Tilter's Annonymous. All tilters welcome.

[Guruman]

So I’ve suffered some remarkably demoralizing downswings over the last few months. Of course, you can’t suffer downswings if you catch a big run of great hands and I’ve caught the opposite of that. Lots of expensive second best hands, lots of river cards that make my hands but make the other guy’s hand a little better. Lots of good starting hands in position that whiff on the flop in big pots and get bet into in protected pot situations, etc. Those things cause downswings and I’m cool with that. I’m also freakin good at it, but whatever.

These downswings that I’m experiencing are compounded by various forms of tilt and generally poor decision-making. I’m going to attempt to list the multitudinous ways that I abuse my br, the various routines I have in place to attempt to mitigate these tilts, and then humbly ask for advice in resolving these insidious termites in my game. I’ll also try to list leaks that I believe that I have, and to keep them separate from the tilts.

I gotta say, I kinda feel like an alcoholic at an AA meeting asking for Jesus here, but well, my game has to be sick right now and it probably needs a little Jesus. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

So…

Hi, my name is René and I’m a tilter. [I’ll assume the “hi René” response [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]]

I guess I first started tilting when I realized that if I bet with nothing sometimes people would fold. Then it got worse when I found out that if I had been doing that for a while and ran into a hand then people would think I still had nothing and give me all kinds of action. It went downhill from there though, because when my timing was off I’d start winning small pots and losing big ones.

I realized I had a problem, so I found Tommy Angelo and did some research on what tilt is and what I can do about it. What Tommy taught me was that I’ll always be a tilter, but if I can manage to have an A game that can beat the other guy and if I stay closer to my A game for longer periods of time than the other guy, then I”ll win his money.

Tommy also taught me that there are many many forms of tilt because there are many many aspects of every session and every hand, so consequently there are many different opportunities to do things that I know better than to do.

Tilt is a crazy thing sometimes because it really doesn’t feel like tilt when you’re in the throes of it.

It feels like rational behavior.

It feels like normal logical thinking poker.

Its not though, and when you step back to review sessions and action and results the tilt stares back at you. It’s marked into your sessions and roles like a scar. The remains of a self-inflicted wound burned into the flesh of your bankroll.

And there it is: the vivid image of you clawing and tearing at your own roll. Ripping into it with eyes shut and mouth open. Justifying, complaining, thrashing, crashing, making excuses, and crushing your eyelids even further shut.

I’ve done that.

I’d like to stop.

Here are the specific things that I do to my poor br on a far too frequent basis:

1) Playing in games that are too tough.

-I suffer from a particularly onerous catch 22 when it comes to game and seat selection as they relate to mid-hand actions: I have to feel like I can pull off an appropriate bluff or make an appropriate laydown in order to feel like I’ve got enough of an edge to sit in a game. If I can’t make good postflop moves then I can’t sit, but if I can’t sit I can’t figure out if I can play well vs the opposition postflop. I’ve learned that preflop is a poor indicator of whether or not I can beat someone. There are two sides to winning poker: One side is to be better at guessing your opponent’s range of hands and then manipulating the action based on the read. The other side is to find games with brain-dead gambooooolers and just valuebet. When there are no maniac gamboolers, I’m forced to go the other way if I want to play, and too often I’ll look up and find myself in a game that I’ll have to play very very well in if I want to walk with a [theoretical] profit.

2) Watching my $$ at the table.

- Downswings of the magnitude that I’ve been experiencing do funny things to one’s expectation of results. During my first crushing downswing I attempted to use a tilt-blocker type coverup on my br when I bought in to each table. A problem started arising though, in that I’d keep accidentally getting all in with good hands because I had already taken my usual run of river suckouts, expensive secondbest hands, and postflop whiffs. I started buying in for double and the problem mitigated somewhat. I’d still be crushed when I’d pull the tiltblocker off and count up the 40bb or so loss at each table. What I was finding was that I was being too loose and too aggro when I didn’t know about the money. So I took it off and tightend back up, but now I watch my roll too closely again.

3) Demolition tilt

- This is usually a matter of losing a lot early in a session and just saying “F it I’m gonna wait for a big hand and get all in” I lose a lot these days and so I lose early a lot and the demo tilt comes along to clean things the rest of the way out.

4) Ego

- Generally the feeling that I have a distinct edge on someone. I’m sure I lose all kinds of money this way.

5) Pushing back when they’ve already dug in.

- I’ve got poor showdown radar sometimes, and I’ll tend to push back in spots where an opponent is already committed to turning his cards up at the end. This is mostly a leak and a deficiency in my A game, but it also registers as tilt in spots where I should know better.

6) Compounded tilt

- I’d call this generally the non-recognition of tilt as the tilt is occurring. I’ll push do something dumb and think, “ah, well he had that hand that time but he’ll tend not to in that spot so I’m ok” Then I’ll keep playing as though I didn’t do something stupid. This undoubtedly leads to further stupidity

7) Weaktight tilt

- I raise a lot pf, which has the eventual consequence of widening my opposition’s hand ranges. Sometimes I end up folding to further action when I could show down.

8) Loose passive tilt

- Sometimes I show down when I should be pushing back or folding. this tends to be out of confusion, and while this one is a leak in my A game, it can also register as tilt in spots where I know better.

9) Acting too fast tilt.

- this one should be much higher on the list because I know its one of the most frequent. Far far too often I’ll think to myself “checkraise turn, lead river” and then do that without looking at the damn river card. I’ll find myself in a situation where I have to call a river raise in a spot where I should have checked to price myself down cheaper. I almost never really make the mistake of checking too fast, its usually betting or raising too fast. I do this far far too much.

