Hi all, if anyone can help me with this problem, I'd be really grateful!

I have horrible tilt issues when I play poker. I used to be a decent chess player. Not Grand Master, but pretty good, and I loved to play as much as I love to play poker now. More, because emotions never entered into chess for me, although I remember some people who would get upset when they lost a piece and would play badly after that. Or they would get upset when they lost. But I didn't mind losing, I always saw it as my best opportunity to become a better player by learning the game from someone better.

Now I have to apply that attitude to poker. But I'm having a hard time actually doing it. Any advice?

Hey!

Try the psychology forum, you'll get better answers there than here IMO.

GL.

you have to become less emotionally involved when you win, too. That's a start. If you have a big score in a tournament, you can't celebrate too much. It's not a reward for how well you played, or a bonus windfall. It's just another fluctuation.

Not much fun, though.

I don't like it, but that makes a lot of sense. Better to focus on how I played and not what the 'reward' for that was. So simple, and so hard to do!

In chess, you play well then you usually win or at worst draw.

In poker, you can play "perfectly" for a very long time and still be a loser.

You're not entitled to win in poker at any time due to the short-term luck factor.

My advice for switching from chess to poker would be to drill the above into your head.

Not tilting was (is?) my biggest strength. People who tilt have no pride. How can you just give your money to someone? You need to toughen up and you need to hate to lose. If you hate losing to people at things you won't just give them your money. You'll make them fight to take it from you. I remember a successful trader sitting next to me had a big sign taped to his monitor that said "From My Cold Dead Hands."

When you notice a guy tilting, it's like there's blood in the water. Everyone fights to get the biggest piece of him. How can you let yourself be that guy?

I dunno, I guess I'm writing in an exaggerated way to get people to snap out of their self-pitying states of mind. Toughen Up.

1) Have pride in yourself.
2) Hate to lose to people at things.
3) Believe you have an edge/believe in yourself
4) DON'T complain to your friends about how unlucky you are. Suck it up and overcome it.

Everyone plays their C game sometimes, but you should never be one of those losers that completely loses control and gives away their money. You want to pay for that guy's vacation? You want him bragging to his friends about his great night? Bah.

I completely agree with you Go_Blue, but I think that what you are describing is a second stage of the process. In the first stage, people often tilt specifically because of that same reason, because they hate losing. You have to mature from that first stage to the second stage as fast as possible, or else you are screwed.

For example, in the very beginning of my poker "career", I was tilting like a monkey, not because of the money I lost, but because I couldnt take losing to complete idiots who, in my view at that time, did not deserve to win ANY hands with such play. It was exactly what AllIn-Mclovin explained, coming from chess background I just was not used to losing if I was playing well or better than my opponent at least. I think that to a lot of people that is specifically the reason for tilt, not the money. We all have this inherent understanding of justice, or fairness, and we often tend to get upset if we view something as unjust or unfair. Inn poker, well, there is no such thing as fairness or justice So one has to completely reprogram himself, at least while he/she is playing, and that is not always very easy thing to do

Thanks YKW for concurring.

I think it's important to keep in mind at all times that in poker, your edge is small.

(for ex: AA vs. 22 all-in is only 80-20 and that's really Not that big of an advantage)

And that your small edge is shown in the long run.

uhhh 80-20 is a huge advantage.

YouKnowWho,

While I think you make a good point, it's funny to think that people hate losing to "idiots" so much that they're willingly to give them more money. "You suck, and I hate you! Now take the rest of my money!"

I mean are you just messing with me now or what? The whole point of tilt is that you are NOT thinking straight, so using words as "willingly give them more money" is quite lol.

No, I'm not messing with you. You think people are just shoving in their stacks against their will? No, they're doing it b/c they're childish pussies. They're basically having a tantrum, whining in their heads that "It's not fair!" I'm not sure what else to say.


Bah I find the tone of your post to be pretty annoying. Let's move on. I'll let you guys give the guy advice. I've had a lot of success at poker and was trying to "Give back" to the forum that has helped me.

Sorry for the tone, I was angry because frickin birds **** all over my car (like literally ALL OVER it) and it transmitted to my post. Little life tilt if you will

All I am saying is that people who tilt don't think "ha, **** all these idiots, I will shove every hand and let them take my money". I agree that they are weak for succumbing for tilt, but I cannot agree about the "willingly giving money away" part Let's move on, thanks for giving back to the forum that helped you, it is much appreciated!

95-5 is a huge advantage, that's 19 to 1.

80-20 is merely 4 to 1.

It's not a huge advantage especially in the short-term when you can lose 80-20's with some frequency.

bleh @ this argument. 80-20 is a ofc a huge edge, but compared to the odds of winning a totally won position in chess being it can still feel small

Come back and tell me 80-20 is a huge edge the next time you lose three 80-20's in a row.

Trust me, it's not "huge".

20 to 1, 50 to 1, 100 to 1 is huge, not 4 to 1.

McLovin what stakes do you play?

I don't play chess for money.

I'm a purist.

+1

I love the replies in this thread, especially yours, Blue. I have been calling my tilt an adult tantrum for awhile now, and I'm getting better about it. Playing a game of chess or two before a poker session is something I just started, I know it helped yesterday.

I'm started thinking about some other differences between poker and chess that I think are giving me a much tougher time at the poker table. I dont like speed chess, so the very short time I have at the poker table to make a decision sometimes frustrates me and makes me feel rushed, for one thing.

Having more than one opponent to worry about is of course a huge difference, and I think it's part of what makes the game so much less linear than chess. Also not being able to simply look down and know with certainty what both my options and opponent's options are for the next x number of moves is disconcerting. I have to cope with uncertainty that is just never present in a chess game.

I wish I had gotten proficient at Go as a child instead, I tried to learn once or twice, and found it too fluid for my tastes. And I suspect now that the mindset required to play Go skillfully could help with playing poker skillfully.