I have serious tilt issues

ok, cool graph, now word it out. wtf, why/how does this happen?

try to verbalize it and maybe somebody here can help


p.s. that's a pretty sick graph yo

For some gawd awful reason I have these drops where I can't stop the bleeding. I had the same issue in December after the best month I ever had in November. I just don't seem to be able to pull out of tail spins. When things go wrong my game turns to mush. All this is not my regular game, just my form of tilt.

My ways of tilting are:
I play too long when playing bad
I overplay TP vs bad players
I watch HM more than my tables when on downswings
I become too much of a station when losin, calling far too often. Particularily on turn bets with bad draws or overcards vs known weak hands
I bluff far too much in games when playing poorly and have a bad image vs players with no FE
FPS up the wing wang

This is all familiar too me. I tend to drop most of this money vs bad players. It's not that I can't beat the games, they are horrible. my problem always starts with a couple bad beats in a row, I fall into this trap I just give no respect to large bet on rivers talking myself into hero calls.

The problem has become an issue as of the last 3-4 months. I never get angry, I just chase. I know that I have to have losing sessions, everyone has them. But if I string together more than one I start to change my play. I know I do it. I just can't stop. I know to drop down, I know to get up from the table. I know that everyone runs horrible once in a while, but I will stay up till 3 am on work nights grinding back when down. I get tired, I play again the next night still tired, still watching the graph. It's like a car wreck, can't look away.

I know better, I do. And I posted this not as a bad beat, but to punish myself for this. No more, I ain't hiding this crap.

Two words: STOP LOSS

I used to definitely have bad tilt issues. I don't think I solved my ability to play under tilt, but instead just started avoiding playing when on tilt. If I lose a few big pots in a row, I usually just quit. I might have gotten it in good. I might have been way ahead. But that's irrelevant, I know losing those pots will influence my game, so I just quittt. Take a break, and come back later.

Sounds alot like me as I have exactly these issues too. It is seriously stunting any real progress in my game.

Tilt is the biggest thing I have been working on lately.. its also the most difficult thing about poker IMO. Here are some ideas:

Could the problem be boredom because you are waiting too long during a bad streak of cards then overplaying them once you get them?

I find that dropping down a level in stakes, playing a few more tables and then just focusing on playing my normal style works great. You won't have time to switch to your HM constantly, you gain confidence back, and rebuild some of your losses in the meantime. Vanilla ABC poker for a bit..

During this "resetting" period, don't try to pick up a lot of bluffs (unless its a really obvious one)

IMO the worst thing you can do is take a break. I don't mean to play tired, but you simply must learn how to work through downswings.

My default quick fix? I look away from the monitor for 10 seconds, glance around the room.. look at a picture of your wife/Kids/GF whatever.. take a deep breath, look at your graph from last month when you were on a heater and remember that its a long term game and even the best have huge downswings. Then return to your normal game refocused.

O

Originally Posted by Outlaw

IMO the worst thing you can do is take a break. I don't mean to play tired, but you simply must learn how to work through downswings.

A break doesn't have to be 5 hours or 1 hour even. A break can just be 5 minutes, right after you lose back to back hands, and you get that ringing feeling in your brain and you're not thinking properly anymore. You're not calm or focused.

If all it takes is 5 mins of sitting out to regain your composure, then that's great. Those 5 mins are well enough time to spew off 2-3 buyins, if you're tilting on 8 tables at once.

There's a difference between learning to play through a downswing and learning to play while tilted I believe. Not all downswings come with tilt. Learning to NOT play while tilting, is a must, if tilting isn't your A game anymore.

glgl jim

You're my "hard work will show a long term benefit" idol. I know you'll work through this.

Try reading through some of this:

http://www.novanthealth.org/eap/care...resiliency.jsp

It is about a PHD who found that peoples who consistently go through bad times handle it better than people who don't. It looked into the why's of this and came up with this stuff. It helped me when I was tilting all the time.

is this all 200nl?

First 15K is $100NL. I moved down in the middle of December if you remember the Dec08 graphs thread that looked like this.




Thanks for all the tips guys, I will be doing some things tonight to try and improve my situation. What I think is part of my issue is that I am easily beating $100NL. Whenever I move to $200NL I find the games actually easier. Unfortunately I just don't handle the losing well. I tend to start of flying and then gradually change my game. FPS you could say. I then proceed to drop more than just my $200NL profits but dip into my $100NL safety net of 35-40 BI's and try to get it back. By the time I get around to these types of posts I am sitting at just under 33 BI's for $100NL in my account. Now mind you I have other funds spread around but I just don't feel comfortable with a <25 BI roll for $200NL when playing this poorly.

Originally Posted by jyms

My ways of tilting are:
I play too long when playing bad
I overplay TP vs bad players
I watch HM more than my tables when on downswings
I become too much of a station when losin, calling far too often. Particularily on turn bets with bad draws or overcards vs known weak hands
I bluff far too much in games when playing poorly and have a bad image vs players with no FE.

I do exactly the same things all the time, exactly the same things. It's really what prevents me from moving up, it's really bad but I know if I tilt off 5 buy ins at 50nl I can get it back easy enough. But if I move up and invariably tilt off 5 buy ins+ then moving down and building it back up is a nucken fightmare.

My graphs are similiar when I'm playing well it looks like I'm climbing everest but then when the tilt hits it looks I jumped off the otherside.

I think a stop-loss is exactly the way to go.
I'll give Jager's article a read in the moment as well.

I will be starting an OP tonight to maybe help stave off some of this. I think I might possibly need some responsibility added to my actions.

GL man, keep us updated.