This is a very very good post! Thank you a ton!!!! This was just what i need to get my 2010 off to a good start!!! =)

I couldn't agree more, which is one reason I said I doubt my post would make a big difference to anyone. You really need to work to get over it.

I think I am fortunate in that my tilt issues were so severe, and extremely fortunate that my ego was so big. Without this combination, there is no way I would understand tilt as well as I do now, or what it really takes to improve.

I like your method of resetting the tilt-o-meter, and I think it could help a lot of people. For me, sometimes there were certain things that would happen to make me go from 0 - 10 and I had no chance of resetting once it gets to 10 and if it's at 10, I am playing and playing and playing, until I lose an amount that makes me want to puke, or I win.

This is huge. Just to add so people don't think I am telling them to limit themselves. Know your place for your current skillset. If you would like to move up, learn what skills you need to win, and work on that.

I could definitely see where you could reach a limit with the high stakes games, because it has to be difficult to think as deep as you need to in some of those hands. What's more, is that to be a winner there, I imagine a lot of those skills need to be automatic and effortless.

I wouldn't say always, you haven't seen my graph. HAHA!

Thanks! unfortunately, alcohol is a life leak of mine and I gave up drinking 5 years ago.

I completely agree! This post is really just the tip of a massive iceberg. I think a major reason why the leaks you know about are so frustrating is because leaks usually don't just go away without some effort and it usually takes longer than most people expect.

A lot of wisdom in 1 post. Great stuff to make people start THINKING. Tyvm

ty very much great post!

u touched on something that is much more valuable than any strategy post u could have written. TY. Nice one Hince!

Very nice post !!!
Thank you very much !!!
i exactly see myself in your post - seems like i really SUCK at the mental side of the game - gonna read this a lot of times and hope i can implement those things over the long run!!

sik post hince ty

I've never read a post I could relate to so clearly, thanks Hince. Happy NY.

I think i got this right in my head about 12 month ago and i've just had my best year ever.
I've always under achieved because things came easily to me also.You are so right when you say you can't do this with poker

Great post

Thank you for sharing your experience! Great Post!

great read

Thanks Hince! So true- I've tried communicating these ideas to a poker buddy of mine that consistently loses money over time. His response is typical, "Dude, you don't UNDERSTAND! I KNOW what EV is, and I know that luck is supposed to even out over time, but I ALWAYS get it in good, and I ALWAYS get sucked out on, it's ridiculous!" After a while, you want to give up trying to explain it. You feel bad for your buddy, but at the same time you have to be glad people like that exist in the poker world: People who drop money consistently and just KNOW that they are winning players!

Anyway, great post- I think it all boils down to taking responsibility- for your results on the felt and for your results in life- the two go hand in hand IMO. If you're the type of person to always blame external forces for what happens to you in life, you're very likely to blame running bad for your struggles in poker.

qfthis for myself, again

Two days ago I quit after winning one game even though I was playing well and had time to play several. I felt like being up on the day.

Yesterday I dropped my first 6 in a row. So instead of maybe a break even last two days had I played 10 on Tuesday I'm down about 4 BI combined for the two days.

I just have to keep reminding myself that when you are winning every game it is more likely you are playing well and should continue. Fortunately I was able to step back yesterday and think about my game (and quit rematching a hyper-aggro cardrack even though I had an edge in a vacuum because I felt I didn't have an edge anymore due to momentum issues -- not letting pride get in the way is a big first step to snapping out of a slump imo).

This thread really has got me thinking about how I play mentally, and hopefully improves that side of my game substantially. Thank you so much for this thread, Hince, and this should be required reading for everyone who is going to play poker seriously.

Great post. Gratz on pooBah. GL in 2010

Really good post, ty.

Man I really have to work more on my game instead of "ah I'm just gonna play some, I'm better than those donks anyways.

ty Hince, great post.

wow, where did you put camera's in my house? this is so me after running
$8k under EV in one week

Great post Hince

Let's all try to suck less next year. I know I'll try my darndest.

(I don't play HU, but the title caught my eye and it was a great read. Was like talking to a future me.)

One of the best Pooh-Bah's I've read, Hince. Really applies to me (and I'm sure to the community at large here at 2p2). I started realizing that I was my own biggest leak only about 2 weeks ago and have worked very hard on working to "reset the tiltometer" as you called it.

Every time I now take a bad beat, which is often just due to the nature of HUHU, I take a few deep breaths, say out loud my opponents leaks and exactly how I'm going to exploit them. Then I make sure that my game play reflects that plan, effectively taking my ego out of the equation.

I'll definitely read this again, but awesome job, and congrats on hitting Pooh-Bah!

The best post I have ever read around here.

It feels everything I am, everything I suspected I might be, everything I feared I might be is beautifully poured into words in a single post.

I feel I am stuck forever in this circle.

Mine are way severe and it takes me far less hours to destroy something I was building for a month.

HOW? HOW? HOW?

So true, so hard to accept!

Where do you hire one? I feel my mental weakness is the single worst opponent I play against.

The most important measure I took that really helped me. The only problem is that I occasionally buy into a tournament and catch a glimpse on how much money is there.
I wish they would introduce "Self-exclude me from looking at a cashier" feature.

so true, i also dont wanna know my amount since I'm trying to be less result orientated but seeing the money everytime makes it hard not to.

This is so true. Thank you for writing this.

Huge ty!

Awesome Pooh-Bah post. In terms of my own poker "journey", I'd place myself somewhere near what you were describing in the middle of your post. Consciously, I've realized that I suck at poker; despite having a decent mind for poker and playing over 200k hands throughout my life, I'm still just barely breaking even. Even with the awareness that I suck at poker and that my losses are probably my own fault, my ego still chalks my losses up to bad luck. When I lose, I become furious with the fact that the simp who beat me is probably grinning smugly on the other end thinking he's a better player than me. If I'm in the middle of a particularly brutal session, the unfairness of it all makes me play indefinitely until I break even or pass out, regardless of how poorly I'm playing.

At least for me, this applies to more than poker -- your post resonates so strongly with me because I've also never had any trouble with school and have coasted through life without any serious setbacks. But my math degree isn't coming easily to me. In large part, this is because my easily-gotten success in the past has cemented some really bad habits -- making it to even half of my lectures (hell, even 25%) is a major struggle and I usually don't even get most of the assignments done. I won't bother with any of it, acting on the (false) principle that I'll always be able to cram for a few days before the exams and pull through just fine. I find myself in a situation analogous to that in my poker life: I've come to the conscious realization that I'm intellectually unremarkable. Yet when I don't understand a concept instantly, I become frustrated and come up with an excuse to do something else -- the reality that it's too difficult for me to immediately understand is too painful for my ego to accept. The peculiar reward system in my brain would rather have me fail than accept that I'm not as brilliant as I think.

The conscious awareness of my leaks helps, though. My realization came a couple of months ago, and my results have improved dramatically since then. My win rate still isn't half of what it ought to be if I really had a handle on things, but I'm working on it. I think I'm going to adopt your policy of not looking at the cashier during sessions and I'll do my best to thoroughly review the "frustrating" hands from my sessions. Hell, maybe I'll make some minor changes to that letter and force myself to read it before every session. In any case, your OP perfectly captured what is probably my biggest leak in the game, and I'm happy to hear you've gotten through it.