How do I stop focusing so much on results? If I've played 10 games and am down 1 bi I almost can't stop playing until I'm up 1. And if I start a session out by winning 2 games in a row I almost feel like quitting since I'm up 2 bi and now that if I fall into negative I won't be able to quit. I don't tilt or anything I just can't call it for the night if I'm down, and if I do I feel bad about myself. You guys got any tips on how to work on not focusing so much wether I profit or loose in a session?
Make session goals. Play X tourneys per session, and leave no matter how much up or down are you.
Makes sense:) I'll start doing that!
Session goals will not work for you, no chance. If your're a winning player it's not a bad habit not to want to quit while you are down although you have to quit at some point ( think 10 buy-ins for regular turbo's and 15 for hypers ). Also you're gonna have to have 10-15 buy in winning sessions to make up for those days. It's defenitely not a solution because you won't stick to it but set winning loosing goals. For instance when you are up or down 8 buy-ins you quit. 8 is a lot depending on how much time you have though..
I don't know if this is a good tip for you but this is my approach: BE RESULTS ORIENTED...BUT not in your typical way. Wins and losses are not what results you will be concerned with. The exact match ups of hands will not be your concern. How many folds you got will not be your concern. What will be your concern? The best play possible given the information you have. Ask yourself, did I make the best possible play knowing my opponent? If the result is no, figure out the right play and act accordingly. If yes, continue doing what you do. Cash will come naturally if you do exactly that. Of course, it won't if you have logic problems in your brain so... I suggest seriously questioning yourself at every single moment you can. This includes in game with the example of getting run over by a guy with a 3bet% of 32% and you get deal J6o... the best hand you've had in God knows how long facing his 3 bet. Ask yourself, is standing up right now +EV against his play? Why is it +EV/-EV? Am I sure? Should I have even opened it?Hope that helps
switch your focus to volume and be volume oriented?
@ RJRJ, you are right, volume goals won't work for everyone, and stoploss is pretty good solution. But I find stoploss better suited for tilting players. And he should pretty much get used to stuff like -10BI at end of session or similar, because, first of all, it will stop to annoy you, and second, teaches you to look at the big picture. And thats what its all about. You get addicted to watching winning graph at end of your day, and get down if you have a losing graph. So imo, if you already want to stare at your graphs/winnings/etc every day...don't look at session graph, but at the all time winnings graph. That will give you big picture of your overall play and you will easily realize that bad/good days are just tiny part of a process.EDIT: Just to conclude, volume/money should be your secondary goals. Your primary goal should always be to improve your game and make correct decisions.
Tilting is not just playing bad it's also not being able to stop i.m.o. Also he's claiming he tends to quit when he wins his first two games, which in my oppinion is even worse then not being able to quit when you are down. This is why I think stoploss is the best option for this player. There's a lot of aspects this solution doesn't cover but I don't believe there is one, it's gonna take a lot of time to improve on those habits anyway.
A lack of understanding and perhaps some entitlement as a result can happen and the result is that you end up playing a ton when you're down and quitting when you're ahead (or playing "scared" and not wanting to play more).The more you can learn about what type of variance is normal and expected and will occur even for a successful player with a solid edge, the easier it then is for you look at typical session results and say "I played my best, I'm up 5 buyins" or "I played my best, I'm down 5 buyins" and ideally it can allow you to focus on "am I playing good enough to continue to play?" irrespective of your actual results.You can still react emotionally to huge extremes, you can quit when you're down a lot quickly if you think it's going to impact you (extremes can impact even the most disciplined players), but getting in the right mindset can really open you up to "hey, I"m up 20 buyins, sure I'm running hot, but I'm playing great and I have a fish on rematch, lets keep this going."You won't get rich overnight in this game, but you can go broke overnight, keep your mentality strong and learn about variance so you can keep yourself honest and not fall into the common pitfalls that help keep losing players losing players (and help keep winning players making good money by staying disciplined). It's starting to become more widely recognized, but the mental part of this game is extremely important and valuable, even if it's not as easily recognized for what it is off hand (though at the same time strategy/decisions aren't recognized for what they are too often either).
And here are some links for some stuff that might help you if you're struggling with your mental game:- Mersenneary's Life Coaching Video is probably where I would suggest starting if you're already a premium member.- A good way to start for standard members would be the video Cog Dissonance did about focus.- Mersenneary's Free Article about the type of variance different winrates can expect is also an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the type of variance that is normal, and what consistent results might mean for your actual edge (not perceived edge).Jared Tendler's book also has excellent reviews and should be worth the cost (I think $50 or so) for anybody struggling with tilt control, results oriented thinking or motivational issues (and probably a few more I can't think of now!).