I wanted to this as a Pooh-bah, its not even finished I think, so please add stuff if you like, about tilt.
Btw, if you moderators see some horrible english, please edit it =)
And I wrote this when I was an absolute NIT, I would now ALWAYS call with AJ when I am late and a nit bets from EP haha
Here are two hands from last session:
Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players -
View hand 90646
The Official
DeucesCracked.com Hand History
Converter
UTG+1: $37.65
MP1: $30.20
MP2: $13.90
CO: $24.65
BTN: $28.15
Hero (SB): $25.45
BB: $17.60
UTG: $47.90
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with K
A
3 folds,
MP2 raises to $0.85,
2 folds,
Hero raises to $3.30,
1 fold, MP2 calls $2.45
Flop: ($6.85) K
5
9
(2 players)
Hero bets $5.25, MP2 calls $5.25
Turn: ($17.35) 6
(2 players)
Hero bets $16.90 all in, MP2 calls $5.35 all in
River: ($28.05) 6
(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $28.05
MP2 shows 9
6
(a full house, Sixes full of Nines)
Hero shows K
A
(two pair, Kings and Sixes)
MP2 wins $26.65
(Rake: $1.40)
The pre flop 3bet was pretty standard. Maybe I could make it more but who cares. This villain is going to call anyhow and his stack will be in the middle as easy as possible. Villain is a 70/40, I have AK and I am willing to go pretty far with this hand.
The player calles the 3bet with 69, probably set mining (d0h) and calls the pot sized bet on the flop.
I put him all in on the river and he shows a beautiful hand.
On the flop I am 75% to win the pot.
Datakid is steaming a bit, but keeps his cool. Datakid has Jack Bauer and Shaft as role models so I have to keep my cool here.
After this hand, not a few hands later, no really, RIGHT after this hand, this happens:
Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players -
View hand 90647
The Official
DeucesCracked.com Hand History
Converter
SB: $9.15
BB: $25.00
UTG: $9.55
UTG+1: $6.25
Hero (MP): $25.00
CO: $30.00
BTN: $5.85
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with A
A
1 fold,
UTG+1 raises to $1,
Hero raises to $3.60,
3 folds,
BB raises to $9, UTG+1 calls $5.25 all in,
Hero raises to $25 all in, BB calls $16 all in
Flop: ($56.35) 3
2
J
Turn: ($56.35) T
River: ($56.35) A
Final Pot: $56.35
BB shows Q
Q
(a flush, Queen high)
UTG+1 shows 7
7
(a flush, Jack high)
Hero shows A
A
(three of a kind, Aces)
BB wins $35.60
BB wins $17.95
(Rake: $2.80)
I say to myself: I AM NOT STEAMING, I AM REALLY NOT STEAMING.
But physically I show everything that belongs to somebody who is very frustrated, angry and can't believe what just happened:
* I am very restless (My chair really looks like some horse which is trying to throw me of its back, I can't keep still anymore) [excuse] I have ADHD! [/excuse]
* There is a change in my voice: [bull****] I am not tilting *high voice* [/bull****]
* I start to sweat like I just did some sick work out
* I am thinking more about my tilt/bad beat then about the hand I am involved right now
* I get angry
* I start to complain and sigh a lot
* When I used to smoke, I instantly put a cigaret in my mouth and smoked it (pretty bad, it only pumps up your heart)
* I start to make more mistakes then usual
* I am getting way more emotional then before: "
Man, again no set, pffh, just lost another 1$, I ****ing never get a set, SjEEZ!" *cry cry cry*
No No NO excuses! This is true body language which tells you, you are at least frustrated at the moment.
If you are still talking about the tilt/bad beat and minutes go by, those are the minutes you are going to have an even worse session then the BI you just lost to a bad beat.
Believe those signs of your body and just stand up for a second, get a grip on yourself and play on, or stop playing!
Another part of me tilting: I keep telling myself I am not steaming while playing a very different game then my normal game.
If you all of a sudden (after a beat or just the wrong mood to play poker) play different then your normal game altho you know it's dead wrong, you are problably steaming or at least NOT playing your A-game
For me, I start calling way too many hands in LP, if a nit bets from EP I am willing to call with AJ in LP and if an ace comes, I am going to call at least 1street and fold the turn.
I do this 6 hands without having a plan and all of a sudden I have lost 2BI's instead of 1, which even gets me more tilty.
So here I am. A winning poker player that screws up his winrate because he couldn't be Jack Bauer playing poker. (wouldn't that be funny? "do you got the ace? DO YOU GOT THE ACE??")
