Psychology type post + update
November 29, 2007
It’s funny, having a bad session doesn’t make me feel like stopping playing. I guess this is one of the reasons poker is so profitable, so many players just can’t quit when they start playing badly. When I have a bad session I become hugely driven to find out the mistakes I made and resolve them.
Being too results oriented
Looking back over the video I didn’t realise I was so results oriented. I saw myself start to tilt and question my plays in hands I played perfectly. The amount of $$$ I was losing was directly affecting how I was playing. Being results oriented isn’t so bad when I’m winning, but it really hits me when I have losing sessions… if I was results oriented through a long downswing it would really crush me. I need to focus more on how well I’m playing and the decisions I’m making, rather on the amount I’m winning or losing. I need to try to factor out my win/loss$ at all stages of playing a session.
Paying too much attention to short term results
During sessions I usually bring up PT every 30mins or so to check out my win/loss$. At the end of each session I’ll look at my win/loss$ and check out my PokerEV and PokerGrapher graphs. This is just way too short term results oriented, hell I even posted recently on how well I was running across 1.5k hands. If I’m going to take playing poker seriously then I can’t take too much notice of the short term results of the game. When you watch any top player play on CardRunners you just don’t hear them talking about how much they’re up or down for the session, it doesn’t affect their decision making.
Playing my A game
This one’s pretty tough. I need to make sure I’m playing my A game every time I play. This means both before I decide to play a session, and mid-session when I start tilting.
Different people tilt in different ways, I tilt by playing too passively. I’ll start limping into too many pots, playing a few more hands than I should, and taking way too passive lines in hands. I just don’t concentrate hard enough, don’t analyse hands deeply enough, I feel like I’m playing to “catch a hand” rather than make money, and I 1st level think everything (just go by the strength of my hand).
There are 2 big reasons that usually cause me to tilt… The first is playing tired/fatigued. I need realise when I’m tired and quit instantly, or better still anticipate that I’ll get tired before starting the session and deciding to spend time doing something else like watch a CR video.
The second is losing to bad players. This one has always been a big leak since I’ve started playing poker. I get stuck a buy-in or 2 to a massive fish and just lose it. I know I’m crushing this guy long term, but he’s taking my money short term, it really frustrates me. Worst of all I don’t want to quit because the action is juicy. However despite the juicy action I can’t play unless I’m in control and playing my A game. I need to realise that he’s put me off my game and apply the correct strategy to beat him, or stop playing completely.
By stopping playing completely I need to quit all tables instantly regardless of where the blinds are. When ending a regular session I’ll uncheck auto-post and wait for the current orbits to finish on all of my tables. However when I’m playing on tilt I need to just get out of there before I get the chance to overplay hands trying to subconciously “win it back” on the last orbit.
Taking my foot off the gas
I’ve noticed this pattern not just in poker, but in everyday life too. Whenever I get ahead, I always take my foot off of the gas. Whether if it’s playing pool, squash, football, or even with my workload at work… if I’ve got a strong lead I almost intentionally shift to my B game. I think I need to keep myself concious of this, and just try to focus on the situation less and instead on giving my 100% regardless.
Going to re-read my copy of the fantastic Zen and the Art of Poker over the next couple of weeks. I think that’ll help reenforce some of this stuff in my head. Another great reference for those interested: free articles by Piemaster, who co-wrote The Poker Mindset with Matt Hilger.
In other news…
- I’m all moved into my new flat, got everything set up and settled in really nicely.
- Playing a home game at Andy’s tomorrow night, not played live for a few weeks due to work and the move, looking forward to it!
- Circus are doing a £150+15 Christmas Cracker tourney at the end of december. The buy-in will represent under 10% of bankroll so I’m thinking of taking a shot at it. More to come.
- Just booked tickets to Stockholm for January, awesome cheap deal from Ryanair £30 all in return flights from Glasgow with some mates.
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