Hey guys...

So here's my situation... So I'm a semi-decent 21 year old 1/2 NLH player who has a few too many leaks.

First if I'm card dead I get incredibly bored and start widening my range. I have tried to combat my boredom by keeping track of everyone's ranges and identifying the weaker players at the table. When it comes to showdown and I'm observing the action I can put people on their hands a majority of the time.

However if I'm playing in the hand I get excited and forget to put the villain on an accurate range. If we're on the river and someone makes a move I forget to think about the previous action and make a bad call. When I rethink the hand and how everything went it is completely obvious I made a horrible decision.

Throughout the session I consistently tell myself to relax, keep calm, and continue thinking. I get tunnel vision... Additionally, I am a money scared player even though my bankroll is pretty large for 1/2.

When I play well and still get sucked out I become the worst player in the world. I mean horrible... I'm basically giving out free money.

Even though I know this I still seem to think that I shouldn't leave the table and better cards are coming my way. It's an incredibly noobish/fishy thought process and I think I have to come clean to ask for advice.

I don't want to keep playing this way for reasons that are completely obvious.

Should I only bring one buy in per session? Should I just focus on tournaments? What is a method to combat being money scared and getting full value from my premium hands?

Does anyone have any ideas besides quit the game?

Thank you in advance for replying.

The lessons we learn the best are the ones we learn the hardest. You sound like someone who will go broke. Hopefully you will learn from that. Sorry for the negative post, but I don't think any of us can help you with these issues.

read 'The Mental Game of Poker'
Rinse.
Repeat.
Rinse Repeat.
read 'The Mental Game of Poker 2'
Rinse.
Repeat.
Rinse Repeat.

Play some more poker.
read 'The Mental Game of Poker'
Rinse.
Repeat.
Rinse Repeat.
read 'The Mental Game of Poker 2'
Rinse.
Repeat.
Rinse Repeat.

I'm going to take a break from cards until I read this book. I'll let you know what I think about it, thanks!

Self control. How you get there is the issue. For me I am a very self aware person and can kind of turn on and off certain switches. The issues I can't control as easy I recognize and I work on over time. Right now I am working on meta-awareness in my personal life. Eventually I hope to bring that over into other areas such as poker. That's me though. You are you. First place I would start is MBTI. Take one of the free tests online and figure out your personality type. From there explore your strengths and weaknesses. Work on those in your personal life first and then apply them to the poker table. I wish I could give you a recipe, but your personality may not learn, adapt, and apply the same way as mine.

Another good way of getting better is by keeping hand histories. If you thought you played a hand wrong, you should write down every detail (you can do this for hands you think you played correctly too). You can get better by not making these same mistakes again in the future.

Also, in order to not be "scared money" you have to be certain you have a working plan when you approach the game. It will help lots when variance just isn't on your side.

Remember that you have a lot more time to think think when you're in a live hand than you do online. Exploit that. Close your eyes for 15 seconds and find your center, and THEN play.

Other than that, yeah just drill MGOP into your skull.

Also, my less-than-conventional advice is, if you want to play weaker hands, you can actually do it against weaker competition (which is going to be virtually everyone at 1/2), but you have to learn to play those hands. Learn to range your villains. Learn what flop textures and what situations you can airball cbet. What the relative value of marginal hands is against weak ranges. How often and against what opponents you can play hands like TPNK or 2nd pair top kicker for value. If you want to play wider, and do it profitably, you have to do lots of off-table work and get intimately familiar with marginal spots.

And remember to use position.

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My idea is to quit the game based on the bolded. If you can't play well, you shouldn't play. Get up and leave and come back another day. The casino will always be there.

If you don't want to quit because it's a long drive, etc., then take an extended break. At least 20-30 minutes. Then come back to the table when your head is clear and you aren't thinking about the past.

In life I have a slight anger management issue. I have done for a long time and will likely always have it but I have slowly got it better controlled overy time. I view poker tilt in the same way and I have found my strategies for dealing with one have helped me with the other.



There are two observations that I have found to be key to understsnding my anger and my poker tilt:

1) Personalising injustice - someone treats me like **** in life or owns/bad-beats me in poker. Rather than look at it rationally I become personally offended and that causes rage or tilt.

2) Once rage/tilt takes hold it is too late to do anything about it but walk away till I calm down.



So, for me at least, the solution to both rage and tilt is preparedness.

I have to start the day/session actively thinking kind thoughts and respecting every person/player. I try to wish them all well and tell myself they all have their reasons for behaving/playing as they do. The important thing is their reasons do not include "being bad people" or "wanting to cross me to show me they are better/tougher/smarter than me". Their reasons are all personal to them, stemming from their own lIves and are nothing to do with me. To become upset by their behaviour is as irational as becoming upset by events that are outside our control - like the nature of the flop.

Then I have to continue this way of thinking throughout the day/session. While ever I consciously respect others, wish them well and take no personal offence at their behaviour I remain calm and rational and the rage/tilt has no place to start.

