What to do when tilting?

[kongo_totte]

I started playing online about a month ago, played about 8,000 hands, and things went great until two days ago. I more or less beat most NL $50 games at the site I play. Now, however, I feel I´m heading for my first tilt-ish experience, and that I´m playing weaker and weaker for every hand I play. It all started two days ago. I played about 3,5 hours multitableing 3 tables, and I kept being dealt crap. It felt like the deck contained 20 deuces and 15 sevens in 17 different suits. I kept mucking and mucking and basically didn´t see a flop all day. I kept switching tables though, since I figured I wouldn´t get any action when the cards hit me. To this point it was a bit frustrating, but I figured there wasn´t anything I could do but keep mucking, and ended the day with a small loss, very small considering the cards dealt to me IMO. So, yesterday I had almost forgotten about the previous day, but the crap just continued coming to me. That, combined with a few bad beats, really started getting to me, and now I felt my game was really getting weaker. I got frustrated, and started to play hands I wouldn´t normally, like K 7 s from UTG and crap like that. I got really insecure with my play, and when I finally got the hands I froze and didn´t know how to play them. I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but I feel I’m heading right towards tilting. So, what should I do? Take a few days off poker? Tighten up? Start playing extreme ABC? Please help me, cause it feels terrible wanting to play your best, but just not being able.

[johnsy]

i play in a lot of live la games and some nights im my own worst enemy, but ive had to learn self control.......and it took time....i had to get my butt beat a whole lot........some nights its easier than others, but for the most part i have to pause before every play i make and really think about what im doing........i has helped me alot..........u must train yourself.......disipline is key.....many players i see dont have it and never will..............and thank god because they make my bankroll swell........theres no easy answer to your question, u play better when your winning no doubt, but any fool can win some pots...........when things go bad can u find a way to win??????? thats what seperates the great from the good.........

[Piz0wn0reD!!!!!!]

From the sound of it you were on full tilt. Tilt simply means that you will not play your normal optimal game because of emotional or other reasons. You will hit big losing streaks that are unavoidable in poker. If you start to get angry or frustrated, just quit. Take a break. I used to tilt like crazy. now its pretty rare, but when i feel it coming i just take a break.

[Relentless]

Ya I occasionally have that problem to, just don't let your emotions get in the way no matter how bad something went or how stupid someone is.

[kongo_totte]

Thanks everyone. Ok, ”piz”, I was under the impression that tilting was just a rampage of bad play, stretched over some period of time, but I’m relatively new to poker, so I guess I was tilting. One of the ways my tilting displays itself is that, as you’ve all mentioned, my feelings getting involved, but it’s not really that I want to nail som fish who got lucky or anything. The other thing is really not an emotional thing, not directly anyway, but it’s more a case of low self-asteem. Maybe this is because I haven’t been playing for that long, but the main problem seems to be that I begin to doubt my judgement. As I said, it comes to the degree where I don´t know how to play hands I play without thinking otherwise. It can be that I flop TPTK, on a 2-suited flop, and I hesitate on making people pay for their draws. I chicken out, being afraid to loose, and slow play it, waiting to see if the flush comes on turn or river. Stupid plays like that, I normally know leads to disaster. But my lack of confidence makes me doubt my judgement and finally I don´t know what to do or how to play any hand. What is the best way to start thinking clearly again. I know I can’t involve my emotions, but I’m not really sure how to get rid of this confidence issue that arises. Thankful for all pointers.

[aces_full]

Welcome to poker, the toughest way to make an easy living. I'm going through much the same as you. First of all, one month is nothing. I have been only playing online for almost nine months now. So far every month I have booked a win. For my first 153 $5 SNG's I had a statictical freakish ROI of 108%. I play .10/.25 and .25/.50 NL and in September I booked my biggest monthly win so far. It seemed like the ride was going to continue. In the first week of this month I was up another $100. Then the slide started. I would have a losing session, then the next session I would win some, but not as much as I lost the previous session. That's pretty much my month so far until I hit a landslide yesterday. I was actually back in the black to the tune of $50. I took a couple of horrible beats, and one of them got compounded by my shitty play when I tried to "get back" at this [censored] who broke me with a horrible beat. All I succeeded in doing was feeding his LAG ego, and making myself look like a tilty jerk when I bluffed off almost my entire stack on a hand where I raised PF with AK and missed by a mile. So now after 24 days and countless thousands of hands I actually find myself down almost $40 for the month. I find that tilt can be an awful self-fulfilling prophecy. Horrible beats lead to anger and anxiousness, which in turn leads to bad play. The whole time the bankroll is shrinking. You begin to question your own abilites and begin to feel like the whole world is out to get you.

The fact is that poker is much more a game of luck than most of us want to beleive. Because of the high variance it is possible for a winning player to play many thousands of hands and still show no net profit. It still doesn't make it any less frustrating. My suggestion would be to take a break.

[Tilt]

I sometimes have the same problem (no surprise there). Usually its when I feel myself directing my play at a particular player with the goal of beating HIM - then I know I am on tilt. If I recognize it I leave that table or find a way to cool it. What sometimes happens to me is an LAG steals a few pots and I get blinded by the goal of taking him down. Then you get a hand and overplay it...usually its that third guy who just joined the table check calling who takes it down.

Things I do to work it off:

* Slow down my play: Thinking twice, letting the clock tick a while, checking PT for stats on your opponents even when you are pretty sure what to do next... all of this gives you time to say "wait a minute, do I really want to do that here?"

