I can't stand the bad runs

[B1GF1SHY]

It's not that I am in denial or don't listen to what anyone is saying. I do listen but I don't like how some people push what they're saying so hard. If they believed I was President Bush they'd keep hammering away at that, literally trying to make me believe it. Al's advice was good and so was yours. I am thinking about taking a break but I don't believe I'm going to stop playing poker. I do think I am kind of addicted to poker though, I love the game and play almost everyday, if I don't then I'm usually reading about it. I'm not sure how that fits in with me being unhappy about something though.

Anyways, we'll see what happens I guess.

[Guy F]

[ QUOTE ]
I do think I am kind of addicted to poker though, I love the game and play almost everyday, if I don't then I'm usually reading about it. I'm not sure how that fits in with me being unhappy about something though.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think you've hit on two important questions that only you can answer, with or without guidance from someone else as you choose (shrink, clergy, trusted friend, spouse, random strangers on an online forum, etc).

One, is it an addiction? Being wildly enthusiastic about something right now doesn't make it an addiction. Obsession...perhaps, but that's not necessarily destructive. If it's causing problems in other parts of your life, though, then, yes, it is an addiction. The dividing line is when it starts to screw up the rest of your life. One way to measure this is whether people are avoiding you more now, and you're smart enough to figure out other ways to measure this. Sex, shopping, drugs - there are lots of things people get addicted to, and very few people kick addictions on their own.

Two, what is it, exactly, that makes you angry when you lose? This is a harder question to answer on your own and requires brutal honesty, but getting away from it for a while may give you some perspective. Only having partial control over events when you want total control (note: this one's mine, although I tend to get depressed instead of angry)? Fear of not feeding your family? Shame of being thought of as a "loser"? Generic sense of injustice in a disorderly world? The answer to this is unique to each person, but those are a few of the many possibilities. When you know the answer to this one, you'll know how to stop being angry and things will seem to get better almost by magic.

[spydog]

[ QUOTE ]
Dude can you spell DENIAL? D-E-N-I-A-L

Normal well adjusted individuals that are not on tilt, do not hit the wall or break things when they lose a hand of poker.

If you do, you are either playing at stakes way above your means so that the money is overly important or you are borderline Mental.

Either way it is time to Look Up and Listen. You are on the edge of a serious screw up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you can have a pretty rotten temper and still not tilt. I used to play competitive golf and I played against many players who had huge tempers, yet were able to focus on each shot. Tiger Woods would be an example of this. He has been known to go ballistic after a bad shot, but I think it rarely affects his next one.

[Al Schoonmaker]

I have extreme doubts that most people can get very angry and not have it affect their play. They may not act in an outrageous or even noticable way, but it will affect the information they receive and the way they process it.

At a minimum they will miss some signals from other people or misinterpret them.

Swinging a golf club is MUCH different from making the complicated decisions required to play poker well.

Regards,

Al

[CountDuckula]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem is, when your brain is screwed up, you don't realize it is screwed up until it is to late.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is absolutely, 100% true! I had a bad experience at the Excalibur last week, in their 1-3 spread limit game. This was my very first spread limit game, and I started out just trying to learn the ropes and play solid poker. After a couple of hours, I was up $50 or so, and feeling pretty good. I then started taking some nasty beats, once with AA getting cracked by some clown holding 65o, who caught a 6 on the flop, then the 5 on the river; he completely ignored my bets and raises the whole way. At this point, I started to lose; I thought I was still playing reasonably well and had just been unlucky, but my stack started dwindling. Around 4am or so (I'd started playing around 8pm), it finally dawned on me that I was playing far too many hands, getting caught up in the psychology of "everyone else is limping to see the flop, and it's only a buck...". At that point, I realized it was time to leave. Stuck $160. Bleh!

But it was my own fault; I stopped thinking rationally, and started thinking emotionally. I kept telling myself, "Just a few more hands; I can still catch up against these fish!" I was wrong. I should have cut my losses hours earlier, when I could have ended up stuck $50 or so.

Tilt is a nasty, insidious thing, and it's easy to be utterly unaware of it until the damage is done.

-Mike

[Prelude008]

Hey Fishy,

I'm just curious what limits you are playing and how much you are losing. Are we talking losing about 30 at .5/1 or hundreds/thousands at 5/10 or above?

You said two things
- I want and need the money
- I get emotional and moody

I hate losing too, and I have noticed a correlation between the degree that losing effects me and the amount that I need the money that was lost. I also notice that when I am losing, I tend to play worse (loosen up and take off two many cards) trying to push a win, which usually results in more losing.

I don't think it is normal to punch walls. Like the others, maybe losing is effecting your game more than you think.

Best of luck to you...

[revots33]

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While I do get incredibly frustrated and full of anger, I'm sure it happens to others too. I punch the wall, or smash my fist against things, I get annoyed with friends and family, and give them attitude.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not normal. If you think it is then your problems go further than a bad run of luck at the poker table.

[Hoi Polloi]

[ QUOTE ]
I keep getting really emotional and I get moody and then start taking it out on others around me. I punch or hit things also

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this experience of anger and your behavior in response to it new or have you responded this way to other frustrating events in your life?

If so, how have you worked it out in the past. If not, it suggests that the game has gotten to you in way that you are not in control of.

It seems the forum has gotten focused on discussing tilt and you want to think of tilt as something only involving your decisions at the poker table. That's fine.

But if you are feeling an intensity of anger you have not experienced before and you are doing things as a result that you do not want to do, you have to stop engaging in the activities (in this case, poker) that do this to you until you've gotten yourself back.

[goldseraph]

BLAH BLAH IM LOSING AT POKER, BOO HOO!!!
Shut the hell up.. quit the damn game it is EVIL.
POKER IS EVIL. It saps your time and energy, maybe youll
be one of the lucky 1 in 100 who makes good money off of
it, but I DOUBT IT. Do some charity or read a god damn book
or actually earn some honest money, not that won off the
misfortune of others. QUIT NOW!!!

[Hoi Polloi]

Thanks for the contribution.