I just demolished my Pacific bankroll

[gusly]

Well, if you can't take a few days off, find a way to blow off steam without destroying the tools of your trade.

Maybe put some old computer monitors and junk in your backyard, keep a baseball bat next to the back door, and anytime you suffer a really bad beat, just rush out there and pulverize that shite.

Of course, you might have some trouble using this method at B&M cardrooms...

[theantelope]

Not a good idea. Psychological research shows that "blowing off steam" by acting aggressively in no way relieves the tension in the intermediate to long-run, and only makes the problem progressively worse.

[Jay36489]

Interesting story Joe. I think you're doomed as a pro but good luck. Maybe invest in some valium?

[gusly]

[ QUOTE ]
Not a good idea. Psychological research shows that "blowing off steam" by acting aggressively in no way relieves the tension in the intermediate to long-run, and only makes the problem progressively worse.

[/ QUOTE ]

My post is half in jest... but even so, I don't agree with you. Psychologists say that keeping things bottled up can be worse than letting off steam. Obviously, Psychology is not hard science. And just to be clear, IMHO there is a difference between acting aggressively toward human beings, and acting aggressively toward inanimate objects that have no value and have been set up specifically to receive your physical abuse.

The "backyard baseball bat" is a short-term fix. It's really just a way of saying, hey, direct your anger toward things that will not affect your game play. Get up from the keyboard so you won't throw away money in anger and frustration. Don't play poker until you're calm and can think clearly.

I'm sure that with time, if my plan were followed, the amount of time spent bashing things in the backyard would gradually diminish, and time spent making money at poker would increase... [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

But seriously, to the original poster, I do think like the others that you need to figure out a way to remain "in the zone" when playing poker. Anger clouds your thinking, and cloudy thinking always leads to losing poker.

[Soleo]

joedot, you should learn to accept things if you can't change it: money lost are gone, there are no such thing as "recoup".
Same is about living off poker - give it up if it's too difficult for you to maintain self-control. Forgive yourself and start again doing all the best if you can, or give up and try something else.
I don't teach you, sometimes I have very same problem so I told this for myself too.

[joedot]

It's not like I have no control. I grind out 200 a day, and do that 95% of the time. Now once in a while, I lose my cool, like I did last night. But I have learned. I mean, I went to bed down 1200, which is something I wouldn't have done a year ago. I haven't had to work a real job in almost 3 years now, so I don't think I'm doomed as a pro poker player, but I definitely need to try to avoid having really bad days like yesterday. I figure that I have them about every month and a half, though when you look at the bb's I lost yesterday it was miniscule. Anyway, I'm back up to 1500 on Pacific now, and I've tacked on another 600 on Party, so I've nearly recovered all I lost except for the daytrading, which I have put on hold now. I do have an anger management problem though. I physically hurt anyone, but I sure like to break things. Also, I would say that I did loosen up a little when I was pissed, but I wasn't spewing chips by any means. Hell, I was playing 10/20 and lost 1200. I know I know, 60 bb's is nothing. "be prepared for 200 bb slides yada yada yada. Fact is, I hardly ever ever have 60 bb slides, and when I do I guess I'm just not totally calm about it like I should be. but getting better.

[ctv1116]

Minimizing tilt is one of the underrated virtues of a great poker player.

[One Word Answer]

Geronimo

[Homer]

[ QUOTE ]
Tried to take a shot at a higher limit and got my ass kicked. Some horrid beats, followed by tilt and bad play, and then some more beats, and then some more tilt and bad play. Had 2400 in my Pacific account before the disaster and now have 1200 and a broken keyboard. I smashed it into about 50 pieces. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Just got back from Walmart with my new keyboard and am just praying that I can remember how to win again. Thinking about going out and getting a stink job that pays 10 bucks an hour makes me want to kill myself. Total bankroll is still over 10k, but that's not all dedicated to poker since that's everything. Just going through that type of loss was just such a nightmare for me. I don't handle it very well, and I should work on my anger management. Anyway, I'm not trying to get sympathy, but sometimes it just feels better to say something out loud to people that have gone through the same sht as you. Take care and gl all. thanks for putting up with me

[/ QUOTE ]

With only 10K in the bank, you should be grinding 4 tables of 2/4 or 3/6, imo. A bad run at 5/10 or higher could put you in serious trouble.

[joedot]

Yeah Homer. That's what I did getting to this point, and only started playing 5/10 on Pacific about a month ago. Since then I'm up about 300 big bets, and I feel really comfortable at that level. I am going to step back and rebuild before taking another shot at 10/20.