If I stop thinking about others and descend into my selfish little world where every thought process starts and ends with me and what I want then I inevitably interpret every setback as a personal affront and that opens the door to rage and tilt. In this mode of thinking it is only a matter of time before an event or behaviour occurs that tips me into a rage. It is like driving faster than I can stop in the distance I can see to be clear. I may negotiate many corners and bends without incident but eventually there will be an obstruction in the road and I'll have no choice but to crash straight into it.

Mike Carro recommends that you hope your opponent wins every time you get in a pot. It sounds daft but basically it is a good way to ward of tilt by actively reminding yourself in each and every hand that your opponent is your equal and deserves respect. They might have better/worse equity, stronger/weaker grasp of the game or better/worse emotional control than you but they brought their money to the table, they got dealt some cards and they are going to win some pots and lose some pots just like you are. Most importantly, regardless of any other differences; you and they both love the game. So enjoy it and be happy for others when they enjoy it, even when it is at your expense!



You can replace rage with fear or any other emotion you might feel. I only know calm or rage because I'm an old fashioned man and all other emotions are anathema to my ludicrous macho ego

Most people think they are significantly better at poker than they actually are. I have some bad news for you my man. You are not semi decent. Based on what I have read you are bad at poker.

First - do not play tournament poker. You will go bananas.

second you need to take a long look at what you are trying to accomplish with poker.

I assume you want to get better and make a side income etc.

write down your goals. be specific. What is it going to take to achieve those goals? For starters it takes not "widening your range" when you are "bored".

Fact. Poker is boring as phuc. Being a winning player means being able to fold for hours on end while morons are hurling around stacks with rubbish...and not getting entitlement tilt while all of this is happening. Can you commit to doing this? Not a lot of people can. Its crazy but true - not a lot of people can do even this simple thing. This is your first step in becoming a decent poker player

This is so true.

Id also recommend peak performance poker-- and meditation (headspace app).

Having that "why" as squid face alluded to is really important. Spend a good chunk of time writing and thinking about your "why" for poker.

August was one of my best poker months ever-- I played 75 hours-- but I also work 35-40 hours a week--- so I decided to take 2 weeks off from the felt to avoid burnout. I was amazed by how many poker friends had AUTO assumed I had a terrible month-- when it was the exact opposite.

You cant be a slave to your results. Lay out a plan for poker, and make it work for you--- not the other way around.

Good luck man

I love this. So many times there are chips being thrown all over the table while I sit card dead and fold every single hand for 2 hours. I sit there thinking "Why the hell cant I get a hand?".......but.....I never do anything stupid by playing garbage hands just to try to get into a pot. Patience is a very very strong tool in poker.

You can never win without patience. You can't create profitable spots in poker by sheer force of will (or chips!). You have to watch and wait for the profitable spots to arise and you have to know how to profit from them and execute well when these spots present themselves.

The greatest fun and interest in poker is observing the game looking for these profitable spots. You can do that easier when you are card dead than when you are having to actually play your own hand. Therefore when you've been card dead for ages you should be even more knowledgeable than usual about this particular table and more confident of where you'll be getting profit from should your cards, position and other players align in a profitable way.

I'd rather be dealt junk for the first hour or two of every session than be dealt strong hands before I know what's going on. I'm literally hoping I don't get dealt a reasonable hand when I first sit down! "Curse you Aces, why now??" as I fumble for chips I haven't organised to raise OOP into a table of unknowns on my first hand...

Also, buy in short to start with so you aren't put to any tough/tilting decisions till you get a read on the table. Buying in short removes some tactical options and forces you to play tighter. It may be good practice for you to be forced to nit it up for the first hour or so at the table.

I've started doing this lately, especially when I play 2/5 instead of 1/2 (limited bankroll). My sweet spot is about 70-75bb to start, then top off when I have a handle on the table.

The weirdest thing is that I've cashed 1/2-1/3 all the tournaments I've ever played and they've all been 80+ person entries. I've only played 8-10 tournaments so maybe I'm getting lucky. For some reason I don't view tournament stacks as actual chips and play way better...

Granted that it's obvious that I should only be playing tournaments, which I've been focusing on, but I'd like to return to cash game.



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1 BI is just too little to ever play with, imo. One medium loss (which is super easy to do) and all of a sudden you are shortstacked.

I have zero casino tourney experience, but my guess (???) is that most of their horrible structures / rake make them unbeatable. That's a real ignorant guess on my part, but at the very least I highly doubt you can beat them to anywhere close to how much you can beat a cash game.

You've done a good job of identifying your problem areas. I would just try to concentrate on correcting them.

One thing that I would perhaps try (since it seems you have the BR for it) is have like 6 BIs in your pocket and then plan on playing a long session (lets say 8 - 10 hours). Just try to keep the long term in perspective. Did you just get stacked on this hand thru no fault of your own? Fine. BI again. And keep in mind you are simply in hour 1 of a 10 hour session; you don't have to get it all back in the next hand, or the next orbit, or the next hour. You're going to be here another 9 hours. Sit back, relax, settle in, and honestly (if you're sitting at a good table), just wait for people to hand you money.

