I did something today that i haven’t done for a long time, i tilted.
There, i said it, I tilted, i threw 25 bucks down the drain because i was annoyed. I made a play that i knew was not going to work, all just to have the satisfaction of pressing the ‘max’ button and clicking bet, as if my pent up frustration would magicaly disappear via my aggressive bet sizing.
I was annoyed, i’m still annoyed. I haven’t ‘ran’ bad. I’ve played bad, i’ve played when i knew i was too tired to play and i’ve become angry at stuff that i really shouldn’t be angry at. I even threw a battery at the wall. In short, i’ve let myself down over the past few days, and that’s all it comes down to in the end.
As anyone who’s played poker for any length of time will know, playing when you’re annoyed and getting annoyed while you’re playing is not fun. It turns into a downward spiral, a spiral that makes poker no fun to play in the long run.
I’ve also lost a good chunk of my roll as well, so starting today i’m going to attempt to follow some rules to ensure that this kind of mental slump doesn’t happen again-
- A maximum limit of 500 hands per day -I play really poorly after i’ve been at the computer for a long time and i’ve definitely got other stuff that should take priority over poker
- Max of 2-tabling for 6-max NL – i used to 4 table but i realised i was pretty bad at it and probably a losing player
- Quit as soon as i start to lose concentration or feel for whatever reason i’m not playing my best
- ONLY play when i feel like playing
- Stop looking at my PT graph and bankroll every second, poker is a game of the long term, i need to stop worrying about short-term results
- Don’t tilt, EVER, EVER EVER EVER, i realise this is probably naive, but it’s probably the most important thing on the list and i really want to work on my A-game being my only game
- No poker after midnight
Apart from this, i feel that to be succesful in both the long and short term, i really need to change my mental approach to the game, both in decision making and tilt/money control. Money is just money, there are many many many people that exchange the size of my bankroll just by raising pre-flop or losing half a buy-in, it’s stupid getting worked up about losing something that doesn’t really affect my standard of living.
And above all, Poker is just a game, granted a game i take fairly seriously (though that’s more of a reflection on my personality rather than poker itself) and want to succeed at, but still just a game, other aspects of my life are far more important than the size of my bankroll and i want what happens at the tables to stay at the tables and not effect the rest of my life.
Peace.
Tags: Ground rules, Poker
