Pooh Bah Post === CONNECT ===

[Gelford]

Did someone mention my name ??


Yeah I handle it ok these days, but I have a most likely more hands under my belt than most here, also I've been gambling in order to pay the rent for almost a year.


Poker isn't that hard, most here are technically surperior to the average player, yet many struggle to produce results.

The way I see it, the two most common types of tilt are these:

1. Having to prove yourself, I am better than those monkeys ... resulting in pushing too hard, FPS and generel spewing.

2. The 'It's no use, life is unfair' Tilt ... losing all confidence and thus making wierd calls, being weaktight and often at the same time pushing too hard in the wrong spots.

I am very prone to the latter, but not really to the former.


Realising that you are starting to tilt and stepping away from the screen is a good thing!

Finally there is also a different kind of 'tilt', playing when not in the mood for playing or too tired, but having a feeling that you are missing out on profit and thus playing a readless auto C-game.


Those are all real dangers and they happen to us all, I stuggle with the c-game tilt everyday ... and the 'It's no use' tilt used to be a frequent guest, but I luckily haven't seen it for quite a while, but on the other hand I've been running [censored] hot since returning to poker a month ago.


But getting mad at suckouts is just soo dumb and really makes no sense ... you played the hand perfect, what more can you ask ????

Also the money, noone here is living of poker, so you don't need it. It isn't real until you cash out. Like tournament chips ... something you throw around until the end of the month, where you find out if you finished ITM. Until then ... it is nothing, just practice good bankroll management, so you wont go busto and that is all there is to it. If you have skill it will show over a large sample, and if it doesn't show, then work on your leaks instead of tilting and complaining.



But yeah, the day I reported my 2200$ loss in the microbrew, just below my thread there where posted a couple of 10NL bad beat "die in a grease fire" posts.

That made me smile ... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Gelford]

Opps I forgot to mention how to combat all this.

There are two ways:

1. Statistics, knowing you've run at 7ptbb/100 or the last xxK hands is a confidence booster.


But before having that trackrecord all there is to do is review your losing hands (and winning for that matter) .. think, post ... get confirmation that they where played well

In other words to quote Aba: Take responsobility for your actions. If you are not doing well assume that you are making mistakes and look for them, instead of getting mad at your opponents or the site or ... whatever.


Wrong thing to do is to go on a monkey tilt.


(End rant ... cliff notes: Keep your cool [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )


Edit: Emotions are not all bad btw

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...676&page=0

[matrix]

ama [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

stickied.

[Pirelli]

Awesome post, thanks a lot.

[Bowlboy]

This post is fantastic!! Reading this will really help me put some things into better perspective. Reading the part about checking money won/lossed in PAHUD made me realized that I'm obsessed with how much money I'm up or down. Sometimes like today, I even feel like crap when I'm only up 1 lousy buy-in after playing 2k hands!

I really think that tilt holds me back a lot and need to actively work on becoming connected [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

There really needs to be more emphasis on the emotional side of the game in the uNL forum. I've read some of the stuff in the psychology forum and it's all like "I make $100/hour but cant seem to bring myself to play more than 6 hours a day". LoL. Cry me a river.

I bet you could take 2 players at the same limit, the first being significantly more experienced and knowledgable than the other, where the second has a much better handle on his emotions, you might find that the second player actually wins more.

Learning most of the logical concepts of poker comes naturally through experience and research. Learning to handle your emotions during sessions, can start with a book or a great pooh-bah post titled 'connect', but ultimately we're only going to master our emotions by actively questioning ourselves on each decision before we 'click': Is this the right play? If so, why is it right? And answer ourselves. If you ask yourself these questions as you're about to shove your stack in and your answer comes back something along the lines of: "Yes it's the right freakin play, because I hate this flippin donkey!", then your voice of logic might just pipe up and say: "Get a hold of yourself man, and who you callin donkey?"

Hope my reply makes some sense, I'm wicked tired. Thanks for the great post ama. Gnite all.

[Shoot59]

Great, Great Post! I have a few things to add if I may:

My Opinion (believe me this strikes close to home)

-IF YOUR SELF WORTH IS CLOSELY TIED INTO YOUR SUCCESS AT POKER, THEN YOU NEED TO RE-EVALUATE YOUR PRIORITIES!!!

Symptoms include:
-You feel good about yourself when you have a good night of cards.
-You find yourself in a bad mood after a losing session.
-You find yourself boasting to others about your prowess at poker.
-You want other people to view you as a "good poker player"


SOLUTION:
-Poker is a great game that can turn into an obsession, and many get so obsessed that poker dominates their life. POKER IS A GAME, and should be treated as such. Even if you play for a living, you will find yourself miserable if you let who you are and how you act be dictated by success or failure at the tables. Make a CHOICE to see poker for what it is: A card game meant to be enjoyed. Disconnect your sense of self worth from poker, and enjoy a happier, more significant life.

[gol4pro]

I've been toying with a very similar principle, but you said it much better.

Try meditating before your sessions sometimes. It helps you gain control over your emotions and suppress them during.

[gol4pro]

very nice post though.

[fees]

old hand post=)

[Xanta]

The worst part about this post is that I can't be overjoyed with my 4 buyins in 500 hands today. I mean I played OK, but not better than any other day.

Curse you ama!!!!