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 Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla
Originally Posted by spoonitnow
Running bad only exists in the mind. It's like suggesting a cure for someone who thinks they are cursed for a fixed amount of time.
"There's a problem, but it's in your head. So there is no problem."
???
Yes, it's in your head, that's why moving down levels works. You're not playing your best, your opponents are worse and the money is less. All enough to ride out whatever needs ridden out to get your confidence back up.
Eh you kind of misinterpreted what I said, but I didn't use the best word choice either, so that's probably my fault.
There is no reason that any result in poker has to equate to feeling any emotion except that you want it to. If you didn't want it to, then it wouldn't happen, and there wouldn't be any problems. If you get sucked out on and you punch a wall or throw something or get mad and piss away half your bankroll, that has nothing to do with poker and everything to do with you wanting to feel something that gives you compensation for what you felt was yours in the moment (ie the money in the pot).
This is why moving down doesn't really help anything long-term; it's just like cheap dollar store duct tape to patch shit up to make it look like everything is okay.
There are no solutions for tilt to be found in poker because it's not a poker problem, it's a people problem. Suggestions like "move down" or "play less tables" or "take a break" don't correct anything, they just ignore the real problem -- we're fucked up people who never work on the fact that we're fucked up people.
With that having been said, I'm of the opinion that there are two main categories of things when can do to work on our tilt problems. The first type of stuff we can do is more of a preventative type thing where we try to manipulate our responses to the conditions that create tilt. The second type of stuff is to attack the source directly by dealing with the real-life issues that leads to the manipulation that poker and outside events surrounding poker have on us.
Here are a few things that could help with attachment to results, emotional control, and that ultimately will make you a better person, not to mention poker player. I've picked some of these up from various places over the years, and are pulling some of them out of my ass just as I type this. If someone "just doesn't see how X will help your poker" or thinks "doing X is clearly -EV" then they just have a misunderstanding of the problem. There are certainly more ways than this to deal with emotionally-induced tilt (yes, there are other types) but this should get someone started:
1. The very next time you get pocket Aces preflop, open fold. The few big blinds that you lose in value immediately will be regained plus more when you discover that it's okay to fold the best hand. In the middle of emotional turmoil if you can't fold a winning hand, what makes you think you could fold a losing one?
2. Double your current bankroll management buy-ins guideline. If you have more money than you would ever need to play at a certain level, then you'll never worry about needing money to play at a certain level, which means the 600bb pot that you lost by a 2 outer with one card to come won't mean so much. Then once you stop caring about the money so much, you can actually focus on getting better with little or no obstruction.
3. Pay very careful attention to your emotions during your day. Constant monitoring of how you're feeling allows you to take control more easily. Just now my girlfriend came in asking in a rather pissed off tone why I left the bread open last night when she is actually the one who did it. As she came in pissed off, my first reaction was to be a little irritated since she was accusing me of something she did. But as soon as I felt myself becoming irritated, I took extra care to make sure that it didn't affect how I dealt with the conversation that ensued. When you practice this all day every day, monitoring your emotions in poker can go from being one of the hardest parts of your day to one of the easiest parts of your day.
I've already typed too much, but this should be enough.
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