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  #1  
Old 11-25-2005, 03:36 PM
Lmn55d Lmn55d is offline
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Default Stopping when you know you are on tilt

Ok so the last few months I have been really focusing on improving my mental game. I don't tilt too much anymore and have achieved a more objective, Zen state. I do things like not looking at my cashier for a week (this helps immensely!).

However, I 4-5 table 10/20 6max limit holdem and sometimes I'll have a 20 minute stretch where I just get annihilated. I'm sure most of you know how it is: everyone is putting moves on you, you're not hitting any flops, your image is horrible, etc. These quick successions of beats often put me on tilt.

My biggest problem, though, is not being able to stop when I have this sort of experience early in a session. I'll realize that I'm on tilt, but I can't really get myself to stop playing soon enough. My "tilt" is a subtle sort of tilt, like what John Feeney describes in Inside the Poker Mind. Making iso re-raises in bad spots, slightly loose call downs, etc.

I feel like I'm not ending my session for a few reasons:

1. I feel that, even though I'm not playing my A game, I still have a positive winrate while on this subtle tilt (I really dont know if this is true).

2. I want to make up some of the losses. I'll say to myself: "ok, I'm on tilt but I'm just gonna try to make up 25BB then I'll stop" or something like that. Sometimes it just keeps getting worse though.

3. I think I might be able to get myself off tilt. This sometimes happens if I win a few pots in a row, but often my tilt seems to increase exponentially.

4. When I sit down for a session I really don't want to cut it short. I'm looking to play at least 2 hours or crank out 700+ hands. Obviously this isn't the best way to maximize wins if I don't stop when I'm tilting.

I am good about not playing again for a while when I've just ended a tilty session. I'll wait for my mind to clear. My problem is actually ENDING that session! Another bad thing about this is when I let myself get more tilted it takes longer for my mind to clear after the session is over.

So my question basically is: When I realize that I am starting to tilt...how can I force myself to stop playing?
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  #2  
Old 11-25-2005, 03:49 PM
idrinkcoors idrinkcoors is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

[ QUOTE ]
So my question basically is: When I realize that I am starting to tilt...how can I force myself to stop playing?

[/ QUOTE ]


I will pay you good money if find an answer to that question.

My problem. "Okay, I'm down big. I'll stop at 1:00 a.m."

1 a.m rolls around. "Okay, 1:30 and THAT's it."

1:30 rolls around. You guess the outcome.
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  #3  
Old 11-25-2005, 04:01 PM
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

For me, tilt usually results in me ignoring my hand reading skills and overplaying my hands. Once my opponent beats me in SD with a hand I was almost completely certain he had, then its time to pack it up.
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  #4  
Old 11-25-2005, 04:10 PM
Buccaneer Buccaneer is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

I think you have answered your own question Grasshopper.
[ QUOTE ]
I am good about not playing again for a while when I've just ended a tilty session. I'll wait for my mind to clear. My problem is actually ENDING that session! Another bad thing about this is when I let myself get more tilted it takes longer for my mind to clear after the session is over.

So my question basically is: When I realize that I am starting to tilt...how can I force myself to stop playing?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you continue to play when begining to tilt then the recovery time will be longer and that is less time that you will have to play your best poker then it is an easy decision that you are making hard. Just quit and come back when you can play. Admitting defeat durring a session is not failure, it is good poker. Poker is not a series of games, it is a total of all games you play. Basketball players can not play when they feel great all the time, they have to play scheduled games for the length of time required. It doesn't matter if they found thier wife in bed with thier girlfriend that afternoon, or they have a cold, or the morgage is due ---- they have to play. Poker players never have to play (except in trnys etc.) when they are not on thier game. Log off and comeback when you want to play good poker.

By the way this post is as much for me as anything. I have played for two months with this in mind and only stayed in one game when I should have gotten out. My account balance shows the difference too.

The next time this begins to happen I am going to change tables rather than quit totaly. I think that this last time I made it "personal" in this game and I could have still played better at another table.
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  #5  
Old 11-25-2005, 09:14 PM
Pog0 Pog0 is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

When I'm losing, I get bored. When I'm bored, I stop playing.

My "tilt" isn't as a result of a poor mental state, but rather, I see people making more "moves" on me than normal, so I assume them to be tricky rather than just hitting cards, and play incorrectly based on this incorrect assumption. Especially when another player c/r me, I'll think, well he saw me fold last time so he's making a move on me now. Often true, but I start thinking this all too often. Better to just leave the table when your image sucks, there should be enough to choose from.
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  #6  
Old 11-25-2005, 10:33 PM
waffle waffle is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

i have the same problem. i want to get back to even as soon as possible, open up another table or 2. and get a sense of entitlement, that i deserve to win every pot i'm a favorite in.

i think we have to recognize when this is happening and immediately stop. easier said than done though.
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  #7  
Old 11-25-2005, 11:04 PM
mosquito mosquito is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

Stopping play when you recognize tilt is an intermediate level technique. Learning to recognize it and adjust yourself back to your normal game is an advanced technique. Recognizing a tilt play and going on with your normal, strong play is expert technique.

I'm to the point where I can pull of the advanced play sometimes, and the expert play on rare occasion. I still rely on stopping play more often than not.
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  #8  
Old 11-26-2005, 06:33 AM
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

Tilt as of right now is the single biggest hole in my game. Over the past 3-4 months I have worked hard to either log off when im tilting or work through it and get back into my game. As of the last month I can notice when I'm starting to tilt. Like some others said I can feel other people pulling moves on me and try to play back with subpar hands.
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  #9  
Old 11-26-2005, 09:59 AM
Nietzsche Nietzsche is offline
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

[ QUOTE ]
Admitting defeat during a session is not failure, it is good poker.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good stuff. Now if only I could apply it at the tables all the time...
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  #10  
Old 11-26-2005, 04:25 PM
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Default Re: Stopping when you know you are on tilt

[ QUOTE ]
It doesn't matter if they found thier wife in bed with thier girlfriend that afternoon,

[/ QUOTE ]
Since when is THAT a problem??
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