Took $20 to $400 playing mtts and hu hypers.....and spazzed out today. My tilt isn't really playing bad- I mean it might- I definitely tilted after I lost 90% of my stack in the mtt today after runner runner, but I grinded my stack back up to almost whole and lost a sick hand set over set.

So when I tilt- I specifically play way way too high and will basically play hu hypers for rolls. I'm a winning player at that game, but playing $100NL Hypers vs. $10 Hypers or even $50 hypers which I do play occasionally against two specific regs who I'm beating, is a big difference.

Of course I lost both, the first to a 3 outter. The 2nd he hit the flop harder than I did, and it's not hard to have close calls in hypers. I didn't even play bad, but when youre entire bankroll is on the line even variance can kill you if you don't win.

To anyone out there, if you feel like playing with your entire bankroll, don't. It's not worth it. I have a such a hard time to control that urge. I was so good this month. I wasn't playing a lot, I was studying quite a bit....and one day just sabotages a months worth of results.

Let's see if I can take a break, and grind $18 back to $400 next month playing $1Spins and $5 Hypers after I build my bankroll up to $50



Anyone out there deal with this? I feel so bad while its happening and even worse afterwards.

You don't have a bankroll, you have a budget.

My bankroll for live 1/3 ranges from $5k, to $20k (depending on how I've been running and what monthly expenses have been like).

From what you describe, I would guess that the minimum amount you should be calling a bankroll would be $1,000.

Not at all helpful

Sorry you feel that way. I'm trying to impress upon you not to call a small amount of money a bankroll.

Again, it's not the point.

You're a gambler. You lose money and respond by taking greater risk to try and recoup your losses. Now, realizing that might help you change your behavior but probably not. There's a reason why gambling is addictive.

So the other option is to put safeguards in place to protect you from your own behavior. Maybe as soon as your bankroll hits a certain level, withdraw money so you're forced to stay within your limits. Try negative reinforcement, which might require the help of a roommate/significant other/friend. Every time you play something beyond your limit, you have to give something up or accept some other negative consequence.

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It's not even about recouping the losses though, because the loss was $10 but I immediately played for $200.....I'll have to read the poker mindset books. It's a destructive tilt for sure. It's weird, because it's only online. Maybe it's revenge tilt.....or some kind of entitlement tilt. I'm seen gambling tilt at small stakes where people just start shoving 100bb pre with any 2.....maybe decision exhaustion is causing it, because i was at the end of an 8 hour session.

It's like any addiction, leak or personal weakness in life.
No amount of theorising, advice, planning or strategy will ever free yourself from it.

The only thing that ever will, is when you one day say "no more" to whatever the thing is, and then never do it again.

If you don't ever get to the "no more" point in your life, you will probably be the same way indefinitely.

What is your sample size at hypers to know you're a winner there? I'd venture to guess that if you are beating hypers, your greenline is way above your EV Adjusted line. Simply put, these aren't the type of games where someone with tilt issues & that whines about 3 outers is better than any $50 regs.

Like JayKon was saying, you have a budget not a bankroll. A bankroll is always there the next morning, regardless of how bad your day's session went. If your "bankroll" can be busted in one day, your bankroll management is horrible. BRM is one of the biggest things holding people back from making money in poker. The only scenario where $400 is a roll is if you play the micros.

FWIW, I play hypers up to $20-30 but mostly turbos and regspeeds. It's not uncommon to be more than 100 buyins above or below EV in these games. You seem like you were buying in with like 8 buyins and complaining about it like variance is your issue.

If I were you, I'd stay at the lowest stakes you play for a good solid 3-6 months and play like 5000 games & see what kind of results you put up. I don't mind helping out a bit in terms of pointing out some DB leaks etc., so PM me if you want to talk some hyper strat on discord.

Interesting. Maybe it is more like a kind of tilt, similar to someone losing a hand and then punting off the rest of their stack. You might need some counseling or work with a mindset coach to get to the bottom of it, but in the meantime you could focus on tilt avoidance strategies. Put a sticky note on your pooter that reminds you to take five deep breaths and walk away for 15 minutes after busting on a bad beat.

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Pokerstars only offers hypers. I have several thousand games between 2018 and now. Mostly recently at $5-10, but the majority were $50 and 300 were at $500 in 2018. I had a great year in 2018 winning quite a bit at the high stakes. But in 2020 I shut my business down and while I wouldnt say I was playing with scared money, the idea of a 100 buy in down swing scared me to the point where I knew I wanted to switch from Hypers to MTTs in the $10-100 range starting lower and moving up if successful. It's been very inconsistent.

The more I think about it, I think it's 1 primary thing. When I was messaging someone above I remembered playing at the highest stakes back in 2018 where I crushed it. And I had a business close in 2020 during the pandemic and I think part of the tilt is because

1. I don't have a true bankroll like I used to when I had my business. To the first poster, sorry- you're comment was part of the point.
2. I'm not playing at the highest stakes like I used to, and part of that means I care less about the small stakes stuff even as I try to build a bankroll, not keeping 100% focused, etc
3. The transition from Hypers to MTT has been harder than I imagined. I'm studying MTT's quite a bit- I don't see myself ever pursuing hypers in the future. But I often have mistimed aggression from all the years of playing hypers.


Thanks everyone. I think the first thing before I start playing again is setting a number and actually getting a bankroll. And then putting safeguards in place. Maybe even keeping my entire bankroll offsite and just depositing for the tournaments I choose for a given day or week.

FYI, MTT's absolutely are going to have more variance than hypers. Basically, the more players in the game, the higher the variance will be. For example, I have played 15+ years and have had 4 losing months, and all were months where I played fewer than 80 hours. MTT players (even top ones) can go several months without cashing, sometimes even a year.

For someone who claims they were crushing $500 hypers, I'm very surprised that you didn't know this basic fact.

I'm not talking about variance with MTTs being an issue- mainly just adapting. I do have 2 cashes this year in MTTs including a 5th.

Are you saying you have insufficient self-discipline?

Don't be yourself up too much.

Everyone goes on tilt and spazzes out from time to time. It can be tough to be logical and mentally get a handle on things, when you're in the heat of things and even mediocre hands can look like the nuts when you're running bad. Hindsight is always 20/20. Reevaluate, rebuild, move forward.

In the meantime, maybe you can watch more online content to help you out or spend $25 for a month, an essential membership at RIO. Even if you pick up only handful of things, that $25 may pay for itself, many times over.

Regardless, one of the tenants of poker is BR management.

It's hard to appreciate the good, if you don't go through the bad.

I've been there man but some of the advice here is good. You have to literally do soul searching(go through Hell in a way) but keep the faith and God will help. Save up a proper roll, and start researching where your going to take poker as your career. Buy a proper laptop and desk, and have health goes. The time will slow down and itll alleviate your pain. Ive been havinig same problem over past year about at the micros. I won $6k a couple months ago though and lost it in about 3 hours at 2/5 and 5/10 in Atlantic City when I was going to go to Las Vegas with it. But, I needed for that to happen to become more sure and positive about things by being forced away from the game and going through boredom. Keep the faith. Good luck and God bless.

If you own a casino or a betting shop the customers have to win some of the time. They wouldn't play otherwise.

It's the same thing with poker. The donkeys have to win a reasonable percentage of the time to keep them interested.

If you look at the wins of the regular heads up players they only win 55 percent of games. Losing in poker is to be expected.

Getting mad and throwing your money away because you lost is because of feelings of unjust entitlement.