Lack of discipline

I find myself grinding microstakes for hours and then feeling very bad if i lose a few dollars quickly. Then i quickly tilt and play at a higher limit table and lose more money. A real problem in temperament, dont know how to control it, its already cost me a lot of $.

I would agree with the use of the word temperament , allowing your temper to make your play personal and cloud your judgement is an expensive leak . Just as it's wise to count to ten before speaking when angered it is wise to cool down during play.Personally I will go get an iced tea or snack and maybe play a cheap single table SNG as it forces me to take some time and relax. Try to find a way to make calming down before acting rash your natural inclination , make it into a habit.

spstevens said:

I would agree with the use of the word temperament , allowing your temper to make your play personal and cloud your judgement is an expensive leak . Just as it's wise to count to ten before speaking when angered it is wise to cool down during play.Personally I will go get an iced tea or snack and maybe play a cheap single table SNG as it forces me to take some time and relax. Try to find a way to make calming down before acting rash your natural inclination , make it into a habit.

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Hey good ideas. Personally though a `cheap STT-SNG` never relaxes me... pretty much does the opposite (those f`n donkeys!!!) lol
I just try to remove all emotion from the game (it takes practise though.... lots of practise)

This problem was discussed a lot. There is no other way that to educate yourself in time. You have it or not . If you do not have it you have to educate yourself. I think a lot of us have this problem. But you have to educate yourself to be aware of this moments. Find a way to coool yourslef. Put it like .. making a profit from saving money.
I know it is hard .. it is the human nature. But if you do not do this you will be always a loser no matter how much you study.

nitulbhatia said:

I find myself grinding microstakes for hours and then feeling very bad if i lose a few dollars quickly. Then i quickly tilt and play at a higher limit table and lose more money. A real problem in temperament, dont know how to control it, its already cost me a lot of $.

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When on tilt, going to a higher limit is a very bad move. When titlting, walking away from the tables completely is probably the best thing you can do. Calm down and come back later. Later can be minutes to hours to day ect... There will be a game at a later time when you are not tilting.

The longer I play poker, the more I think that emotional control is 80% of success. If you think about it, playing a basic, solid "ABC" game really isn't that difficult and will be profitable. The problem for many people (including myself lately ) is actually doing what you are supposed to do when you don't want to do it.

I've tilted off over half my bankroll in the last month. After every big loss, I have no problem seeing what i should have done, but for some reason I can't do it in real time. I'm seriously looking at meditation techniques and I am forcing myself to play one table with my browser closed.

I never had this problem before Black Friday. Yes, I'm whining.

Ive tilted off my bankroll on FT a couple times. I would play $1/2 super turbos then go on bad down swing. i would be on a losing streak of 10-15 games then get donked out of a couple more in a row throwing me on mad tilt. I would then play a couple $5 st and then $10st hoping my luck was about to change. then before i knew it i would be on my last $20 in a $20 ST going for all or nothing. It worked out for me a couple times but in the end i am still down a few hundred. The last time i went on tilt i lost $90 in st and totally bombed out on 3 step3ticket matrix tourneys earning $0 which is hard to do. that i worked hard to get. Lost about my whole BR in an hour are two rite before bed time. I went to sleep with a huge knot in my throat. Got up the next morning ready to quit the game i loved so much. I had $3 left in my account and 1 step3 ticket left. I hoped into rush poker playing like a maniac with my $3 and ended up leaving with $17. I then played my last step3 ticket in a matrix and cashed in first for $86. I was so happy to see moneys back in my account that i swore to myself never to tilt again. I went on tilt one more time on carbon losing about $45. Amazingly that same day i won a $33 dollar ticket in firstdeposit FR and cashed in for $58. Haven't had a tilting moment since this. I feel like i learned my lesson with BR management.

I think after time you will learn to not move to a higher limit to recover your losses. I used to do that all the time, but it never really worked out. When you lose your BR a few times doing this you should start to realize maybe it isn't the best idea. Think about the money you lost this way in the past and hopefully it will help with future BRM decisions.

When I tilt I leave the table. My emotional difficulty is the winning tilt. That's something I need to work on.

Lack of discipline is the single biggest chip burner in poker, imho.

I agree people, sometimes i feel is it a good idea to fight a game where 95% of the people playing as per poker table ratings statistics actually lose money. Poker is harder than it seems, there are only 5 out of a 100 players that are making money, and they too can suddenly lose it on tilt on a bad day.

genleemb said:

When on tilt, going to a higher limit is a very bad move. When titlting, walking away from the tables completely is probably the best thing you can do. Calm down and come back later. Later can be minutes to hours to day ect... There will be a game at a later time when you are not tilting.

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agree 100%
I watch a friend who does this > move to higher buyin level.. I'm gonna win the monieszzz but it is just such a terrible choice based on emotion.
Personally I've never done the 'move up stakes while tilting' thing. And most often (except for perhaps a few times) I've always just stopped playing once I felt I wasn't playing my best.

Problem is that lots of players tke a lot of time untill they start to be aware of the moment they are tilting. And after anothe lot of time untille they learn how to deal with it. A lot of players know they are tilting but simply they cannot leave the table untill they go broke.

I definitely know what you are talking about, I've pass for this situation many times already. I spend many days grinding on small limits and build a nice bankroll, then I lose everything in on tilt day.
I also say to myself that this not going to happen again, but, unforturnately, still happens sometimes. Now, I think I can control better myself, I decided to play more tournaments than cash game, this way I think is easier to be on the control.

Getting on tilt happens to everybody, the point is how do u manage it.

You should stop playing poker, maybe for the rest of the day.

Go for a walk, have a rest. You will be able to play tomorrow again

step away from the mouse!

if it's not your nite , then it's just not your nite

when i was doing well at micro cash games i would only lose a few dollars on bad nites and then walk away

but win 5, 10, 20+ on good nites to more than make up for a few nites of losing 1, 2, 3 or at worst 5 dollars

Cooking said:

I definitely know what you are talking about, I've pass for this situation many times already. I spend many days grinding on small limits and build a nice bankroll, then I lose everything in on tilt day.
I also say to myself that this not going to happen again, but, unforturnately, still happens sometimes. Now, I think I can control better myself, I decided to play more tournaments than cash game, this way I think is easier to be on the control.

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I still have moments when i make -EV move because of lack of patience. But what i educated myselef to do is to leave poker for a 2-3 hours imediately "Oops wrong move, cards do not come , bhoring tables today , i have to do something else" What i have to learn now is how to handle 1-2 hours when cards do not come at all. I multitable but i cannot multitable more than 4 for the moment. If someone does not belive that at 4 tables sometimes cards do not come with hours than i can say it is true Or a lot of players do not understand that. If cards do not come do not try to make something happen cose it will not. You can steal some blinds but that's all. It is no solution to change tables when the table is the right way. Nit at the left and LAG at the right Beginners should first learn to respect the basics by the book. And if the book says that some hands are not worth played from certain position than do not play them. This is the first sign of tilt when you start playing starting hands randomly trying to get lucky.

Book recomendation : The Poker Mindset by Ian Taylor & Matthew Hilger

Great book, for tilt and psychological issues and dealing with them, I still read it to this day must have read it over 10 times now, well worth the money.

Lots of great advice here: https://www.cardschat.com/f49/tips-dealing-tilt-162461/ Its a thread from the CC golden archives. Check it out.

I've spent so much time ranting about Black Friday and such that I sometimes forget how much good poker info is actually on this site.

The above book has saved me a ton. It is a must read.