Back To The Trap House

classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui>
<br /> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }<br />
<br /> <!--<br /> /* Style Definitions */<br /> p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal<br /> {mso-style-parent:"";<br /> margin:0in;<br /> margin-bottom:.0001pt;<br /> mso-pagination:widow-orphan;<br /> font-size:12.0pt;<br /> font-family:"Times New Roman";<br /> mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}<br /> @page Section1<br /> {size:8.5in 11.0in;<br /> margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;<br /> mso-header-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-footer-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-paper-source:0;}<br /> div.Section1<br /> {page:Section1;}<br /> /* List Definitions */<br /> @list l0<br /> {mso-list-id:1511064836;<br /> mso-list-type:hybrid;<br /> mso-list-template-ids:2005567398 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;}<br /> @list l0:level1<br /> {mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;<br /> mso-level-number-position:left;<br /> text-indent:-.25in;}<br /> ol<br /> {margin-bottom:0in;}<br /> ul<br /> {margin-bottom:0in;}<br /> --><br />

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } Edit: Sorry, I tried to edit the list and it came out all weird. Thanks for reading either way.

Indicators to Stop Playing or That I shouldn’t play

 

These are all based on one thing, honesty. You must be brutally honest with yourself to make the proper assessment. The list below is pointless unless you can do this. It’s all bottom end game and doesn’t touch upon how to play. It’s a way of managing the degen inside of you and your bankroll. The value of this list is that it slowly builds up your discipline while playing which in turn will prevent tilt. Everyone has a different threshold and at different stages in their poker development. So it is the job of a poker player to accurately assess where your breaking point is. Blind Arrogance will not work here and will lead to tilt. Ignoring one may have a domino effect to ignoring the rest and making unprofitable plays which in turn will lead to tilt.

 

Hunger: How hungry are you? There is really no excuse to ignoring this one live or online. Online players your fridge isn’t far! Live players all games, illegal or legal, have food readily available. Make a +EV diet choice that will make you feel better! This rule is probably as old as poker but people still ignore it.

Taking a bad beat or successive bad beats: Someone posted an article on here talking about the physiological reaction to losing. It says that losing lowers your testosterone and winning increases it. I’m unsure as to how much or how little it does or if it can be controlled. My guess is that since the foundations of this mechanism was laid millions (billions?) of years ago that it probably cannot. So don’t be stubborn multitablers. When you take a beat sit out and take 5 minutes to re-group.

Making an in game mistake: Find your threshold. I have a friend who stops playing if he makes 2 bad decisions at 50bb. Maybe you can play through this but I know I can’t. Mistakes tilt me way more than bad beats from shoddy players. How many mistakes can you make before you start spewing stacks? It adds up but don’t beat yourself up. This will lead to more tilt.

Beating yourself up: When you start beating yourself up for making small mistakes you’re already tilting and it’s too late! STOP PLAYING!! I suspect that doing this lowers testosterone as well but of course that would have to be researched. You need to be confident to keep playing.

Feeling the burn: The burn to me is anxiety. I remember watching a special on Phil Ivey about how he got his start. He would blow his weekly pay checks in Atlantic City and sleep under bridges. The interviewer asked when do you stop. His response was something like this: I guess when I start to feel the burn but I don’t really ever feel it anymore. It’s that uncomfortable anxious feeling in your chest or stomach. You know what that is? It’s your gut telling you to stop. You always wanted to be a super hero growing up? Well your gut is your very own spider sense. When your spider sense is tingling you need to stop!

Feeling tired or fatigued: How tired are you? When have you ever played optimally tired or fatigued? You need to either go to sleep, take a nap or do something that invigorates you! Do something fun like listen to music, play with your kids, go to the gym, watch comedy, etc. Do something that uplifts you. If it doesn’t work then don’t play anymore at that point in time.

Note Taking: When you stop taking notes then it’s in indicator that you’re auto piloting. You could also have one too many tables open and can’t follow the action. Drop tables or stop playing and re-evaluate. Also, if your note taking becomes too vague then you may need to stop playing as well. Take detailed notes even at micros. People are creatures of habit. Develop this habit because you’ll need it forever!

Excitement: When you aren’t excited or lose your excitement in game don’t play or stop playing immediately.

You start looking for things that tilt you: You start a session fresh, pull off +EV moves, make sick lay downs and disgusting river calls. Well after about the 30th time folding a decent hand you start to cuss at villain about making you fold so much. You start finding things in the game that tilt you like how long villain takes to check or that he/she raises to a weird number. Basically, when things start to annoy you that didn’t before you shouldn’t be playing. That in itself is an indicator that you’re fatigued.

Flip Flopping: If you kind of want to play but you kind of don’t want to play but at the same time you should be playing and at the same time you want to go smash on some girls then you probably shouldn’t be playing. If you’re playing then stop.

Dread: Having a dreadful feeling and playing is bankroll suicide. I’ve done this several times and to drown the feeling I would drink instead. Get high while you play don’t drink. It’ll calm your nerves and keep you together mentally.

Getting too high: You just smoked a bowl, blunt and then hit a 6 foot bong while playing. Your time bank keeps ticking down to the point where it sits you out. You’re way too high to be playing, degenerate.

Feelings of anger, hate, jealousy and fear: What did Yoda say? Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and that’s the path to the dark side? Whatever it is the little green fuck has a good point. If you’re scared then you’re probably playing outside of your bankroll requirements or with lots of pressure on you. Being angry at the other players indicates you’re tilting or don’t quite understand the concept of the game. Being Jealous of other players will make you spew stacks to them and play bad.

Superficial: Thinking that if you win this pot then you can buy a sick pair of Jordan’s or get wild at the bar.

Sadness: My friend Russel told me to add this one after I submitted the list to him. He also told me to add being distracted to it. I think they go hand in hand. Being distracted could go with any of the other things on the list as well. Poker can be an escape though for people who are sad in life. I know when I lost my mom that all I wanted to do was zone out and grind. I had moderate success but probably not as much as I could have. When you stop grinding the sadness is still there so it probably isn't a good way to deal with it long term. +EV short term and -EV long term makes it -EV all around.

 

 

You need to be in touch with your emotional self while playing so you can properly manage it. I say manage because you can never really control your emotions. Emotions are triggers that have evolved within us over X amount of years. They’re there for survival reasons. I know every time I ignore my emotions when playing I spew stacks.

classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui>
<br /> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }<br />
<br /> <!--<br /> /* Style Definitions */<br /> p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal<br /> {mso-style-parent:"";<br /> margin:0in;<br /> margin-bottom:.0001pt;<br /> mso-pagination:widow-orphan;<br /> font-size:12.0pt;<br /> font-family:"Times New Roman";<br /> mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}<br /> @page Section1<br /> {size:8.5in 11.0in;<br /> margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;<br /> mso-header-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-footer-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-paper-source:0;}<br /> div.Section1<br /> {page:Section1;}<br /> /* List Definitions */<br /> @list l0<br /> {mso-list-id:1511064836;<br /> mso-list-type:hybrid;<br /> mso-list-template-ids:2005567398 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;}<br /> @list l0:level1<br /> {mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;<br /> mso-level-number-position:left;<br /> text-indent:-.25in;}<br /> ol<br /> {margin-bottom:0in;}<br /> ul<br /> {margin-bottom:0in;}<br /> --><br />