Has this ever happened to you?

[RichSaneSwindler]

Lately I have had the following problem ... looking for thoughts, ideas, solutions.

Every night I sit down at PS 1/2 or 2/4 and begin to play my solid, well thought out game. I get some good cards and some bad cards. I have a few lucky hands and a few unlucky hands and after a while I find myself up anywhere from $50 - $250. Then, inevitably, I get some unacceptably bad beat, which is usually a combination of some terrible bad luck with I could have avoided this better if I made a tough laydown or bet the turn more aggressively.

From that point on I experience something which for the longest time I did not realize was tilt. It's not anger. It's not frustration. It's just a pall over my play. It's a "I'm doomed, I suck, I can't ever get good cards" kind of feeling. My play continues, and I don't do anything irrational or stupid, but looking back it seems I go into tight passive mode. Everyone seems aggressive, nothing feels like it is going to work, and I slowly bleed off my entire stack for the night and end up losing my initial investment.

The worst part about this is that I usually start this process either up or only slightly down for the night. By the time it is over, I'm bust. And, while this process is happening I cannot for the life of me tear myself away from my seat and take the loss. Therefore, once I enter this phase I am guaranteed to lose because I cannot leave the table if I am making money or treading water. The only thing that sends me to bed is if I completely clean out my stacks (lose it all).

So, I feel like to take my game to the next level (and not go broke) I need to (a) take a break, and (b) learn more about my tilt process. All thoughts are welcome.

-RSS