Guys I've played poker for years and I really controlled my tilt factor. If I made the best play and the cards turned against me it didn't bother me.

I am finding this is not the case in backgammon. I have been playing game after game where its just ridiculous what is happening to me. Fanning 4 times in a row with 2 open spots...losing games constantly up 50+ pips due to a miracle 1/18 roll. Always getting hit and not hitting back. The poker swings were much shorter and easier to get through, but here its like i've hit the great wall of china and it doesnt ease up. Are there fundamental differences between backgammon psychology and poker psychology? I'd be really interested because I am almost at the point where I want to run my fist through my monitor. Am I just in a really unlucky downswing or is it my playing that is bad? Am I only remembering the bad rolls and not the good ones? Is backgammon just a more frustrating game than poker? Any useful information or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Im tilting less with experience because I know look at every roll as an exercise in finding the best/correct move. If I fan it doesnt really matter cos I played perfect

I do remember faning 4 times in a row on a 2-point board. I remember rolling double 6 3 times in a row vs a 1 point board. That was pretty amazing. More of a fun thing then tilting really

Just keep on chugging. It will turn.

Are you playing against a bot? Almost everyone who is new to playing backgammon on the computer gets a rude shock at how badly the bots beat them. You asked, "... is it my playing that is bad?"

Perhaps it is, and perhaps it is not.

The point is that computer is just that good. Playing against a bot is very much like playing against the best player in the world. Not the 100th best or the 50th, but darn near the best player in the world.

You can't expect to win that often.

I wrote the post yesterday after a string of bad games. Thinking about it with a cooler head now I realize that backgammon has many more rolls in a shorter amount of time to create the illusion of constant bad beats. I think the game in itself can be more frustrating because of the ubiquitous swings. Its just gonna take some time adjusting.

For me backgammon is much less tilting then poker. In backgammon you can always find salvation in running the match/session through a bot and seeing your true level of play. this way, I am much more concerned with my error rate then with the results. we have also started taping our chouette lately and running the games through XG. Just stay focused on your error rate, and the results will follow. Its a statistics game of small edges, and big swings. Always remember that.

Another note is that if you are playing for money online, you are in for an uphill battle. the rake will eat even the most elite players.

Hi,

it might help you to download the free gnubg software. Then you can see how lucky or unlucky you are, and more important you can see your good and bad moves,

I play a lot on the free backgammonsite gamecolony and there my rating fluctuates between 1800 and 2050, sometimes when losing gets too frustrating i e-mail my games and analyse them with gnu, then I can see if i played bad or not, it helps a lot against frustration

greetings k.

The World's oldest game is also one of it's cruellest. Outside of nosebleed PLO players, I probably have more respect for long term winning backgammon pros than any other gambling profession. The swings, possible beats and resulting tilt issues in backgammon are by far the worst in any skill game played for large sums of money in my humble opinion.

You can lose games of backgammon where you are 50,000 to 1 favourite (if not a lot more), which is something poker never comes close to. The fact that it can leave even the best players broke, out in the cold, shaking their head and wondering what just went wrong is the same thing that makes bad players think they are good, and from a philosophical perspective is to be embraced.

Try telling that to yourself after losing from here though, which is my personal worst beat. I'm black, on roll, red owns the cube:

Thanks for the encouraging posts. I have started to analyze my games more in depth and am finding mistakes. This is helping me focus more on playing correctly than what the dice say.

I find it much easier to tilt when I play games where I am uncertain of my edge for money.

If I am certain I'm a winner and that my play is was decent then I have a much easier time accepting a loss. But when I play something new (plo, Im looking at you ) and have a bad session then doubt and fear creep awfully fast into my brain.

Maybe this is a contributing factor for you too?

Haha Wolfram, thanks for bringing this thread back from the graveyard.

I can give you an update three years later.

I now find backgammon a lot less tilting than poker. I do not get frustrated in backgammon at all due to unlucky dice. The only time I will get a little bit frustrated is when I rush and move and miss an obviously better play.

I spent a lot of time working on it. Playing on FIBS really helped because the people there are such good sports. I always say to my opponents I enjoyed the game and good luck in the rest of the tournament if I lose. And I mean it. Part of the joy of playing backgammon for me now is I get to work on this aspect of myself and I have made strides that I can be proud of. I have also aged 3 years and a little bit of maturity has helped.

As my ability has increased I realize how badly I was playing before and that is why I kept thinking I was getting unlucky.

there are more bad beats in BG than anything ever IMO, however for what ever reason it dont bother me a bit. it is what it is.

Don't worry about whether you win or lose the game, just try to make the best decisions that you can.

+1

After playing the game a couple years online I've found that long streaks of "moderate" bad beats are much more damaging psychologically than a single insane swing (like the example above). Several times I experienced the game being unplayable for several consecutive days, even weeks and I still really hate that . But this is because I don't play money of course.

niceone man