10) Ignoring pf tilt.

- this one’s like dieting or exercise to me. When we ignore the pf action and just go by the board, initiative, and postflop action we’re leaving out a very big part of the hand range equation. Its not hard to look at pf, but for some reason it can be a chore in spots, and when I don’t think about it but I should I’m tilting and losing money. I do this some, but not as much as I used to.

11) Ignoring protected pot tilt

- when a pot is multiway the actions have to be much more straightforward and the resulting actions have to take that into account. When I don’t but I know I should then I’m tilting and am likely to be doing something stupid.

12) Confusion tilt.

- If I don’t know where I’m at with a player or how I think I can beat him but I’m still stubbornly sitting there I’m tilting and losing money. This is similar to the first tilt I mentioned, which is sitting in games that are too tough, but the distinction is that I don’t know if this is a too tough spot or not. What I do know is that I don’t know what the hell I’m trying to accomplish, so I should sit back and re-evaluate before continuing any stupidity.

13) laziness tilt

- Lots of this in lots of spots. table selection, session review, thinking about pf, thinking about hand ranges, thinking away from the table, thinking while at the table, note taking, watching after folding, etc. I know better so therefore I should do better. These are all aspects of my A game, and when I fail to exercise them then I’m tilting and leaving money on the table.

14) distracted tilt

- barking dog, nagging wife, 2+2, hunger, thirst, etc. Outside of the dog I don’t suffer from this one much, but the rest of it can show up in spots if I don’t pay attention to those things before sitting down.

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k, I’m sure there’s more but that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head.

For the record, here are some common tilts that I think I do a good job of avoiding:

-surfing the interwebs tilt
-too many tables tilt
-tv tilt
-drunken tilt
-deadline tilt
-long session tilt

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so now I need your help, your support, and your suggestions. These tilts have combined with ugly cards and a sub-optimal A game to devastate my roll. When I play poker I like to win, and I haven’t won in a while. These are reasons why and I need some Jesus.

Thanks!

[Guruman]

Didnt list my anti-tilt routines:

I always play exactly two tables
I never have the tv on
I try to always be rested and fed.
I listen to chilled out music even though I like rock and blues. (tried going without music but found myself getting distracted too quickly)
I don't play super long sessions
I don't do drugs
I don't play drunk, though I will have a beer.

[Bona]

Try taking your significant knowledge and experience to a new place (temporarily) that will capture your interest and help you stay focused during the session. You might notice more in that mental place. I don't know what you normally play but if it is limit, play and study NL at lower stakes or SnG's etc.

I went to 6 max and learned quite a bit over 20k hands or so while I was figuring things out. Then had a bad downswing that would not have been as bad if I had played to my potential.

So I played full ring for a while and sort of figured out what was what with my six max game. (Not saying I have the answers just saying....) Not scientific but it worked that way for me and my six max results are recently improved.

[celiboy]

Just curious, but how many BB has the downswing been? I think you used to play 3/6 so it must be pretty long....

[bennyhana]

Hi I'm Ben and I'm a tilter.

This is a good one:

[ QUOTE ]
4) Ego

- Generally the feeling that I have a distinct edge on someone. I’m sure I lose all kinds of money this way.

[/ QUOTE ]

I also get a thing I refer to as Positive Tilt. I like to campare it to my golf game. The first few golf outings in the year, I really feel like I play good. I'm hitting the ball well, scoring OK, and not trying too many fancy things. Then I think, "If I do this, I might be able to hit this shot". Then I start to stray from the basics, and my score starts to suffer. The same thing happens to me at the poker tables. I am playing really well, not doing anything stupid, then I try an advanced play and it works. Hmmm. Maybe I should try some more of that and make this more fun. I start finding outs that just aren't there, or start factoring in implied odds that just don't exist. Then my winrate starts to suffer. Then I get so pissed and end my session down 25bb or something and wonder why I play this game.


.02

[Riku]

[ QUOTE ]

9) Acting too fast tilt.

- this one should be much higher on the list because I know its one of the most frequent. Far far too often I’ll think to myself “checkraise turn, lead river” and then do that without looking at the damn river card. I’ll find myself in a situation where I have to call a river raise in a spot where I should have checked to price myself down cheaper. I almost never really make the mistake of checking too fast, its usually betting or raising too fast. I do this far far too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I´ve tried to establish a routine to always look at the card and figure out whether it changed something or not. I feel that after being consistant with it, it´ll become automatic. Just like in sports, for example. You do things automatically after repeating them tens of thousands of time. But at first, you need to be very consistant with them.

What if you can´t get it automatic even after being consistant ? How can you check something every time if it´s not automatic ? Personally i use a mantra. I have certain questions that i repeat in my mind and answer them. A river falls, i ask, did that river change something, check if it did, and proceed accordingly.

[ESKiMO-SiCKNE5S]

my only emotions are hungry and sleepy

[bravos1]

Guru, nice post.. and I think we call all relate.

Some of these don't really seem like tile, but more of a lack of focus or possible leaks. 10-12 fall into this category.

Ego is a big one for me and tends to loosen me up PF and on the flop when I start losing and tilting. I feel that I can always outplay the money that just sucked out 3 hands in a row and start to make poor pre-flop and flop peeling decisions.

[inferno]

I was prolly the worst tilter of you all. I healed mostly by playing short peroids of time(like playing sessions of max 1hour) that helped me allot. NPA and TA helped also.

guru you can do iiiiiiiit! also plz beat jaxup [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[bung]

NPA - noted poker authority?

TA -??

And how did these sources help you tilt less inferno?