You're a Bunch of Factors

even though i am talking about heads up cash games as an example, advice can obviously be more general than this.

i have been experimenting with HU cash games lately, and i must say, i enjoy them a lot because its all about getting inside your opponents head, then systematically crushing their soul

i have played around 3k hands so far (this week just about ), which isn't much, but basically i have come to realise that i have a bit of a problem with tilt.

variance in HU games is higher obviously, but basically what seems to happen is that if i am up early in a session, then i just steamroll my opponent and break him within 100 hands or so, so this is all sweet. conversely, if the other player is good and we are having a good battle, then i seem to play pretty well also (whether i win or lose is irrelevant)

my big problem comes when i play bad players (or decent players that i can still beat), then cop a few coolers. in the bbv thread i described where i had a 700 hand session against the same player. with the exception of the three biggest hands, which i lost, i crushed this guy for over $200. switch the winner of the two coolers, and i am up on this guy for over 400 bucks in 3 hours.

but what happened, was as soon as i lost those big hands, i started playing differently. i bluffed too often, got myself in bad spots etc.


I basically never have a session where i lose 1 BI. if i lose 1 BI, then i either claw it back, or end up quitting down 3 BI

this is obviously because of tilt, and i was wondering if you guys had any good methods for overcoming this.

dont post the standard "take a break" stuff. obviously if i am crushing a guy, and am only losing because i got coolered, i dont want to take a break. so i am talking about controlling emotions mid session.


any tips would be greatly appreciated.

When I was single or 2-tabling cash games, I had a fairly horrendous tilt issue. -5BI sessions, in quick time after the initial hand(s) that instigated the boiling blood.

I found moving back to multi-tabling counteracted this. Once upon a time, I was the biggest nit in the world, and moving back to 4-8 (and beyond, if conditions are right) tabling cash games seemed to bring out the TAG player in me again - the TAG player that was more tilt-resistant, that is

How many HU tables are you playing at any one time, benny the cunt?

6max cash games, i play 4 tables at once, 6max SNGs i play 4-6, but i am only experimenting in HU cash at the moment, so i have been playing 1 or 2 tables.

playing heads up on 4 tables at once is hard for me, too much action, very hard to plan for multi-street plays.

i am just finding that in HU games specifically, tilting even just a little bit gets punished a whole lot.

I manage 3 tables pretty well (LOL I know) But when I try 4 (6-max tables) - I find that I time out and sometime when I have a hand on multiple tables way harder to make good decisions on both.

bennymacca wrote:i am just finding that in HU games specifically, tilting even just a little bit gets punished a whole lot.

That's a very important part of HU play, because as you're already aware, you get no respite.

yeah, there is no chance for you to just take a deep breath and tighten up for a few orbits.

i suppose you could just start check/folding until you get some sort of decent hand, i guess i dont do this enough.

watching a HUNL video, i think i 3bet too often, which bloats the pots too often when i am oop. (which is aparently a common mistake for 6max players according to the dude in this vid)

having fun learning at the moment though, even though the swings are in the order of $150 or more.

At least you don't have Butler sitting next to you, telling you how bad you are, whilst digging at an infected ingrown toenail with a needle

Try maintaining concentration then!

Scott wrote:At least you don't have Butler sitting next to you, telling you how bad you are, whilst digging at an infected ingrown toenail with a needle

Try maintaining concentration then!

Thats all part of Butlers plan.
But no matter what stunts he pulls, he can never be as good a poker player as Emily!

benny the cunt, this scenario you descibed is THE WORST for putting someone on tilt - winning 85% of showdowns but losing the real big pots that matter. Remember - variance, results orientation ect, its all in your head. Ur good - if you are playing bad - stop playing! but if its just getting sucked out on when you are all over the villain, keep playing.

i got in a $800 hole against one guy that i knew i was better than, i kept at it and ended up $1200 in front!

Not much use, you know all this already, we just need to calm each other every now and then and get back to the business of crushing the 90% bad players.

<hugs>

Now get back to smashing them!

Pretty sure this has tilt control.

lol you are seriously the funniest poster on the planet muzz

also, thanks toddy. you pretty much describe what i am talking about. i was absolutely killing this guy, then he goes and 2 outers me for a $170 buck pot.

oh well, i am having great fun playing 50NL HU though