What exactly is tilt ?
Tilt means someone is making plays for emotional reasons that he would not normally make.
So when I have a bad beat, and a hand later I am in the BB with A7 and the board comes T3466
and I call somebody down because "I just don't ****ing believe he has a hand!!!!", then I can be pretty sure I am on tilt, altho I am really saying pretty hard to myself I am really not on tilt.
So today I was a bit steaming, and this is what I did:
Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players -
View hand 90652
The Official
DeucesCracked.com Hand History
Converter
UTG+2: $25.70
MP1: $4.65
MP2: $4.65
CO: $29.40
BTN: $5.00
SB: $46.55
Hero (BB): $25.50
UTG: $7.60
UTG+1: $36.20
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 7
7
1 fold,
UTG+1 raises to $0.75,
6 folds, Hero calls $0.50
Flop: ($1.60) 2
A
5
(2 players)
Hero checks,
UTG+1 bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75
Turn: ($3.10) K
(2 players)
Hero checks,
UTG+1 bets $1,
Hero raises to $3.50, UTG+1 calls $2.50
River: ($10.10) 2
(2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks
Final Pot: $10.10
Hero shows 7
7
(two pair, Sevens and Twos)
UTG+1 shows A
9
(two pair, Aces and Twos)
UTG+1 wins $9.60
(Rake: $0.50)
Does my play make any sense? If this guy is c-betting on a ace-high board, would he be really afraid of the king? He is a 30/20, do you think he really knows what the hell I am trying to represent here? What AM i representing here?
Why am I calling the flop? Why am I re-raising the turn?
What am I exactly doing in this hand that is good play? (i like my preflop call)
Nothing! The only thing that is in play here are my emotions:
Well, I am stuck anyway, so who cares?
+
He is full of it, this guy must have a lower pair then me!
or
I just don't give a ****.........
All of this is emotion, and normally I would fold my 77 like that, in a snip second, I don't care. This is 25NL, I don't have to float people, I don't have to call with mid pairs so people don't think they can bluf me out of a pot.
I just have to valuebet all the way through it and I will be at 50NL in no time.
I know all this, but I don't act uppon it, because I am steaming. Not much, but enough to blow away some money. (do this 4 hands and you lose another BI, 4 hands are played in 1 minute)
Thank God I hit a set a hand later and made it -1BI, but I could have been a lot worse.
Everybody has a trigger, a tilt trigger. For me it's when people make a really stupid play and I just can't believe they played it that way.
I play very systematic and I get really pissed when people don't see I am a tight player and that K is really a big part of my range.
How the hell can you call a 3bet with 69 and call the flop with a weak pair with even a weaker kicker against a TAG. What the f***?!
Well, I guess I still have to understand that most people have no clue what they are doing.
For them poker is just like blackjack, "hit me!".
I have the luck I really understand how this game is played.
I know how to setmine, I know how to build a pot and know how to keep pot control. I understand valuebetting, I understand c-betting....... ah well, lets not make this all about my great skillz but I guess you and me both know I belong to some elite group that really understands how this game is played and
they just don't (I will explain later why this "ego talk" works)
I also have to realize I am playing a game where skill will help me but luck is still a big part of this game. I like to call it "gambling with skill".
If you go to the casino and want to win money, are you going to a table where everything is just about luck, or are you going to a table where you can win by playing like you should?
(I am not talking about having gambling fun, because i love blackjack
)
Of course, I can lose at the poker table. If I go all-in with AA against KK preflop and the K hits the board, that stuff just happens ...
Yes, I have a very big change to win the hand, ~82%, but can I lose it? HELL YEAH!!
If you are in a downswing you will even lose more of those.
A downswing is some of the biggest challenges of a poker player where you are really being put to the test.
In a downswing you will have quads vs quads, aces vs aces (and lose to a flush), kings vs aces and where a king hits the board, but the ace on the river and you will have aces vs kings and get sucked out on by a straight.
Everything that once made you money now costs you a fortune because you get sucked out on everytime you have 80% chance to win the pot.
After 15BIs you are one hell of a man or woman if you are not going to start tilting.
You could have had a 15BI downswing but when you start steaming or go on permanent tilt, well, you will have a 24BI swing at the end.
Plus, when do you know when it ends? How do you know where a downswing ends or starts? Every next hand could be the start of a heater. Likewise, every next hand could be the start of a downswing.
-- Sidenote: a good thread about 'surviving a downswing':
http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...Number=7194553
or,
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...nswing-238832/
Okay, now to the explanation of my ego talk a few lines back.
