I often go from a $10 buy-in to a $25+ stack within 2 hours. Then I lose it all on one villain shove (or 80% of it).

Say, after 3 hours I'm UTG with a $25 stack and AKs, so I raise 4 BB. Only the button calls so heads-up.
Flop A85r: My 3/4 pot bet is called.
Turn A852r: I double-barrel on this very dry board and villain shoves $20. I will always call with an ace TPTK even though "in my heart" I know he has a set, or 2-pair with AX ..I'm hoping he has AQ-AT (I'm an idiot).

I am aware of Balugas Theorem, but my emotions over-ride logic whenever I have a 'big' stack (greed & over-confidence).

Should I establish a limit and quit whichever of the following occurs first:
1. After I double my buy-in, or
2. After 3+ hours when I get tired and emotions are controlling my thinking

Any advice on how other people control their emotions in similar situations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You could quit if you're uncomfortable playing deep stacks. Or you could work out, as you think you're doing, that one pair really isn't enough to play for three bets, and not necessarily bet flop/turn. What was your plan if villain just calls turn and the river is a brick?

That is certainly one way of controlling your losses.

Have you read the mental game of poker?

I think the best solution is just to stop since you know it's wrong (sorry not very helpful)...

Maybe try to get super comfortable with the idea of variance? I try to keep it in the back of my mind constantly. It helps me because I stop taking credit for winning and losing and so don't tilt based on results. Just remember the cards are your true master and they can giveth and teketh away as they choose.

The more I internalise that the easier it seems to become to play each hand in isolation and make the right decisions for now.

Being overly paranoid of bluffs is a common leak. Quitting because you are winning is not a great idea, although you should definitely leave the table if you end up with 10% of your bankroll on it (unless everyone else has only like 2% of your bankroll in play or less). It is good to quit when you are tired but if you are only playing 3 hours or w/e a day you won't be able to get much volume in. I can usually play pretty well for the first 12 hours of the day.

I find playing deeper is waaay better as it slows down other big stacks 3 betting light IP.. Maybe that's a leak of theirs idk...

Poker is essentially just a game of ranges. The deeper the stacks the wider the ranges should be. You should see a huge stack as a weapon of intimidation.. Also whenever a russian player 3bets you on the button type in "putin says call"....

he will deffo check it down... solid advices imo

LOL I actually look at the player's country if he bets the river: if he's Russian and I have a bluff-catcher (even ace-high), I will call if the bet makes no sense. I'm +EV for this specific play. It must be a cultural thing with them.

I would have check/folded the river.

That's my next project. My mental game is very bad - the root cause of all my problems.

So you called 200bb on the turn?

You gotta consider that it's a dry board and villain absolutely bombs it for 200bb that AK might not be good almost never. You're going to have all two pairs and sets if in this spot to call with instead Villain isn't repping any bluffs at all in this spot either, 76 and 43 would fold preflop.

Also, if you check river definitely don't fold. Villain can be betting river with AJ, AQ, AK a lot there.

In my experience, big stack vs big stack "all ins" in micro are almost always super-strong (but attempting poorly to look like a bluff). I call it the "pay me shove."

The single digits percentage when it's not isn't worth chasing for the 90% you'll find it is.

But it sounds like you already know this, and are just having a tough time implementing it.