What to do about tilt

I'm sorry if this is covered in another thread, I spent 20 minutes looking for one without success, so I'm posting a new one. Anyway, I've been on tilt a lot recently. I play mostly low buy-in NL SnGs and MTTs ($2-10). Anyway, I've been sucked out quite a bit. I know this is just variance; I'm not complaining about the suckouts themselves. My problem is that I sit down to play, and I do just fine, until I get sucked out on for a big pot or lose with a good hand to an even better hand. Then it's like instatilt. I almost can't control myself. I basically lose the desire to play. I think I know that my chance of winning are very low, so it's very hard to stick with the game. I start playing any two reasonable cards that come along. T9s in the face of a 3x bb raise, sure, why not? I'm not usually like this, I just stick it out, and hope I catch enough cards (or steal enough blinds) to get back in the game.

What can I do to stop from tilting when this happens? This has been going on for about a week now, and I've dropped quite a bit of my bankroll because of it. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Will

[mosquito]

The only sure way to avoid tilt is not to play.

Other than that, understanding the game, the variance and the fact that you are not entitled to win when you are a favorite will go a long way.

[Neil Stevens]

Al Schoonmaker has a series on tilt (avoiding it, dealing with it, creating it, etc.) in the Card Player Magazine archives. You might try reading those.

See http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_maga...an_Schoonmaker

I realize after just about every session online I play, I know at times I go on "tilt" and I can sense it, but I still can't help myself to pushing harder, and making decisions quicker (usually when I'm in the lead or calling to hit a draw). I can tell I'm tilting and lately I've been trying to tell myself that if I keep playing with the right mindset, you will be a winner in the long run. Getting put on tilt is the quickest and worst way you could start dropping your bankroll.

Next time you get a bad beat put on you, think of how you can play your next hand better so either A, the same thing doesn't happen to you again, or you look in reverse and see why people are calling your bets, or raising you. Understanding your oponents sometimes from their perspective is all the key you need. If your pushing pots when your flopping good pairs with good kickers and you realize your still losing, if they're raising you, it's sometimes realizing that the key to winning in the long run is not making good plays or calls, but better folds yet. I've realized this in the past but just today I've trully experienced the hard way of making good folds. I had a friend begin to teach me the basics of Pot Limit Omaha tonite and BOY what a game that could be to your bankroll! Let me remind you, flopping bottom set is NOT a good thing, perhaps maybe if your only going against 1-2 others in a pot, but when your facing 5-6 people in a hand, most likely Bottom set WILL lose and you have to learn to fold good hands in Omaha. I now believe this same rule applies to Holdem and I try to keep myself from going on tilt by thinking of how I can avoid it before it even happens.

[purnell]

[ QUOTE ]
My problem is that I sit down to play, and I do just fine, until I get sucked out on for a big pot or lose with a good hand to an even better hand. Then it's like instatilt. I almost can't control myself. I basically lose the desire to play.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are going to have to work on your self-control, dude, it's really that simple. Poker is a game of incomplete information with a large element of chance, and you need to accept that. I mean, really understand what that means.

Instead of thinking about the results of the hand, you need to be looking at your own actions. If you made the correct play based on the information available to you, then there's nothing to be upset about. You just have to accept that the result was not to your liking, and move on to the next hand. There is no magic formula, you either have (or develop) self-control, or you don't. You can't control the cards or your opponents, they are what they are. The only thing you can control is yourself. There is a very good set of essays on this subject in John Feeney's book, "Inside the Poker Mind", and I recommend that you read them. As luck would have it, the book is available right here on this website.

[Dave H.]

At the risk of sounding patronizing, it is really very, very simple...

You can be the most skillful player in the world and your table selection can be perfect and your reads spectacular and you could be adequately bankrolled. Despite all of the above, tilting can totally destroy your advantage and render useless all that study time and all that skill.

Why anyone would want to do that to him/herself is beyond me, and it's probably beyond you too.

[dibbs]

Play more hands, get a pain tolerance.

I went through a million mini freakouts and even though I told myself after every one I played the hand perfectly, I'd snap again and again.

Time is the great healer. Once you've seen it all you won't be surprised, you won't be pissed, you'll reload and play exactly the same way you did before the hand occured.

Well, not really because we aint robots, but thats what I aim for.