Anti-tilt / Downswings

[Jman28]

It seems that a lot of us are in the midst (the end?) of a bad run. Probably we're just being more vocal about it than in the past because other have been recently.

Anyhoo, this is not a thread about my downswing or yours (so please do not tell us the details of yours). This thread is about dealing with them.

So, what happens to you when you lose for a while? Do you get angry? depressed?

Do you quit playing? Keep playing to get even? Eat a lot? Exercise?

Do you play tighter? More agressive?

What helps you deal with the tilt (if you do in fact tilt)? Do you have some helpful hints or inspirational words for those in a bad run?

As for me, I find that I get a little bit angry and a little bit depressed. Both, I believe, not out of control. I play longer hours (I dropped to 7 tables to write this though), not neccesarily to get even, but to make the long run come sooner.

I'm not sure if it affects my play. It must a little. Right now, any time I get involved in an all in as a 60% favorite I expect to lose. Coin flip and I'm shocked if I win. That can't be good for my game.

I try to fight off my emotions with logic, but it's not easy. I mentioned my though proccess in Nottom's thread which was something along the lines of: Variance is good because it keeps the fish playing and it stops a lot of would-be-winners from continuing. So we should accept it and take pride in the fact that we can fight through it on (close to) our A game, and that we have the BR to handle it (because of good planning by us).

The only other anti-tilt that I've come across is listening to Obie Trice's album, 'Cheers'

Don't ask me why, but it just makes me happy.

Anyways, I hope I've helped at least one person deal (if even a little bit) with their downswing.

If anyone can throw in some inspirational words of wisdom, or any other ideas for all of us, we'd really appreciate it.

P.S. - thank god for rakeback.

[viennagreen]

orange juice and carrots.... there's something about orange that cheers me up (and, incidentally, it's one of my least favorite colors)

and 4-tabling the 1/2 6-max limit games... an hour of that, and i'm ready for SNGs again.... it's not rational--- but losing small amounts of money to bad players playing horrible cards makes me feel like i've gotten the beats out of my system.

***
and if it's a LONG bad run, it's a lot of the above-- with hours of playing per day gradually decreasing, longer breaks between sets, more sunlight, and some recreational reading... and faith that the downswing has to end sometime.

[Kanchi]

I don't get pissed which kind of scares me cause I might blow up one day. I just sigh a lot and keep loading tables. When I feel like I've had enough the first thing I always do is go for a walk to the coffee shop near my house. Walks are great cause it clears your head or gives you time to think of the hands you botched up.

After that I usually MSN while sipping my Ice Cap, just talking to friends cheers me up and makes me forget I had a downswing.

If I'm sad at the world I don't MSN and clean and do house chores then watch a DVD. My house has been spotless since I've started playing poker.

I just keep reminding myself though that it will be over and to keep playing as well as I can.

I think one of the best anti-tilt protections is to play a few less tables and talk to friends that make you laugh. Blowing up a $5+$1 is also very fun /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

When I start to get angry, I usually do one of two things to calm down.
1. Switch to Play Money and find a 25NL table on party to push in preflop every time and talk a bunch of trash when my 85 draws out on QQ.
2. Play a 2.50 tourney on Pacific and cruise to an easy win.

[freemoney]

im insanely competitive to the point that my friends hate playing basketball with me because i really cant deal with losing, like something inside of me makes me feel sick if i lose so i really struggled with tilt so i think the competitiveess helps and hurts me in some ways, if i open up and have a really bad set and feel like im playing bad because of it i almost always quit for the day at least SnGs maybe ill play 2 or 3 multis or heads up but i struggle at playing alot when im running bad and it costs me alot of money.

[Annulus]

i feel you bro, i really do.

i just changed my partypoker screenname. maybe the random card generator will give me mercy and my luckbox will return.

[Shilly]

I just clawed my way out of my first significant downswing over 1000 SNGs. At times, it got pretty rough. I took a bit of time off of SNGs (read: an hour) to play some NL ring, won a few racks, then dumped those playing more SNGs. One night I blew off some steam playing .02/.04 HU on Stars, and took what I can only hope was some guy's 37¢ bankroll. There was also some comedic value when I'd put in the 4th bet on the river and he'd fold.

Although I don't think I was ever playing MUCH worse than my "A" game, I can definitely tell that I'm playing better now. I purchased Eastbay's tool a week or two ago, and realized that I was missing a few +EV pushes per SNG. I think I was also playing weak-tight in the earlier rounds--missing value bets, being afraid to pull the trigger, and not trusting my reads. The good news is, I think I'm playing the absolute best poker of my life right now.

I don't think I've ever made a bad beat post (maybe a long time ago, when I first started posting?) but here's one that you all can laugh at:

(Sorry, converter is screwy)

$20+2 on Party

Seat 1 is the Button

Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: Kipp1733 (2570)
Seat 2: audi888 (760)
Seat 3: Shillzor (1300)
Seat 7: Major_Oak (1650)
Seat 8: jackw111 (1720)
audi888 posts small blind (100)
Shillzor posts big blind (200)

Dealt to Shillzor [ Kh, Kc ]

Major_Oak folds, jackw111 folds, Kipp1733 raises (400) to 400, audi888 folds, Shillzor calls (200).

Flop (t900): T /images/graemlins/heart.gif 7 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 2 /images/graemlins/club.gif

Shillzor checks, Kipp1733 bets (400), Shillzor raises (900) to 900 (All in), Kipp1733 calls (500).

