Stress

yeah, avoiding tilt gives such a huge edge for longterm profit. But when the going gets tough, even the best players have trouble dealing with the tilt that comes up.

That graph does not look like a lot of fun =)

I am in same boat. Recently i realized that poker has huge impact for my emotional stability. Once i am running bad the quality of life gets lower, i feel pissed and annoyed thus i start playing bad (not realizing that i am), and my downswings become brutual.
I have realized that i won't be able to beat this game until i will be free of the feeling that i must win, since it's my only source of income. However i am student and ill have to struggle for 1.5 year before i will get a steady job and i will be able to move limits without caring too much about neither money nor bad runs.

On January 29 2008 00:36 k2o4 wrote: yeah, avoiding tilt gives such a huge edge for longterm profit. But when the going gets tough, even the best players have trouble dealing with the tilt that comes up. That graph does not look like a lot of fun =)

Emotional management skills are so underrated. There are a number of factors which go into determining a player's longterm win-rate, and some of the most important ones have nothing to do with skill.

that's why this is your greatest opportunity to use your best skill, man


you might not get another opportunity (brutal downswing) for a long time, so this is like the most important moment to focus on making good decisions

once a person realizes that theres no sense in worrying about things he cannot control, everything you face in life, such as adversity, comes a lot easier.

On January 29 2008 01:07 Jelle wrote: that's why this is your greatest opportunity to use your best skill, man you might not get another opportunity (brutal downswing) for a long time, so this is like the most important moment to focus on making good decisions

=].

On January 29 2008 01:07 Jelle wrote: that's why this is your greatest opportunity to use your best skill, man you might not get another opportunity (brutal downswing) for a long time, so this is like the most important moment to focus on making good decisions

saved to my collection of great quotes.

also, pillars, the anger you feel is nothing compared to how pissed off you would get at times in a real job, being forced to deal with retards, or getting fired, or just in general being bossed around. I really admire that you do so well at poker so don't let it get to you.

On January 29 2008 01:32 Silver)Z( wrote: also, pillars, the anger you feel is nothing compared to how pissed off you would get at times in a real job, being forced to deal with retards, or getting fired, or just in general being bossed around. I really admire that you do so well at poker so don't let it get to you.

There are different types of anger and frustration, to be sure. I've worked a couple of 'real' jobs before, so I'm not unfamiliar with some of the issues which arise in the standard working world. It's hard to complain too much when so many people are chained to mindless jobs which they derive almost no fulfillment from, and which only barely cover their cost of living.

Still, the frustration which poker can elicit seems to me to be rather unique. Competitive individuals, who are used to leveraging their intellectual and strategic edge over weaker players *immediately* in games like Starcraft or Chess or Go, are forced to see that same edge manifest itself very, very, VERY slowly over a long period of time when playing poker.

It *is* getting to me right now. But taking the time to write about it, and to put it in context, will ultimately help me get back on track.

I had a 20bi downswing this month at 400nl, my first real big downswing.

I have since recovered and am back in the green for the month. My advice is to look for leaks and believe in yourself.

On January 29 2008 01:58 Babs wrote: I had a 20bi downswing this month at 400nl, my first real big downswing. I have since recovered and am back in the green for the month. My advice is to look for leaks and believe in yourself.

Glad you've managed to recover. 20 buy-ins is pretty nasty, especially at full-ring. When I've played in the 2/4 full-ring games this month, you've definitely seemed like a solid player.

My month isn't even *that* bad in terms of results. I mean, I'm still making money. But I've logged an insane amount of hours, and am winning at less than half of my historic PTBB/100. I think much of the frustration is stems from the intensity of the swings. Every other session involves these massive upswings and downswings. It's so much more emotionally taxing to go down 5 buy-ins, up 8 buy-ins, down 4 buy-ins than it is to slowly lose a single buy-in over the course of a session.

sick downswing, hope things go better for ya

4.8k ? playkng 600nl? that is ur biggest swing? wtf

yea i've been going through the same thing. i tried to step back up to 5/10 and started seriously struggling and so i moved down to 3/6 and broke even / lost a little over like 10k hands so then i moved down to mixing 2/4 in just to get confidence back and ive been stuck here too. If you want we set something up where we can sweat each other or discuss hands. Let me know, my aim is AJDoomer2 and my msn is doomerfd@hotmail.com

Poker is a sick game. I feel you.

I had a similar month in December. I made $20k in the first 10 days, then proceeded to lose $21k in the next 2 days (NL 3/6 and NL 5/10). Felt like shit. Decided to start using 4 BI / day stop-loss rule, to not get stressed too hard. Kept having swingy sessions over the next 2 weeks, basically I managed to win back like 80% of those $21k, then lost 3/4 of it again in 2 days (stop-loss rule violated). Made some money in the last days to save the month and end few G's up for December, but still felt pretty bad and angry at myself for letting all the shit happen, when I am very sure of the fact, that I could have avoided like at least half of it by not playing in the wrong state of mind.

Then January came, I started playing more disciplined poker and controlling my emotions better. Also Lady Luck smiled at me

GL pillars.

Well, I'm not a baller like the rest of you guys, but ever since I started playing poker several months back in September, I've always wondered how you mid-high stakes guys handle the emotional roller coaster that is poker. I've been multi-tabling 25nl and losing $50+ pots can be stressful, especially when I get my money in as a big favorite.

I can't imagine what some of you go through emotionally after a downswing. There are times where I seriously felt like throwing my comp through the window, and then me afterwards.

Pillars, I read in your other blog post that you made over 150 K this past year. My goodness, thinking about that has got to at least put a little smile on your face while you're in this downswing.

GL

On January 29 2008 03:51 Baal wrote: 4.8k ? playkng 600nl? that is ur biggest swing? wtf

Ahahaha nonono that graph is not an example of my biggest downswing. It's just a gross, swingy stretch of 10k hands. Biggest downswing is closer to 12k over 3-4 days.