[davehwm]

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But, my worst kind of tilt is when I'm not on a terrible streak (6-8 OOTM for example) but still feeling a little down about my game, and catch myself not being able to pull the trigger on the bubble

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This exact type of tilt used to be my biggest problem. It definitely took more than 6-8 OOTM to get there, but I'd get very down on myself, lose confidence, and become passive. I'm probably less aggressive than most winning players to begin with, so it was a serious problem.

The only thing I can suggest is getting to know yourself and the nature of poker better. There's no Aleo's guide for that, nor should there be. It's probably the greatest hurdle (dealing with losing) for any winning player and the one that probably breaks the most people. Learn to recognize the signs of when you're feeling like this and stop playing. Talk yourself through the problem. Really try to understand why you're feeling the way you are. Then tell yourself what you know about the vicissitudes of poker. Make this a process that you repeat everytime these feelings of tilt arrive, until you can do this subconsciously.

If you get many other replies to this thread, I'm sure people will suggest taking a break, going out to dinner, playing stud, whatever else. Which is great for the moment, and if it helps you get off tilt, I'm all for it. But to be a long-term winner, eventually you'll need to figure out how to stop the problem before it starts.

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I'm a psychology major, you'd think I'd be able to handle this kind of process. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

When I say 6-8 straight OOTM, I was just referring to a bad night I was having at the $33s, which I just started. I'm playing with a 30 buy-in bankroll (thanks to getting myself a girlfriend 13 hours away that requires more expensive plane tickets than I expected), so I was just a little protective/down about my bankroll after taking a bunch of bad beats and feeling like I couldn't get a card to fall my way.

I think I remember having this adjustment problem when I moved from the $11s to the $22s as well. Kind of a bit of a shock to see your bankroll drop that much after only a few games. I'm certainly not making excuses, just trying to see why I'm being so sensitive about what should be a very normal and short bad run of cards.

I'm thinking about making a word document or something that I have in my poker folder on my hard drive reminding me of these types of things. Just kind of a step by step process to un-tilt (or try to, at least).

Thanks for the words of encouragement.