Thanks for all the responses, everyone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by +EVillain
lol "whats the point of staying sober. " tilt is a pretty complex emotional reaction, but i think that you are right, learned helplessness is probably an aspect of some peoples tilt. although this phrase might be oversimplifying because unlike the dogs people are usually trying to escape
Yeah, I probably am oversimplifying. I don't expect poker tilt and LH (learned helplessness) to be a perfect fit, but there are some aspects that seem to match quite well. I keep a spreadsheet for each poker trip that I update after each session, and here are some of my comments:
1. Conscious of tilt possibility, I paid good attention but started to avoid high-variance spots...
2. Still playing a bit cowardly and avoiding the high-variance spots, e.g. bet flop and turn w J9cc with two clubs on flop but failed to barrel river and he beat me with paired 3.
3. After this session while on the gym treadmill, I reflected that my recent play had been worse than I thought and I'd just been aspiring to play solid ABC poker which is easily exploitable by good 1/2 players. Should be aiming for vice versa.
4. Notice I'm losing my aggression again, e.g. missing a clear 3-betting opportunity when frequent raiser raises to 7, there a call and I pick up AJs in the SB.
So it looks like I'd been coolered and bad-beaten into losing my aggression,
against my better judgment. It's this bolded part that really reminds me of the dogs experiment. I mean, how hard is it to 3-bet AJs from the SB? You just need to pick up six red chips and put them into the pot, just like how the dogs just needed to jump over a low wall to escape the shocks. But I'd acquired such a strong aversion after losing so much money that I just couldn't pull the trigger, and before you know it I'm only 3-betting AQs+ which is really exploitable.
On the other hand, the worse tilt I got on the entire trip was when I was waiting for over an hour for a cocktail waitress to bring me a Red Bull which (I felt) I badly needed. I way overreacted to that one, not observing the table for ages and just glaring at all the waitresses, and that doesn't seem to have anything to do with LH.