* Sometimes I play a cheap SNG - which forces you to slow down for a while. It also helps get the confidence back since the other players are generally horrible.

* If I am really set off by a bad beat or something, I sometimes hit the play money tables and play like a total maniac. Im always astonished at how many people are actually trying to play like its real poker for play money. Its funny to watch them folding to your all-in reraises on the flops when you have nada. 10 minutes of this and I am ready to play again.

* Before going back to war, though, I use PT and replay my hands from my last session. Not just the losing ones, either, because the mistakes that dont get revealed when others fold are still important to correct. Then I am ready to say whether the issue is my play or just the cards. If its the former, I try and fix it, if its the latter, I stay patient.

[phil_ivey_fan]

I know how you feel...as does every online poker player.

I've found that the best thing for me to do when I find myself on tilt, I withdraw my bank roll, then redeposit it. Use the time (it takes for the transactions to take place) to review your play on pokertracker, hit the boards, and review some books. It will help your confidence and when the money is back in your account, you'll be ready to win again.

As for "cold cards" which you described in your post, well theres really nothing you can do about that. Don't let that force you out of your (winning) style of play. That is a common mistake, but good players will not let it get to them. Cold cards is an obstacle that all poker players come across, so you need to learn to deal w/ it.

good luck.

[staunchdog]

Taking some time off is a good idea. When I tilt, I usually tilt by trying too hard to outplay people, betting at too many flops, playing back at loose players without a really strong hand, etc. So when I come back to the tables, I think: simplify. I follow the textbook. When ahead, I bet to price out plausible draws. When behind, I check. I wait for premium hands. I make smaller preflop raises w/AK and AQ and then release them when I don't hit the flop. I think one of the earlier posters had it right: think hard about each hand before playing it. Ask: what is the most defensible course of action? Then, when I have my confidence back, I'll try to make a play every now and then.

[willie24]

You are tilting severely. You can't afford to play in this condition.
[ QUOTE ]
the main problem seems to be that I begin to doubt my judgement. As I said, it comes to the degree where I don´t know how to play hands I play without thinking otherwise

[/ QUOTE ]

this is a trememdous problem. if you ever doubt that you are playing winning poker, you should stop playing immediately. you should not start playing again until you are confident in your game.

i like the suggestion of playing some cheap 9 man tourneys (of course assuming you are good at them). if you are good at a different type of game, maybe omaha or stud, or limit holdem, you could switch to that. again though, you must be quite confident that you are a winning player in whatever game you play.

when a bad streak causes you to no longer know what plays are right and wrong, it implies that you never were that confident that you knew. a decent poker player must be able to trust his own logic and understanding at all times. like with most other things, its actually probably better to be confident and wrong than to doubt yourself.

it doesn't sound like this is an issue of emotion, but rather that youre not sure that you completely understand the game. if you want to play more, do some research and think about poker, and analyze poker until you are sure you know the game well enough to win.

otherwise, remember that the lady who has never touched a deck of cards is a better player that the guy who plays losing poker.

if you cant pull the trigger when you get the chance, you are giving money away by sitting down.

[ginko]

Tilting is any action that is EV-(k7s utg). If you normally play EV-(k7s utg) then that isn't tilting, it's just terrible play.

Step back, take a breath, and don't let your emotions win the battle!

[kongo_totte]

Thanks every one for great advice. This turned out to be one of the most educational threads for me sinced I joined the forum. After doing alot of thinking, I felt that one of the reasons I was tilting was that I became overly confident. Things probably went to well to quickly during my first month of playing, and after looking thru old hands, I noticed that when the tilt started, I was playing way more aggressive than I did when I was winning ( to the point of extreme over-aggressivness). I felt I couldn't be beat, which, when I now think about it, of course is ridiculas.

Here is what I tried to end my destructive way of play:
1. I looked through the books I read, the hands I played and interesting threads on two plus two, to remind myself of how I played before tilting.
2. I listed all the things that I think made me a winning player on a piece of paper.
3. I bought in on one of my regular tables. In the beginning i read through the "check-list" before I made any decision, no matter how insignifant it seemed. I basically wrote my one "hold em for dummies"-list and forced myself to follow it without exceptions.

Maybe it was stupid of me not taking a break and maybe it's too soon to tell how my method worked, since I only played a couple of hours, but it turned out to be a way above average session, and I felt I was playing at the top of my game, which really increased my confidence (I had the list to make sure I didn't get carried away though).

Concerning a different matter, the site I play at doesn't support the use of poker tracker. From what I understand, poker tracker is a great advantage to players how dedicate them self to the game (as I believe I do). Is it the general opinion that I should change site, and if so, what site is the best playing low stake NL? The site I play have some great things about it. For one thing, it's by far the most popular site in Sweden, and they have just launched a huge PR-campaigne, attracting new players each day, and it goes without saying 90% of these newbies (who saw a TV commercial and thought "poker seems like fun") are FISHY!

If I continue winning at my site, should I still consider switching to a site where PT can be used.

Thanks again for all advice.

[A_C_Slater]

When you feel youself about to tilt just say this Lao Tzu
quote in your head over and over very calmly.

"By letting it all go it all gets done. The world is won by
those who let it go, but if you try and try the world is
beyond the winning."

Memorize it! It seems banal, but it actually works if you
try to make sense of what he means.