Something really helped me is this idea: It really doesn't matter what you say, because you are right either way!
If you say: "
Well, I am an okay plaker but some parts of my game are really good", you are probably right.
If you say: "
Well, I am a good player but I have some parts of my game I need to work on", you are probably right again!
I say: Go with what gives you the best feeling without thinking you don't have to keep working to improve.
So the one thing that really helps me when I'm having one hell of a session where I just lose every pot I enter, I always say to myself:
Nobody is outplaying you, they are out-flopping you!
or
If I run bad this session, somebody must be running good
and then I look to the bad player with 80$ at 25NL (no deep table) and think, "ah.. okay".
I read somewhere in the SSNL forum that the best players are the players that tilt the least. I guess that doesn't only count for SSNL but just for every level.
You can lose 1 BI to a bad beat, or make it -4BIs because you start steaming and blow away more money.
You now know the physical aspects of you steaming:
* I am very restless (My chair really looks like some horse which is trying to throw me of its back, I can't keep still anymore) [excuse] I have ADHD! [/excuse]
* There is a change in my voice: [bull****] I am not tilting *high voice* [/bull****]
* I start to sweat like I just did some sick work out
* I am thinking more about my tilt/bad beat then about the hand I am involved right now
* I get angry
* I start to complain and sigh a lot
* Smoke more, drink more
* Making more mistakes then usual
* I am getting way more emotional then before: "Man, again No set, Pffh, just lost another 1$, I ****ing never get a set, SjEEZ!"
But what can you really do about it?
The first advice is:
1. Stop playing
It's been said a thousand times before but if you are really on mega tilt and you can't get your head straight again, please leave the table, just leave! The game will be there when you are in a better mindstate and there is really no need to keep playing if you are playing your T-game (Tilt-game).
Playing your T-game will only make you lose more money, + it's very bad for your confidence.
Let's say you had a bad beat, think of one you had.. and you started to tilt.
What would make you feel better when you come back to the tables? Still having 3000$ and see in PT or HEM you lost 50$ to a bad beat, or see 2040$ and see you blew of money with: A7, 66 and 10s?
Seeing 2040$ and realizing it's mostly tilt would put me on tilt again, don't know about you.
2. Smile away....
... your bad beat. Laughing really helps the stressed mind. Put on YouTube and go watch some stand up comedy. Go watch a comedy you really like. Call somebody who always makes you laugh! Poker is a game you have to play serious, but in all seriousness,
it's kinda funny how some donkeys play their hands, right?
+ we are lucky enough to actually make money playing a videogame, aren't we being a little spoiled rotten by complaining over a bad beat?
You have one hell of a life if you can complain about a bad beat, really. Some people are born with HIV, some people know their dad will die in a year, some people's houses are just torn apart by water and we are complaing about AA vs KK preflop?
Shame on you!
Nah, with all honousty, of course it sucks to get sucked out on, but it really isn't the end of the world.
3. Release your stress.....
....by walking with the dog, reading a book, making dinner.. whatever you like to do which isn't related to poker.
It will set your mind to other stuff. Have you never noticed when you had a bad beat/downswing/playing T-game you don't think about anything else but poker?
There is more in life, really, there is! You probably have friends, if not, you probably have a pet. You probably have some things besides poker you like to do and outside your house is a whole world going on (it's the matrix, i know, but still).
If you are only thinking about poker and nothing else, you are doing it wrong.
Hell yeah, you can really be motivated by poker and by improving your game but you should try to look at it as competitive sport: Do you think a sportsman never takes rest?
You need rest to improve. It's like a muscle, if it's not getting any rest it will never grow. Sometimes taking a break is the best thing you can do and if you really don't want to leave poker try something else,
try playing another cashgame or a tournament.
There is a great thread by Cry Me A River about 'taking a hobby' and altho I really don't like doing stuff there is truth in that thread.
http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...Number=9464588
4. Body work
Start working out or do another sport you really like. Sport is very good for people with a high pressure at work: people who are active feel better, are more healthy and act better in situations full with stress. When you start working out please don't fall into the trap of making sport a new form of stress: You don't have to train like Messi or another sportshero, this won't work. You don't even got the time, you should be grinding
Sport should be to release stress and to make you feel better, not to make you feel worse. It can become really addictive, and that will become bad for your health.
I found it very inspirational when Gus Hansen told in an interview that he looks at working out as something he has to do to stay fit and sharp at the poker table.
Now working out is a must, and believe me, you will start to like it.
