Tilt...

[Talking Poker]

I'm not proud, but I'm going to write it here anyway. I need to.

I tilted today. It's been a LONG time since I've (really) tilted, and I actually thought I was past that point in my poker career. Whoops - guess not!

I was playing HU cash games, which EASILY tilt me more than any other form of poker, and my God was I running badly. I have AQ and the flop comes AAK - you know villain smooth called preflop with KK. Crap like that. Not to mention all the suckouts, flush draw after flush draw getting there against me, me missing my huge draws, and even a fun deep stacked set over set on a J62 flop (I had the 66). Brutal.

I actually maintained my composure ok through most of this... until I ran into the guy complaining about his luck. He claimed that he had AA lose to 33 17 times in a one week (so he's either a liar or plays a TON of poker), and said he hasn't made a single flush draw for 2 weeks (now I know he's a liar). Naturally, he made two against me (horrible chases) in 5 minutes. He managed to only remember one of them, so maybe he's just dumb. After THAT, when he's going off about how unlucky he is (not against me - he wasn't completely blind), I just lost it. If we were playing live, I may have punched him in the face. I donked off another buy in or so to him (I think he took 3+ from me), and that's when it really hit me. True, beautiful tilt. I wanted to bet/raise/shove/bluff every single hand. I wanted to play for $1000s instead of $100s. After feeling that feeling - that very, very dangerous feeling - that I haven't felt in... years?... I quickly sat out and walked away.

I managed to type "I hate you." in the chatbox on my way out, and yes, that really did make me feel a little bit better.

But damn... I guess I'm not over the whole tilt thing after all... I didn't break anything, but I wanted to.

Final tally has me down around 12 buy ins on the day, I think. That including going 2-5 in HU SNGs, thanks to running ridiculously cold there too.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......... it feels better to get that off my chest.

It's been about an hour, and I really do feel better already. I don't trust myself to go back to the cash games yet though, but I may try to turn things around with a few HU SNGs. If things go badly fast, it's time for a poker break.

[New Guy]

Thats ruff. Let some time pass.I havent won shit in 2 weeks.Im just watching poker til I feel better and waiting for rakeback to give me motivation!!! Hang in there

[melioris]

I think i have the reverse problem of yours. You have avoided big tilt for a long time and then boom, had a big event. I am always a little tilty and always fighting it with just about every session.

Run some stairs, get drunk, go diving, do something.

[Talking Poker]

Am getting sick of the stairs and my knee hurts.
Went diving twice in the last week and a half.
And getting drunk isn't NBEARLY as fun as it used to be. Now it just makes me hurt.

But good suggestions. I went back to the HU SNGs for a while earlier and went 5-4. I'll take it.

I have some friends that just got into town tonight and will be here for about a week and a half, so I'm going to go with the limited poker schedule until mid-month, and then start fresh after they leave. Maybe I'll hit the trusty ol' 6 max games again - it's been a couple of months.

[Zybomb]

Hit the local card room

[Invigilator]

Congratualtions. Seriously.

Not for being on Tilt. But for recognizing it AND taking the right path. Everyone has the potential to tilt, regardless of their level (imo), but not everyone has the discipline to make the adjustments or walk away.

I recommend Bingo and shuffleboard (there whould be pleanty available in Flordia)

[drewjax]

I know you think I'm a donk, and dont know what I'm talking about, and it has nothing to do with it.........yada yada yada.......

but SERIOUSLY

kick FT to the curb............rakeback or not


PokerStars ftw.....................

at least TRY to play there a little if you are steamed up.

[Kurn]

Just a thought that occurred to me.

A while back somebody, maybe Storm, maybe JD posted what I thought was one of the most brilliant comments as a response to a strategy post.

He said "Stop trying to win so many hands."

One of the key skills to winning at poker is patience. The shorter-handed the games get, the less patient you can play other than being patient relative to your opponents. When you play HU, you can't be patient and you must by definition gamble more. Thus variance goes up, because good players play more hands, go farther with them and therefore suck out on big preflop hands more often.

Now, I'm not necessarily saying stop playing HU and go back to 6 max or full ring or whatever. Just be aware that by playing HU, you lose one of the edges you have over the competition; your ability to win by inaction.

FWIW, you couldn't get me to concentrate on HU SNGs as a standard game. There's already enough maddening variance in full ring SNGs for my taste.

[Talking Poker]

Two things:

1. I actually remember The Storm posting exactly the opposite of what you are saying - talking about relentless aggression and fighting to win every single pot. One of us must have misread it.

2. I hear what you are saying about the HU SNGs, but I really like them. Yep, there is variance and all that, but I really like the whole concept. It's one on one. In the beginning, while the blinds are small, you feel out your opponent and determine his style. You learn what plays you can make and what "level" you should be palying him on (if he's playing on level 1, it's a BAD idea to be playing on level 3 - you need to be exactly one level ahead of him). Basically, you figure out what you need to do to beat his style - play aggro, trap, wait for him to make a stupid mistake, CB a little or a lot, CR flops a little or a lot, and so on and so on and so on. And then it's just a matter of execution.

I dunno. I just find that whole thing very attractive. Yes, it's similar in HU cash games, but I like the fixed starting/ending points in the SNG more. You play for one buy in (and adapt to the blinds and stack sizes along the way), someone gets it, and then it's over. I understand that a lot of people prefer HU cash games for exactly the opposite reason, but I'm having trouble getting myself into that mentality.