I don't really tilt (seriously maybe only slightly), but I have this issue when I get sucked out on by fishy players. For about 5 seconds I just feel anger which passes very quickly and I'll whisper something like 'that was terrible' or something. When a player is arrogant though and acts like they made such a great play it tends to piss me off more.

One of my issues is that I come from other competitive sports where it's 99% skill, so somehow I have this subconscious expectation that 'if I'm better I'll win' which is true long term, but boy is the short term difficult.

I'm just wondering what I can do to overcome this, because really at times it's changed the mood of the game for the negative and I really want the fish to keep playing. When I act this way I can tell it makes the mood tense and uncomfortable for them.

What if we were playing basketball and I hit a lucky half court shot against you at the buzzer?

What if we were playing baseball and i hit an easy grounder to shortstop that took a funny hop and got by him?

What if we were playing chutes and ladders and I got to run up the longest ladder?

Do you see where this is going?

It's just a game. Shrug it off and move on.

OP- this pretty much sums it up. Every poker player (myself included) experiences these ****ty moments. Honestly, I had to stop playing live LLNLH because of arrogant, lucky fish. (perfect example- I 3-bet pf with KQs, get one call from BTN. Flop comes KKQ- I bet pot, he calls. Turn comes 7, i bet 1.5x pot again and get called, river comes 7, I shove- he calls and shows 77).

Needless to say I almost Hellmuth'd.

All I can suggest is try to keep your head when you play. Understand while you are in the hands that you are playing correctly and luck can still determine who wins.

Poker isnt about winning and losing, its about making the right decision- DB

Do you really think that poker is like a competitive sport? It's gambling, friend, and you're up against gamblers and some simply won't fold when they've got a shot. From the winning player's perspective there should be only one game and what happens in a tiny part of it doesn't matter.

At the end of the day it's gambling, it took me 10 years to learn this lol, but I try to always say "nice hand" even if it takes me 20 seconds to do so.

Do more Vipassana, Man

If you haven't already read it - checkout Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo. One of the main themes is applying meditation to poker, and vice versa.

Probably the first Chutes and Ladders reference on 2+2. I love it.

Chutes and Ladders makes me tilt almost as much as Candy Land.

It seems to me you already have a pretty good handle on tilt and a healthy attitude.
Like others have already stated, when it comes down to it, poker is gambling and that's where the fish come from, people who disregard the edge, advantage aspect of poker via a solid strategy approach.
But, it's still gambling and will always attract gamblers as well as thinking players.
You can never totally eliminate some form of tilt.
Everyone tilts and if they think the don't, they don't know what the he'll they're talking about. You tilt when you sit for an hour without getting a playable hand and you see bad players win big pots.
You tilt in all forms all the time, the key is, controlling the level of tilt.
Like I said, you seem to have a pretty good grasp on it, in my opinion.
But, you can't completely eliminate tilt, no one can.

If one has the ability to generate large enough samples to realize their expected value then it is not a gamble but an investment. Ones who think poker is a gamble either dont generate enough samples because they went bankrupt before that due to poor skills or is just relying on variance to work in their favor (which is gamble)


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I love getting sucked out on by a fish. Seriously. Especially early on.
They think they played good and will likely play even worse in the future (because their 'genius' play worked and now they'll try even riskier stuff).
In the long run the luck averages out, but the psychological effect of such a person not improving (or actively downgrading their own game) should be worth real money - and if they are the arrogant type I smile even more broadly. Then it's 100% certain they won't improve.

Congratulate them. Make them feel like a pro. Then take their money.

Oh, and also have a loss limit. That limits my tilt as I say per session, "I will lose no more than this." i buy green chips and put them in my pocket and pull them out to rebuy. That also makes me feel more in control and decreases tilt.

That's tilt.. specifically entitlement tilt.

Like you get it in AA vs JJ you think the pot is just getting shipped to you but your opponent still has about 20% of it. We can't win every time and it's a good thing. If we did the fish would stop playing.

More bad players is better.