Turn (t2700): 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif
River (t2700): Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif

Final Pot: t2700

Kipp1733 balance 3970, bet 1300, collected 2700, net +1400 [ Js Kd ] [ a straight, nine to king -- Kd,Qs,Js,Th,9s ]
Shillzor balance 0, lost 1300 [ Kh Kc ] [ a pair of kings -- Kh,Kc,Qs,Th,9s ]

[bluefeet]

i find playing a few more MTT's during a tough stretch a bit liberating. given the format, you get to take the handcuffs off a bit and play some poker. of course making $4 for a coule hours work doesn't help the h$. but getting my mind off the constant desire to crank out more sngs for a bit, keeps me from chasing my loses - while remaining in a poker mindset.

[GrekeHaus]

The key is to always have a cat and a hatchet around. If a cat is unavailable, a wooden chair or something else breakable will have to do. A nice open area preferably with a linoleum floor is also nice for easy cleanup.

[suited_ace]

As stated in a previous post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=singletable&Number=306 5223&Forum=&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=3065 223&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=26243&daterange =1&newerval=1&newertype=w&olderval=&oldertype=&bod yprev=#Post3065223), I started the day in very bad shape. Down 15 buy ins in 3 hours and change.

I ended my last game (that I ended up winning), took my iPod and went for a walk. I told myself that I wasn't going to go back home before dinner. I went to this amazing coffee shop here in Montreal (best damn coffee in the world - Italians rule!), met with friends, had a nice dinner.

And then I came back. I knew it was only variance, so that always helps. I don't think you should go back if you're not sure if your game is good. I just finished my last set now, and I'm DEAD EVEN. Well, if you count rakeback, I actually made a profit.

I think tilt goes away with experience. I was way more prone to go on tilt when I had just started to play SnGs on a regular basis. After going through a few swings you start seeing that it's just variance.

You can really snowball your downsizing by going on tilt, because when your luck goes back to normal, you'll be playing like an arse. Reminding myself of this really helped me to deal with the downsizings.

Last, but not least, this is how my table.jpg looks (thanks to SuitedSixes):
http://xs40.xs.to/pics/05316/table_snap.jpg

Mind sound/look silly, but it helps me to think that extra second before doing something stupid.

[Shilly]

That is awesome. Where'd you get it?

[ilya]

Whenever I'm scared of pulling the trigger because of bad beats, I just remember the last time that...

I pulled my tool first nigga, you was in second place,
And second place just means you didn't react with haste,
And this differentiates life with murder being the case...

And I push.

Goddamnit why can't Second Round's On Me come out already.

Seriously though, I don't really tilt from bad beats. However if I feel I've made several mistakes I start to get really angry at myself. That can end up tilting me a bit, but generally I just try to play through it. I might take a coffee&cigarette break or something but that's about it.

[suited_ace]

I did it. This is for Empire, but I can do versions for the other sites if you want it. Just let me know and I'll post them later.

This is what I have for now: table.jpg (http://xs40.xs.to/pics/05316/table.jpg). Right-click, save as... Program Files\Empire Poker\Images and overwrite the table.jpg that you have now.

[Shilly]

Thanks. I got a big kick out of that.

[bones]

1)Usually I tend to get down on myself when I'm losing. It seems to bring out self-doubt like no other.

2)#10 on Cheers is money.

Edit: to remove downswing details

[Jman28]

[ QUOTE ]

Whenever I'm scared of pulling the trigger because of bad beats, I just remember the last time that...

I pulled my tool first nigga, you was in second place,
And second place just means you didn't react with haste,
And this differentiates life with murder being the case...


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh man. That just caught me so off guard. Awesome. Combined with the fact that I've been listening to this for the last 5 hours... One of the best posts I've ever read.

It's been like 10 minutes and I'm still smiling. hard.

[astarck]

Just made my tables look like this. Very nice idea.

Now the test, How will I handle 8 tables all telling me to "PLAY THE RIGHT WAY"?

[TruFloridaGator]

Yeah good stuff.

[jacknine]

I'd love to say it doesn't, but being on a serious downswing does affect my game.
When I notice this, I move my poker into lower gear and focus on chess and backgammon. I find this shift of focus very refreshing - and I cannot explain why but I always seem to imrpove my poker after having spent a day or two playing mostly chess and backgammon...

When I feel im tilting and need to unleash my frustrations, I like to play some $5 heads up-games.

[Freudian]

I play more SnGs when running bad. I don't think it is a huge problem since I play too few when running good.

I don't think I play all that much worse when running bad but I am sure I might slightly more mistakes (probably mostly when it comes to calling all-ins).

I am very zen-like by nature. I don't get all that angry when losing or all that excited when winning.

[durron597]

I play much tighter (read: much worse) on the bubble in an attempt to stop finishing in 4th so damn much. And then I get shortstacked and finish in 4th anyway.

Inspirational posts? Read Irieguy's stuff.

I find if I take a day or two off tilt usually fixes itself.

[lem45216]

I usually stop with the poker for a bit and play a game of Yahoo Pool which is always fun (you can't really properly get bad beat playing pool) or playing an online game of Battlefield 1942 which is just shooting stuff really. If im in a more musical mood i'll go bash out some tunes on the piano.

Sometimes I find it also helps to switch games just to provide a change of scenery. E.g. if im on a rather bad run at the SNGS i might switch to some low limit Omaha 8 which is a nice occasional change.