Bad runs... good playing... not funny

[RiverTheNuts]

Well overnight I lost 45% of my bankroll, I had runner runner straight catch on me I counted 7 times, runner runner flush about 5 or so, and a card to match someones pockets on the river about 4 or 5 times. This doesnt count the hands I didnt have anything in...in every one of these hands I was a huge favorite. And yet as soon as those river cards came I knew I was gonna be in a bad mood.

Any exercises or things I can work on to deal with the anger??? I can handle losing the money, its just the fact that the things that just happened to me border on insane, 7 hours of bad beats, and I feel like smashing a skull in with a baseball bat.

[dfscott]

I'm no expert, but I can certainly relate.

For me, posting on the forums is somewhat cathartic. Posting hands, even hands I know I played well, is helpful even when I get the "looks fine -- you just got outdrawn" response. It helps to shore up the bruised psyche. Not to mention that it allows you to share your misery, which everyone likes to do.

Another think that others have suggested is going down the nano-limits to blow off steam. Play some penny stakes no-limit hold 'em and take your id out for spin. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Finally, as you suggested, physical exercise is a good way to vent. Just wear yourself out.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[OrangeHeat]

Have sex. See if you fell better. Wash rinse repeat....

Seriously it is a good way to relieve stress - this is assuming you have a willing partner willing to be the recepient of your errr..."frustrations"

Orange

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously it is a good way to relieve stress - this is assuming you have a willing partner willing to be the recepient of your errr..."frustrations"

[/ QUOTE ]Who needs a partner?

[OrangeHeat]

Yah - good point. I forget there were more uses for the internet beyond poker.

Orange

[Noo Yawk]

Not trying to be cute here, but you took 7 hours worth of bad beats and lost 45% of your bankroll and you believe you were playing optimally? Not a chance.

River, if you couldn't even make an easy decision like leaving earlier, then I can't even imagine how you played your hands.

[DrewOnTilt]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

my similar post and the replies

[DrewOnTilt]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

my similar post and the replies

[Al Schoonmaker]

NOO YAWK,

I agree. I doubt that anyone could continue to play optimally in that situation. I know I couldn't. I would have left LONG before losing 45% of my bankroll, and I think he should have done so.

By chance I'm just starting to draft an article, "When should you quit?" One central point is that we have to monitor our play and the game OBJECTIVELY to make an intelligent decision.

The chief enemies of that objectivity are our tendencies to overestimate our own play and underestimate our opponents. After such horrendous luck, hardly anyone could be objective.

Regards,

Al

[Blarg]

Hardly anybody in casinos is a winning player too.

I think being able to be objective and not go on tilt is one of the key things that does define the winning player, though. A quite modest winner who rarely tilts can easily wind up a bigger winner at the end of the year than a player who wins notably more but tilts only a little more. I'm sure the tilt factor alone separates many people from being winning and losing players.

Not tilting seems to me to be a central skill in poker.

It's like that in lots of endeavors at the top. It's not the guy who's best who wins all the time; it's often the guy who makes the least mistakes. Look at Tiger Woods. He's legendary and always talked about not just for his technique and power and decision making, but early on he was marveled at for his uncanny ability to always stay cool no matter how important a shot was. He has an incredible ability to maintain a high standard of play every single shot all day long.

Go on tilt just one less time than the next best guy, and you often wind up a winner in competitive events. Many of these guys are at essentially the same skill level for all practical purposes. Many events can be kind of like a bunch of poker sharks sitting around the table neither making nor losing money to anything but the rake.

But as soon as one mistake slips in, the whole building comes crashing down.

Tilt factor is definitely not just an also-ran in the list of poker skills. Especially at the top level of any game, it becomes more and more central, and the ability to not go on tilt becomes more and more the defining asset of a winner.