Kudos for putting the view about how DN hurts the players public Mason. Interesting viewpoint.

Its better to just view the first 20min of the podcast for the dneg / pokerstars discussion then reading trough the article imo.

Cliffs on the ancient beef between mason and negano?

I wonder if Mason has always had a read on DNegs.

I love how Brutally honest mason is.

Joey, interesting interview with Mason! His insights and opinions is rather refreshing and gives viewers a different listening experience rather than the GTO online players that are in most of the podcasts in which I enjoy as well.

Really enjoyed it and look forward to more interviews with him in the future.

Mason Malmuth is a towering figure in the poker world, and I hung on his every word. Great podcast, as always.

That said: I wonder how much of Mason's disagreements with other poker "psychologists" (The Doctor is in: 5 cents) have to do with quibbling about the definition of "tilt".

Mason seems to define tilt as "your brain is locked up." What does that even mean?

Tommy Angelo (Galfond's boy from the Bluefire era) differentiated between multiple types of tilt. For instance, Angelo said you can tilt from frustration when losing, and thus chase hands you had no business playing. Then again, there is a kind of tilt when you're winning and you go on autopilot, and you fail to maximize value at every opportunity because, hey, you're Phil Galfond (or durrrrrrrrrr or barcode bros), and the owner of Cirque Du Soleil is donking off a half mil at a clip. So yeah, press call or fold while skyping with Andrew Robl's giant 5head bout cocaine and hookers.

Before I give professionalpoker 25 bucks (or whatever) for this book, I would like some clarification about Mason's definition of tilt. Expert players do not always make the most expert plays, as Mason's son Jungleman has demonstrated time and again.

I also wonder if the "dad" on Jungleman's birth certificate knows Mason is the real Dad. Is that covered in the book?

I listened to that poker mindset podcast when Brian Rast was on, and my IQ decreased by 40 points. The good news is I can't legally be executed in most states because I am mentally deficient.

So my question is: What does Mason define as "tilt"? My brain is locked up and I can't figure it out on my own.

Hi Busto:

Tilt is simply when you lose the ability to think rationally in a poker game. So when I say your brain is locked up, this is exactly what it means, your ability for rational thought is mostly gone.

And this is from page 9 of Real Poker Psychology:

Perhaps in the interviews I have done this should have been made more clear, but I think it is clear in the text. For instance, I say that in both "pseudo tilt" and "searching," even though it can look like tilt, the player in either one of these states is still making his decisions in a rational manner. Thus he is not on tilt.

Best wishes,
Mason

DFS Questions for aeJones

How do you go about managing your bankroll regarding DFS? What % of your DFS bankroll do you put in play on average?

What do you consider a good ROI?

How much more difficult are the games getting (if at all) as time goes by and people slowly learn/catch on? When do you anticipate games drying up if ever?

Biggest DFS downswing/losing day? Biggest winning day?

If you didn't have the capital from your success in poker to start grinding DFS at a decent level what would be your strategy starting from the beginning (what would you grind, when would you move up, etc)?

How many tournaments/prizepools do you enter across DFS sites on a typical night?

What is your thought process like regarding how you decide who to pick in your lineups at lower stakes vs higher stakes/in general?

Most minus ev thing you think DFS players do/fail to consider?

What are your favorite DFS websites to read?


Poker questions:

Biggest poker pot won and lost live/online?

Worst thing a poker player has done to you? (scam/stealing etc) and also nicest thing someone has done for you?


-If you had to shoot 100 blindfolded freethrows how many do you think you could make? (joey answer this too)

all i got for now, hope this helps

That's what I suspected you meant. Pardon me for being a bit dense.

Thank you for 2+2 and everything you do for poker. I'd like to be a respectable mix game rec. I will donk off the same amount of money i'd spend at the movies (popcorn is farking asspensive), and derive the same amount of enjoyment...As long as the pros remain respectful to my inferior ability, the rake does not make my ass hurt like Joey vs. Jimbo Brier, and my contributions to the poker community are discreetly rubbed on titties without reference to my food budget.

