Tilt. Stopping Early.

[TheHammer24]

I've just finished my first 8K hands at 2/4 and at the begining, I was playing extremely well. I was up 1100 in my first 7500 hands, but I have been on a 50 BB down swing in my last 500 hands. Now I know downswings happen, and in terms of downswings this isn't bad.

However, the money I have lost has been just me playing terrible. It started when I lost a 160 Dollar pot on the river. When I get down, I try to do so much. I bluff like it's my job and raise the turn to scare 80 VPIP players when they clearly made a hand. I have no problem losing money if I'm playing my best, it's when I know I'm losing because of poor play that frustrates me.

I read an article in the internet magazine a while ago, and know from common sense, that as a winning player you are losing money every time you stop playing. However, if I play poorly when I'm down, it is possible that under these circumstances my winrate is negative. Would it then be logical to stop playing every time I'm down a certain amount of money? Does anyone else institute such a system? How many BB's do you lose before you quit?

I start to notice my play flounder after about 19BB's on 4 tables. Thats when raising A6o in MP1 and raising turn airs start happening.

[thesharpie]

I only stop when I know I'm playing badly and might be tilting, I never quit if I'm down so many BBs because that doesn't cause me to tilt, I usually tilt when I know I've made a mistake or two, I couldn't care less when people deal me bad beats.

In your situation I might set a loss limit, or just unclick auto post blinds when you start letting your emotions make the play.

Once I feel like I'm pressing too much and I make a couple of bad decisions such as the ones you describe, I get up from my tables, have a beer and watch some TV or a DVD or something. If after like half and hour I feel like going back to it I do, if not I don't.

[Harv72b]

I try not to limit myself based on the number of BBs I lose (or win) in a session, but one of my criteria for quitting has always been "if I'm not playing well". You're a winning hold'em player because you make better decisions than your opponents do--if a few bad beats or a run of bad cards puts you on tilt and takes away that edge, you are no longer a winning player. As such, you should quit playing until you have calmed down enough to get your edge back.

I tend to think that you can recognize when you're tilting and making bad decisions, and that you don't need to tie it to some magical number of BBs lost. Just play your game, and whenever you can't play your game, for whatever reason, stop playing.

[newhizzle]

stop-wins/stop-losses are worthless if you practice proper BR management, but if your tilting stop, good discipline by the way

[JacksonTens]

When I get the idea to do a crazy play I thin 'Would I do this in the long run?' Usually the answer is no, and since I'm so tight(in day to day life) by nature, the very idea of torching my own money makes me quickly decide not to.

Except last night I limped J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in MP2, but at least I had six terrible players to see the flop with me!

JT [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[TheHammer24]

[ QUOTE ]
When I get the idea to do a crazy play I thin 'Would I do this in the long run?' Usually the answer is no, and since I'm so tight(in day to day life) by nature, the very idea of torching my own money makes me quickly decide not to.

JT [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]wtf?

[Webster]

I stop playing once I start to become emotional. ESPICIALLY when playing more then 2 tables. THAT is just insane play.


Grinderswarehouse - NOT just another BLOG

[crunchy1]

[ QUOTE ]
Thats when raising A6o in MP1 and raising turn airs start happening.

[/ QUOTE ]
I do this when I'm not tilting! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Leave the table when:

(A) You're not playing your best
or
(B) The game isn't good anymore

Now (B) is never going to happen online because there's ALWAYS a good game somewhere - you just need to look for them. As far as (A), not playing optimally, just take some breaks when you're not doing well. That might mean 30 minutes watching TV or grabbing a snack - or it might mean leaving your session for the day and coming back refreshed tomorrow.

[crunchy1]

[ QUOTE ]
Would it then be logical to stop playing every time I'm down a certain amount of money? Does anyone else institute such a system? How many BB's do you lose before you quit?

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't do this. My session last night was the perfect example why. I played about 750 hands in a few hours. After 200 hands I was even. After 300 hands I was down 10BB. After 500 hands I was down 30BB. After 750 hands I was up 30BB. I never would've made that 60BB swing back into the black if I would've stopper playing because I hit my 30BB stop-loss.

I got more pocket pairs last night than I care to admit - and (w/o looking at PT) I can estimate with great accuraccy that about 70% of those pairs hit a set on the flop. About 80% of those set flops saw big action and my eventual loss on the river. But I wasn't playing bad, tilt wasn't getting in the way and (as you can probably guess) the games were spectacular! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]