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In The Well with......The War on Tilt.
Good morning.
Time we tackled the problem of tilt.
What is tilt, what causes it, & the negative effect it has on our P & L.
So.....
On tomorrow's Ch 861 Show, Barry Carter will appear as a guest from 9pm - 10pm, & then be taking questions from 10pm - 11pm. Jared Tendler will "skype" into the show from the USA, too.
Sky Poker will also be uploading short segments of the Show onto You Tube in due course.
For now, this thread will be an "In The Well" with the co-authors of "The Mental game of Poker", Jared Tendler & Barry Carter.
So, any questions, fire away, & Barry or Jared will try & reply to them all.
Comments
If you were not already aware, Jared actually coaches & mentors golfers as well as poker players.
His hottest poker client right now?
This man.
Anyone know that chaps claim to fame?
There is also a Blog up now, the first of three on the subject, which can be found HERE
So, questions for Barry & Jared please, on the subject of tilt.
I do know that I open this Community every morning, 7 days per week, & just KNOW I'm going to see some overnight "tilt" Posts.
Time to sort it out
I know the general concensus is to take a break from the game if you feel yourself tilting.
But what happens if you're in the middle of a couple of tournaments and feel tilt coming on?
Have a good show
Mick
Would you ever use someone else's tilt issues to your advantage?
i.e.
Wind them up in the chat box?
Not nice i know , but every edge helps huh?
Read the blog and looking forward to more.
I can take bad beats with a smile - I cant control the luck factor.
I guess the biggest cause of tilt for me is making a bad decision. I should be able to control me and it hurts when I dont.
An avoidable bad play really makes me angry with myself - not in a furniture hitting swearing out loud way, but I definiltely feel myself getting emotional and the poor play can then snowball. Usually results in unecessary gambling.
Examples would be (usually after a long wait and just before the bar times out) calling a river bet when I only really beat a bluff and have no logical reason to believe it is one, or shoving over early action with an at best racing hand when I have no need to be in a race situation at the stage of a tourney I am in and I have no reason to believe I am going to make the opponent fold.
The blog has made me think a bit deeper though about the real causes though and I believe they are either one or a combination of the following.
1. Competitive nature - not wanting to feel I have been "pushed off" a hand and so justifying a call.
2. Boredom - or the "gambling demon" that is missing a bit of an adrenaline rush and just wants some action - even if it is bad action.
Is this what the panel means as triggers? How do we best control them?
Could it possibly be "the chip leader at this year's WSOP November Nine..."
Its a shame you have me on the screen, I can barely hold the golf stick thingy (club?)
Barry
A good start is with the tilt profile we advocate in the sky blog here
https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby?action=show_static&page=poker_community_blog&plckBlogId=Blog:984622ff-5ae6-4357-a087-da942593ca53&plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&userId=984622ff-5ae6-4357-a087-da942593ca53&plckPostId=Blog%3a984622ff-5ae6-4357-a087-da942593ca53Post%3afd9bb095-4f6c-4616-a8e2-3c8c71fb5d00&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
Then if you stay tuned to the sky blog, or the show tomorrow, we have the next part, how to deal with tilt as it happens. I'll cross post it here when its ready.
Of course the number one goal is to prevent tilt before it happens, that is not always possible. Sometimes the issue can be so severe (or the circumstances leading up to it) that you cannot avoid going on full blown tilt.
Conventional poker wisdom tells you to quit at this point. Sometimes that is the only good option left, but not always.
First of all, if the games you are playing in are really good, it can be very harmful in the long term to quit them all the time. Some people think they don’t have a tilt problem because they always quit when they start to tilt, but this actually an example of a big tilt problem that is more costly in the long run than powering through it.
Secondly, if you ever want to cure a tilt problem you need to work on correcting it in moment. The more you work on the correction, the better you will be at applying it in the moment. Just like any other skill, you need to practice the solution in order for it to show up when it is needed.
The following is a simple step by step process for dealing with tilt when it happens. It is best to prepare this routine when your are not on tilt away from the tables so that it is easier to apply in the moment:
You cannot work your way out of tilt until you take a moment to acknowledge you are on tilt. Thankfully with the Tilt Profile this will get easier and easier, and before it gets too costly. Take a moment to recognize you are on tilt, and if you can, try and call out the signs of tilt such as your hands are sweating or you are playing too many hands out of position.
Next take a long deep breath. Despite what you think, this is not to relax you. The purpose of taking a deep breath is to put a little bit of space between you and tilt. Like when you walk out of the room for a moment to collect your thoughts. If this means sitting out at the table for a few hands than so be it.
Here is where I want you to pre-prepare what I call a Logic Statement. Just a straightforward mantra designed to remind you of the right way to think. Look to your Tilt Profile for inspiration. It could be as detailed as ‘In order for poker to be profitable, the bad players need to suck out on me’ or as simple as ‘The only thing you can do is make the best decision you can’. Have this statement to hand, maybe put it on a note somewhere, and say it to yourself when you are on tilt.