ETA: Course that recommendation of 6 BIs-in-you-pocket and putting in a 10 hour session is based on making sure you have your rage / anger / tilt issues under control. If not, you're obviously just going to burn thru the BIs after a badbeat (and pretty good chance you'll experience a badbeat or two every long session).

Gimo;goodluckG

You're running hotter than Jesus in Nikes IMO. Waaaaaaaaaay more variance in tournaments than cash games.

Tournaments are a mindphuc. If you're looking to get entertainment with a stop loss, they're great. If you're looking to use them for making a profit, they're a black hole of suck.

It's amazing that everyone on this website is, for the most part, positive and more than willing to help. I cannot describe how grateful I am for everyone taking time out of their days to give me advice. From the following responses I will work on the following:

1. Read "The Mental Game of Poker" as this is clearly my worst aspect. I've already started listening to a few youtube seminars by Jared Tendler in an effort to prepare for his book.

2. Meditate (5-10 minutes) everyday to increase my patience.

3. Bring 5 BI per session and attempt to view each session as 5-8 hours.

4. I will buy in for the minimum for the first hour to observe the table while only risking the minimum amount.

5. Keep working on folding out hands that I shouldn't be playing. It helps to know that you guys go through the same problems and struggle with the same issues. Knowing that some days I will have to fold almost every single hand is incredibly helpful.

6. Next time I sit down at the table I'm going to write down EVERY single hand that I play for analysis with incredible detail so everyone can track my progress/roast me for incorrect play.

7. I am trying to understand that Poker is boring. Prior to this post I always saw poker as a fun game to pass the time. Although I posted and read on this forum I never came to a true goal. I'm going to spend some time thinking of a few long term goals.

8. I never looked at being card dead as a positive thing, but it really is. If I'm card dead it's obvious that I'm not meant to be in the pot. I can't lose what I don't put in aside from the blinds every 10 minutes. Being card dead is obviously better than getting trouble hands until I'm deep stacked.

I probably missed a few ideas to work on, but for now I'm going to focus on these 8. In a few weeks when I begin playing again I'll post an update. Once again I appreciate all the advice as I view the players on this forum as some of the best in the world.

Not going to lie there was one tournament where I hit every flop I entered and felt like fire. I got sucked out with AK vs AQ all in with 30 people left leaving me with 1BB. Somehow I got lucky as F*** and cashed for a net profit of 800.

However in some tournaments the best hands I've gotten in two hours have been AJo. Since I understand how tournament players love to go all in preflop I can rationalize folding A10-AQ in position to a raise all in. Tournaments just click for me so maybe it's obvious that I'm just a tournament player for the time being.

Just to confirm, do not do #3 until you are sure you have a handle on your emotions; you're better off getting up and leaving the table after a badbeat until then. #3 is basically just an exercise to help you get an understanding towards the long term and how trivial an individual badbeat hand is.

GcluelessemotionsnoobG

As someone mentioned above, one of the keys to poker is patience.

Do you know how often you should be dealt AA? Or flop a set? If you do some math, it might surprise you how rarely they should occur on average.

Gbeingcarddeadisthestandard,nottheexceptionG

Aces is like 221:1. Flopping a set is 13%. Hitting the flop is 35%. I should play 10-15% of the hands I'm dealt. 19.5% chance of hitting the flush on the turn, 19.5% of hitting the flush on the river. 18% chance of hitting an open ended straight on the turn. 17% chance of hitting an open ended straight on the river. Half that if it's a gut shot.

There's a lot of preparation that I need to do before hitting the felt again. I think one of the reasons I tilt so terribly is because a few players who haven't studied any poker sit on stacks of 300-500BB while I'm getting miserable cards, but that's a lesson I need to learn.

Just to add to/support GG's advice: I buy in for minimum, carry 5 buy ins and allow myself ten hours per session. If I get in a bad mood I take a break or go home. If I'm up to greater than 10% of my roll I cash out and go home or go get dinner and read for the 2 hours before I can rebuy with less than I cashed out.

I also do not play when I know I can only play a few hours in a session or only one session in the next month. I find, like GG alludes to, if I'm stuck and on a tight schedule "must get unstuck tilt" is almost impossible to resist!

On the whole though I am already very patient and have relatively decent tilt control so I'm only losing my £400 if I get coolered, outdrawn or simply outplayed. I'm not spewing or dribbling away buy-in after buy-in through tilt anymore....

....mostly

But do you realize how those numbers translate in terms of hours sitting at a live poker table?

You'll be dealt AA approximately once every 7.5 hours or so.

You'll flop a set approximately once every 4.5 hours or so.

And that's when you're running "standard". Just something to keep in mind regarding patience.

Gbeingcarddeadisthestandard,nottheexceptionG