalent to winning a big pot - the ability not to tilt is what you must work on as it is an indifference to chaos and variance that will make you stronger. Play sessions at lower stakes and really focus on transcending the loss - realise that rising above the loss is what rises you above your opponents. If you don't tilt you should be proud because in the long run this is how good players are made.

When you lose a big pot you oughta smoke a little pot.

+1

+1

Bump. I still struggle with this some sessions, obviously you want to just reset, the money is gone, and just continue to play your A game.

But for some psychological reason, losing 40% or more of my stack throws my game off.

How are you losing these pots?

Oddly enough when I take a beat, I'm able to reset quicker and get back to the A game. When I lose a pot due to my own misplay, bad read, what have you, that's when I lose it and start to play like a donk to try and recoup, while throwing all logic out the window.

It's probably not just an emotional reaction to losing then.
It's probably not a control thing either, unless you've just fully accepted beat variance and otherwise are reacting from a need for control.
Self concept/ appraisal may be an important element in your A game make up, and when it is challenged, things fall apart because the structure crumbles.
I've been there too.
Keep a log of your decisions, good and bad. Get in the habit of treating each hand as a new one and remembering that Poker is just about quality of decisions. Playing with this framework over a long period tends to make the good decisions habit and bad decisions fall away.
Emotional reactivity can be your enemy. Work on techniques that promote calmness.