Anger Management

[Klepton]

ask jason_t, he'll give you the scoop on every single hand he lost

[MicroBob]

You are going to have hands like these over and over and over and over.

Also - instead of just assuming that your play was perfect it would be wise to ask oneself if you think you could have played it better. you should always be asking yourself this.



To the original poster (and others who throw things around and such)...I just don't get it.
If you are making good plays and know that you are going to be winning in the long-run and also know already that you will have plenty of fluctuation along the way then why are you getting mad at situations like this.

In the hand just mentioned
I would be happy that I have a player to my right who is playing 63 and wouldn't mind at all that he caught that 3 on the river.
(FWIW - it wasn't THAT big a pot you lost either...sounds like it was a whopping 8BB's).


Anyway...reactions like this are indeed a sign of immaturiy imo. And I think there is lots of stuff in the psych forum worth looking over.
I find it especially interesting because I really don't do much more than a fist-pump when a catch a lucky river to stay alive in a tournament.
I do get frustrated when I'm losing sometimes and my play might be a bit affected...but throwing things around the room I just never have an inclination to do....yet I consider myself to pretty immature for the most part.

[stankphish]

[ QUOTE ]
Well it auotmatically whisked me back to my table and somehow it anted me in automatically, or I clicked it subconsciously, and I got dealt a hand. I get dealt rolled up, JJJ and proceed to lose the biggest pot I've ever seen, people were in there with straights and flushes, and some guy who started with 2 K 2 made 2's full, I never improved. Anyway the wireless mouse went through the wall and then I slammed my chair down and it broke the wall and the frame inside the chair broke. My girlfriend came to see what happened and I felt pretty embarassed. Anyway, that was a couple years ago, I learned my lesson and I haven't really had any problems since.

[/ QUOTE ]

Brutal.
-stank

[TwiceShotPhil]

I just say under my breath, "Friend, THAT is why I love you." It makes bad beats taste a lot less sour.

[astroglide]

[ QUOTE ]
reactions like this are indeed a sign of immaturiy

[/ QUOTE ]

in my case it's unbridled belligerence. i don't see how one can really argue that people "grow out of" or "grow up from" those sorts of things, because most people don't have it in them to begin with. similar to, say, calling an alcoholic immature. some people are born addicts, others are born violent.

[langley11]

bad beats are supposed to hurt, and when it hurts badly the only thing to do is scream...like crazy!!

[bernie]

Having an outlet is good. Overdoing it is another thing. As someone else mentioned, it is a sign of maturity in one's game. I think it's pretty common especially when one really wants to get good. Though they may want it a little too fast.

The more you learn about the game, the less this will happen. Rechannel that energy to working on your game. Learning about variance, how you make money during a hand even though you lose the pot, long run, etc...Basically, learn how to analyze a hand top to bottom. Realize that even casinos lose to some lucky player on the roulette wheel. Sometimes over and over. Also understand, your edge, if you are a winning player, really isn't as big as you may think.

When this feeling starts, quit. Calm down, then analyze some of the hands you played. Then study a little. Try to learn something each time this occurs that may help in prolonging the reaction next time. Eventually, you won't get that reaction hardly, if at all. Because you will have a much better understanding of the game.

b

[ckessel]

Definitely not healthy. I get frustrated when the odds go against me repeatedly, but you can't flip out. That establishes a mental pattern of losing your cool when things don't go your way that will translate to live play or even to other aspects of life.

[sully4321]

get a stress ball

[ajmargarine]

Step away from the computer, and walk it off for a little bit, when you start feeling this way. I had to do that this week when I lost the largest pot I ever lost in NLHE. I had 77, board was 762. Bet, raise, reraise, and I am all in vs. 66. One outter 6 hits on the turn, and I had to take a little walk to make sure I had my head on straight before playing again. I think some of the advice you got in this thread is good. Make good decisions, one by one, immediate returns aren't relevant because over the long run it's the good decisions that will make you a better player.