Just go to a fitness club and train 2 or 3 times a week, or pick some old sport you always like to do. I always find it a shame when people tell me they really like to do something but just don't do it. If you don't got the time it's a different story, but sometimes this is an excuse to stay on the couch.
Working out, having fun with other stuff in life, feeling good about yourself will also prevent you from tilt.
Sleep well, eat good, find some stuff on the internet to live a healthy life.
I don't want to sound like a health freak, but if you take this sport seriously, then you should work for it.
Try to work out, or at least try some walking when you finished a session.
5. Be a poker player not a 100NL player...
....because you realize it's still nothing but a game and if you keep good bankroll management you will never go broke. You probably have to move down once in a while, but that's why a lot of good players advice not to think of yourself as a 100NL player, or a 50NL player.
You have a 2000$ bankroll and you play between 50NL and 100NL, you are a poker player, not a 100NL player.
Why does this prevent you from tilt? The pressure ain't that high to contain at a certain level. Remember, there is also luck involved, and with being unlucky it's possible you will be back at 25NL again.
6. Find what triggers you to get on tilt,...
...and figure out if you are being realistic about it. If you play poker for 2 months and you make a bad play and tilt about it, then stop.
You improve by making mistakes, by asking questions, by trying to do it better next time.
You are not improving by playing your T-game and spew off money and scream poker is all about luck.
If you don't know how to get away from the trigger, ask somebody at 2p2, they are all helpfull people.
7. Play more
Play more?
Yes play more.
The more you play the more bad beats will become standard. The first time I had KK vs AA i felt sick, the second time I hated it, the 4th time I was feeling unlucky and after 70K i realized **** happens..
8. Know for sure it was a bad beat.
Use PokerStove, play the hand again and ask 2p2 if you played the hand correctly or what you could have done better.
Now you are using a bad beat to improve your game and not to spew of money.
9. Change your posture!!
Go back to how you sit when you are running normal or good, breath like you are running good, straighten your back and start talking out playing your next hand "
I have A7 in LP, a NIT bets from EP, I have to fold" and then click fold (an important aspect I tend to forget when I am on tilt)
“
I have 10s in EP, I should make a bet,
the board comes 67Q, the 8/4 raises my C-bet, I have to fold my tens...."
Really put your body into the “I play good-mode” .......... I found it very funny when I try to look at myself in the mirror while having a bad beat. Sometimes it's really hard to get out of my chair while watching TV but when I have a bad beat I can get on the closet in 0.0001 seconds.
10. Control your breathing!!
When I used to be in the army this is one of the most important lessons i had: Don't go piss in the river of the jungle and control your breathing! When you are excited (think about sex) you will have a very fast breathing. If you are angry, you breath different again, and it all influences how you are going to handle the situation. Notice how you are breathing when you can't sleep, good chance it's way faster then when you are sleepy!
So breath normal, count your breathing.. 21.. 22..
Don't play any hands as long as you are not breathing normal again.
11. Watch your words
If you are saying while playing a session: This **** happens to me "all the time", or "man, nobody runs this bad", or "pff..I will never win again"............. DON'T
I don't know what you say but you are probably wrong (or it's something like:
next time I have to bet 3$ instead of 9$, because it makes it easier to control the pot). If it would happen
all the time I have AK against 69 I wouldn't have AK as a winning hand in my PokerTracker.
If
nobody runs this bad I just have to find somebody that ran even worse and ask how he or she dealt with it. I heard about a guy who had a 50+ downswing....... And you will never win again? How the hell do you know that?
You can really talk yourself into tilt, or you can talk to yourself to get motivated again. I always like to think when a bad player wins a big stack from me he is really having a bad day, and now he got some luck again. Do I know he had a bad day? Of course not! Does it matter?! NO! Why not!? Because it helps me to control my emotions!
I can say:
Man this f***ing donkey doesn't know how to play poker, freaking idiot, calling with 69, bulls****, AARGHH!! F*** YOU FULL TILT !!!!!!!!!!
Or I can say:
LOL this guy doesn't know how to play poker... thank God I am not that bad and play on..
You figure out what will work better for you in the long run!
I am sorry for the very long thread, and I hope it all is readable and it all make sense. Just remember you are a human being and not a robot. Even Jack Bauer starts crying in one of the first seasons and that learns us you can't avoid emotions.
What you can do is get more expierence in poker and just realize bad beats are a good but big part of this game (if there weren't bad beats for good players the donkeys will never ever play poker again) and if you keep letting it effect your game, then it will effect your winrate, and that will keep you away from a bigger bankroll.
I am going to a home game and have some fun with A7!
Good luck at the tables!
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