This is something else you are better off preparing in advance. Think about all the parts of your game that go away when you are on tilt – it could be maths, hand selection or positional awareness for example. Then write down the correct way of playing, the way you wished you played when you are on tilt. Make it simple, perhaps just addressing your biggest leaks, for example ‘Play tight out of the blinds’. Then keep this note to hand and use it to remind yourself of the biggest mistakes you make while on tilt, so you can doggedly fight to correct those mistakes in the moment.
It make take more than once.
If you find these attempts are not working, perhaps the tilt is too severe, now is the time to quite. Don’t worry, this process will become easier the more you do it and you did valuable work attempting it today.
Do you have a routine to prepare yourself mentally to play your best poker, or do you just show up and play?
In every major sport, professionals and serious players have some form of a structured warm-up before they play. This includes things like training drills, team talks, jogging, stretches and going over strategy.
For most poker players, warming up really is just a case of turning the computer on.
In general, poker players aren’t convinced yet of why this is so important to them. This is not entirely their fault, as there never has been much emphasis on warming up in conventional poker literature. People don’t think of poker in these sporting terms, but if you want to get an edge on those lazy players who don’t take their game seriously, a warm up is a good place to start.
Warming up helps you identify what to improve, and helps you keep a close eye on your progress. Warming up what you’re currently in the process of learning makes these skills more likely to show up while you’re playing.
If you are playing long sessions I’d suggest warming up for 10 to 15 minutes, but if the concept of warming up before you play is new, that is not going to be realistic or sustainable. To get you started and to see some immediate benefits, try the following three-minute warm up:
Basic three-minute warm up
1. Remove any non-poker related distractions.
This includes your phone, chat, TV, other people, and random internet browsers.
2. Review what you are working on.
Remind yourself of a few things in your game that you’re trying to improve. Do this by briefly reviewing some specific technical improvements in your poker skill, such as value betting more, tightening up your opening range, or 3-betting more from the small blind. Also review the strategy you’re using to improve mental game problems.
3. Take a few deep breaths to focus and go play.
….
And that’s it! The very fact that you are consciously doing a warm up is going to put you in a better more focused poker mindset. By following step 2, you will also have the things you want to improve on fresh in your mind to enable you to execute them better. If you are trying to value bet more, the fact you have gone over this before you play makes it much more likely it will show up in the moment at the tables.
Additional warm up strategies
As mentioned earlier, ideally a warm up would last around 15 minutes. Instead of trying to do everything all at once, build up to it, by gradually adding the following steps to your routine (add the ones which make the most sense to you right now first):
• Decide how long you’re going to play. Having a set time makes poker more structured and for many players that makes their mental game stronger. Obviously you can adjust if the games are not as good, or better, than you were expecting.
• Review your long-term goals.
• Take notes on anything that’s weighing on your mind from your personal life. That way you can focus entirely on playing and easily pick these things back up afterward.
• Review hand histories that fit with what you are currently improving.
• Many players watch poker training videos before they play. That’s best only if you already watched the video and it fits with the parts of your game you’re trying to improve. In this way, the video refreshes your memory, rather than teaching you something entirely new. Before you start playing is not the time to learn, it’s the time to reinforce what you are learning so you’re more likely to execute it while playing.
• Exercise or go for a walk.
• Try meditating, visualizing, or breathing exercises.
• Play 30% to 50% of your usual number of tables for 30 minutes. Consider this to be an extended warm-up that’s designed to create a bridge between warming up and playing. Playing a fraction of the tables allows you to think more about the concepts you’re trying to improve, steadily get into the flow of the action, and get in the best frame of mind before really grinding.
However, its different for different people. Some people need to get really amped up to peform well (Michael Jordon apparantly used to get really angry to psych himself up), other people need to calm down. I do believe that alchohol is helping you not tilt for this reason, but I also think that you will perform much better if you find a healthier alternative method to calming you down.
In 99% of cases, however, I'm pretty sure alcohol is going to induce mental game leaks like tilt for sure.
Personally I don't like berating people in chat etc. In my opinion whatever small amount of EV you gain, you potentially lose by putting your tablemates off from playing with you. I am strongly in the camp that the best way to create good games for everyone, is to make them relaxed and sociable. Someone who is losing and getting an earful in the chatbox is more likely to quit than someone who is losing but having a laugh.
In poker I generally open a table, watch the tv, talk to the kids/wife, berate said children for arguing, send them to bed, grab a bag of crisps and a coffee........its just not gonna cut it is it ;-)
Had loads of fun on the show. If you like the Q&A format, Jared did a really good AskMeAnything on Reddit last week:
http://www.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/2ftd3d/i_am_mental_game_coach_jared_tendler_ama/