The single best piece of advice I've heard yet

[dalecooper]

And I heard it on here from someone - sorry, I'd be happy to provide credit, but I forget who it was. The advice was, Play every hand in isolation. Stick to your strategies and play the best you can on each hand.

My biggest problem as a player has been a tendency to let tilt and emotion drain off the successes I've had. I'll play well and be up 50-100% over an hour or two session, and then go on tilt for one reason or another and lose it all over the next hour or two. My biggest problems have been not the usual bad beats (although those can contribute), but more frustration when the cards aren't coming. I start to play looser and looser, trying to bully people out of pots without getting a read on their hand at all, and calling when my gut tells me I'm beat. I also tend to inexplicably broaden my range of starting hands and raise pre-flop with hands I usually wouldn't, and it burns me every time (there are too many aggressive players out there to force the action that way with bad cards).

I don't know if I've overcome it yet, but every time I feel my game starting to slip I fold whatever hand I am on and quietly repeat to myself to take each hand as it comes, in isolation, and not worry about the rest.

[MyRedemption]

It is pretty good advice, from my relatively limited experience. The only possibility for trouble with this is if you take it too far. Your in a game, its a psychological war between you and your opponents, and endurance as well as emotions both play key roles. By playing each hand seperately you will keep your own emotions in check, and possibly have better endurance, but if you don't watch it you seperate yourself to far from the game. You need to know your opponents, they may not do the same thing, and if you simply seperate up each hand you may not notice a tilt someone else is on. You also need to call back to previous hands to develop good reads on people, as well as generally classify their strategy if it doesn't switch too often. All of these are part of the game as well, and your playing your best when you can do them all at the same time. As long as you keep sure to not lose touch with the game though, said advice is golden if followed for keeping a level head and keeping strong to a winning strategy.

[Fnord]

Exactly. Poker is a game of cards + people. Their emotional state and play flows from hand to hand as they respond to results and aquire more information.

[dalecooper]

That's true. Basically I think you have to take each hand in isolation for yourself, but be aware that the people around you may not be doing that at all.

[SteveO]

Here's a quick fix - limit your sessions to 2-3 hours and STOP.

If your attention span is limited to a certain time frame or you get bored when the cards don't come end the session.

I know exactly what you mean by pushing, loosening up and doing stupid things when fatigue sets in or you sit down for more than an hour and are dealt nothing better than J4o.

Another BR management tool is when you are up 50-100% set a loss limit that "I will get up in one or two more hours or when my stack reaches $X." This will let you walk away with a profit. It is also difficult to apply in the realm of NL because the more money you have on the table the more risk/reward.

It also sounds like you get stupid with a big stack. In a ring game you can get a little more aggressive but you are a big target for the smaller stacks looking to double up. Stick to solid play even on the big stack and it will get even bigger.

[michael1123]

That's true. Basically I think you have to take each hand in isolation for yourself, but be aware that the people around you may not be doing that at all.

Good advice, and awesome user name. Twin Peaks owns.

[michael1123]

That's true. Basically I think you have to take each hand in isolation for yourself, but be aware that the people around you may not be doing that at all.

Good advice, and awesome user name. Twin Peaks owns.

[FlyingSaucy]

To me, taking each hand in isolation means something different.

It doesn't mean that you should just play each hand not taking into consideration what you have learned from the playing styles of the other folks at your table in the game thus far.
To me it means that at the beginning of each hand you need to reevaluate where you are at, and play accordingly. Sort of, refreshing your mind each time you begin a new hand. The present is made of the past. Just be aware of where you are in the present and you will see the past and not let it overwhelm you.

[LockLow34]

My biggest problem as a player has been a tendency to let tilt and emotion drain off the successes I've had. I'll play well and be up 50-100% over an hour or two session, and then go on tilt for one reason or another and lose it all over the next hour or two.

My biggest problems have been not the usual bad beats (although those can contribute), but more frustration when the cards aren't coming.

I have the same frustration and tilt for the same reason. Miss 5 or 6 nut flushes in a row? Have high cards when the flop comes all low cards, or vice versa? Or you make that call "hoping" you've got the best hand instead of knowing?

I found the way to deal with this is to get up and leave. If I'm up 100% and start to feel the "slip" coming I will just leave. Sometimes I can fight it and occasionally I will get into that "maybe this time it'll change" mode. But mostly the best move I can make when that starts is to get up and leave.