How to not go on tilt?

[latvian7]

My Main problem is my personal emotions..Few weeks ago i deposited first money in PS because i lost all money which i won in freerolls, when 10B Celebretion was. most of it lost in sit n gos..(See sharkscope stats..nickname latvian7 ) I Deposited 10$ and signed the 50$ bonus in which if i receive 100FPP will give me 10 extra bucks [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But that is not the points, my problem is if i lose big pot in cash game i go on tilt, simply as that..i started with 0,01/0,02 got up to 20$ (ffs not many FPP from that cash game) and then i lost huge 5$ pot with all in preflop my QQ vs his AK. After that well i was angry started to play bad hands like K 5 got K on the flop but someone has K 10. Another pot then i quit cash game and went to Sit n go 3,4$, finished 4th again even more pissed went to MTT got nice place and won back to 10$ On Next day same happened. Until i finally lost all my money..( ok, ok i still have 0,33 ) :P


ok Now my questions:
How to keep my emotions low when i lose huge pot if i am ahead all the time and then the river card comes and im behind..?
Where to play with my 0,33$? Is 0,10$ tournaments only way?
Because i can't deposit much, (Student live sucks) however gonna deposit 10$ on next month and hopefully won't lose em.
And the last but not least, bankroll management where to play and when..

[dwf76]

Have a look in the psychology forum, it should help with all of your problems.

If you ask the same question in the book/publication forum as well, they'll point you towards the best literature on the subject.

[QuickLearner]

It's no fun to lose when you got your money in while ahead and it's happened to all of us more times than we'd like to remember. It's natural to be frustrated, but if it causes you to play badly, and you can't control your emotions, then there is a chance that poker isn't the game for you.

That may seem drastic, but here's the truth: your opponents are making mistakes when they chase you down like that. You should be happy that they play badly. If, instead, you fall victim to tilt, then you have to cure it or quit the game because bad beats are a part of the game. Here are a couple of ideas on preventing tilt.

Play at the lowest stakes you can find. Always. If you aren't playing with a significant portion of your bankroll on the table you'll be better able to absorb those occasional bad beats. And only play one game at a time until you're sure that you have your tilt issue under control.

Make sure you're always playing good quality cards.

Learn the odds of poker so you'll know when you're ahead or behind. Once you know the math you'll search for those opportunities to gamble when you are the favorite. Then you have to remind yourself that if you are a 55% favorite (like you were with those queens) you'll lose almost half the time you play the hand. That's poker...

Remember that you don't need to play for your whole stack in order to put your opponents at a disadvantage.

Don't be in a hurry to spend your last $.33; wait until you redeposit and then consider yourself $.33 ahead before you even play one hand.

Play the games where variance is lowest. Not the multi-table tourneys, for instance.

When and where to play? Play at the site you like the best. At the lowest stakes there are good games everywhere. Play when there are the most players on the site. That way you maximize your chances of finding other beginners or recreational players at your table.

[Teddie]

the only time i get it all in pre-flop is when i am up against a short-stack or a complete donk.

It best your 54% favourite, the worst is when your up against K's or Aces. Even at NL 2 on stars you wont often find someone
who will shove prelfop with AQ or J's.

[jack21221]

Being properly bankrolled for a game prevents me from going on tilt. I am completely emotionless when I'm playing and losing a lot, as long as I'm sure I'm making the correct decisions. It's because I realize the short term losses (or wins) are fairly meaningless.

The only time my emotions get to me in this game is when I bust out of a MTT on a bad beat, because the potential gain is so high.

[CmnDwnWrkn]

[ QUOTE ]

And the last but not least, bankroll management where to play and when..

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the faq in this forum for an idea of the bankroll you should keep for the stakes you are playing. Or perhaps more accurate for your situation - the stakes you should play with the bankroll that you have.

With a bankroll of only $10, you should only be playing the lowest available stakes. .01/.02 NL sounds fine, and sit and go tournaments you should really only be playing .50 or lower (if available).

The problem with the lower stakes games is the rake is often times taken at a higher percentage. However, if you play higher, you are likely to go broke

[latvian7]

The thing is im doing really great at MTT about +5$ getting in money 27% of time from 80 tournaments in Sit n go from about 89 games im down -15-19$
and from cash games im up +2$ from 4k hands according to Poker tracker.I know pretty much everything about odds, pot odds implied odds etc, BUT the frustration is my leak.
Thanks will check psychology forum.Basicly im a winning player as most of 2+2ers, but i must NOT TILT..Ok, gonna work on myself now [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Will take a break if im tilting, go for a walk with dog [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I Will try.. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jack21221]

Latvian, how do you know you're a winning player? If I read this correctly, you're up 5 in MTTs, down 15 in SNGs, and up 2 in cash games.

Sounds like you're a losing player, at least over this tiny sample size.

Truthfully, you won't have an idea if you're a winning or losing player for probably another 10k hands, or 200 tournaments or so. Rough estimates.

[Bad Beat Maker]

This is what I do to not tilt or find myself building up the fiery rage inside. . . I close down the poker site and hop in the shower (my water bill gets quite high sometimes).

This is not to say that I never tilt, BECAUSE I DO!

[Harv72b]

Poker is a game of equity values and expected returns. Any time you feel that you no longer have positive equity in a game, and therefore no longer have a positive expected return on your play, you need to stop playing. You obviously can't do that in the middle of a tournament, but you can play that tourney out & then stop until you've cooled down. There's a reason you see so many top pros walk away from a table after taking a tough beat in the middle of a tournament.

There are a million different ways that different people handle their tilt problems, and what works for you may be completely different than what works for me (probably is). Maybe playing some music will help, maybe it'll hurt. Maybe forcing out a joke in the table chat will help, maybe not. I just can't really say. Really the only thing I can say is that the bad beats will probably get easier to take as you gain more experience in poker, and thus experience more bad beats. I'm at least to a point now where it takes a series of them in rapid succession before I start to feel tilt creeping in on me.

One thing that does tend to help a lot of players is to start viewing your chips as bets or blinds, and not money. If you're playing .01/.02 NL with $2 in front of you, try to think of your stack as being 100 big blinds instead of $2. For many people it's easier to mentally handle losing 20 big blinds in a hand vs. losing 40 cents. Also, try to take a positive out of each hand that you play; if you got your money in good, try to focus on that & not the fact that your opponent outdrew you. If you were unlucky enough to find yourself in a cooler hand, like a set over set or KK vs AA, then focus on what clues (if any) your opponent might have given you that could've allowed you to escape the hand more cheaply. Finally, just realize that sometimes you're going to get outplayed, even if the other guy might not have had a clue about how he outplayed you.

Bankroll management is also key--don't play in a game that you can't afford to play in. With $10 to work with, that's pretty much anything other than .01/.02 cash games & freeroll tourneys. With 33 cents to work with, that's pretty much anything other than the freerolls. Knowing that you can get felted without risking being busted is huge.

Remember, 72 offsuit is going to beat aces about 1 time in 10. That's just the nature of the game.