I look forward to reading a stack of your books.

Love (PLATONICALLY, YA FAT HUMP),
BustoBalla

I can't rmbr but he talked about it the first time he was on

Lol Sam Harris the total idiot? Hey bro u are dumb and you know stop talking about atheist suido scientists . I real hate low IQ bastards like you. Sam Harris omfg American idiot at his finest. Get some real books too read stop believing the fn TV screen. Don't talk about ******s like sam Harris plz !!!! You are making people who brains very angry. Sam Harris is the fox news of science and are troll or very ry dumb!

Enjoyed the Podcast with Mason. He Always strikes me as a guy who thinks 10 levels above everyone else.

I would like to ask Mason what he think,s about the placement of the moon in the solar system and the math involved in this anomaly in relation to the Sun and Earth as i read a book called who built the moon and found this very interesting.

B+ almost believable

lets not

just watched the podcast, lol penguin joke

sorry mason, i'm gona steal ur joke

I didn't find Mason's arguments about poker psychology to be particularly persuasive, though I haven't read the book. He describes tilt as "your brain locking up," but doesn't really get into what exactly that means or why it would happen. He simply says that it is because you don't sufficiently understand "poker concepts." This seems kind of like the same type of pseudoscience that Mason rails against elsewhere. Is your "brain locking up" a reduction in working memory due to a certain level of stress hormone in your blood? Before we can get into the causes of tilt, we would need a more scientific description of what exactly it is that we are talking about.

Saying that tilt is simply playing suboptimally and telling players to learn how to play more optimally doesn't seem particularly helpful and almost seems like semantic sleight of hand. If tilt is indeed due to a certain level of stress hormone (cortisol etc.), then it definitely seems like things such as meditation could help in reducing tilt.

I think poker decisions are like complex mathematical word problems where you have to identify relevant variables and weight them properly to come to the correct answer (bet/raise/fold). As much as you study, every problem is somewhat different (at least if you are willing to deviate from GTO). So having stress reduce this problem solving ability could conceivably hurt your results no matter how well you understand poker. If your working memory or ability to focus is reduced, your answer will be suboptimal both for the word problem and for the poker hand. A player could get a perfect score on a poker theory test but play much worse in a real game due to the effects of stress/anger. Mason's advice would help them do better on the theory test, but wouldn't help them with moderating their stress levels which is the crux of the issue imo.

There is a large literature on the effects of stress on problem solving and I would think that would be relevant to Mason's book.

joey vs aejones at basketball

who wins?

Great post, Mason seems to think that people are robots. Enjoyed the podcast and his thoughts anyway.

Hi Frankie:

Starting on page 9 in Real Poker Psychology is the chapter "A Mathematical Model of “Tilt” — Cause and Cure." In this chapter a definition of tilt is given, how it is caused is explained, and how to stop it from happening is also addressed. Also, see Post #3907 for an explanation of what your "brain locking up" means.

Best wishes,
Mason

Very much enjoyed the podcast Mason. Thanks.

how bout getting meleab on to talk about pokerstars unsastainable model

Podcast schedule for next few days

Tonight late night edition at 11:00pm EST with KingDan aka Dan Smith

Thursday afternoon with Alex Dreyfus to discuss Pokerstars, GPI, French GTO, and more

Next Tuesday afternoon with Brian Rast to discuss his upcoming fight with Sorel and maybe we will get drunk together this time instead of him solo

I should be having on CeeGee sometime in the next 2 weeks to talk life, love, and mixed games. I have 12 people I want to fit into 3 weeks right now so trying to get that figured out

Getting this man to speak out would be a scoop https://twitter.com/Kanupoker

All sound great. Great score with Alex. With his experience at winimax , can't wait to hear his take on Amaya Eco changes and SNE cluster

Even if kanu had not just resigned from team online he would be a great guest but with his announcement today especially so