Increasing Your Emotional Control: Avoiding Tilt – Part 2

In poker, there is a question of reciprocity, that is, in the long run, what happens to one player, happens to others. Everyone takes bad beats, goes through downswings and upswings, receives the same percentage of AA, etc. And it is precisely the one who best takes advantage of these opportunities who will be the winner in the long run! That's right, even downswings are great opportunities, because everyone goes through them, and whoever best faces them will be the winner in the long run. If you don't tilt, feel happy, because you will be minimizing your losses, unlike the vast majority who, when they go through a downswing, go into tilt and end up losing even more.

Long-term reciprocity – understand how this relates to Tilt

This issue of reciprocity in the long term also applies to hands that are difficult to play, these are better than AA! I'm not saying that medium hands will bring more profits than AA, no, but you see, AA is a relatively easy hand to play, everyone has a similar line, you will win a lot with AA, but your opponents will too, and a good part of their profits will come from you, just as yours will come from them, but with hands that are difficult to play, these can have a big advantage over your opponents, you can win a lot from them if you play well, while they won't be able to win much from you if they don't know how to play. In an AK vs. QQ match, don't be happy if you win, regardless of whether you hold AK0 or QQ, because this is an EV situation, since half the time you win and half the time you lose, but you always lose the rake. In this case, only the poker room wins. It's also no reason to be sad, since it's an inevitable situation in the game. Unless you make a great read and manage to fold your kings, then there is reason to be happy, because you will be differentiating yourself. But the point is that everything has a reciprocity, what happens to one happens to all (external factors such as internet outages, people getting in the way and things like that do not count). There is no point in hoping to receive a certain hand at a certain time. Try to play them all as best as possible, that is what makes the difference.

Try to turn off your emotions when you're playing, and use your reasoning! Almost all micro stakes players play with the mindset that losing is bad and winning is good, and this is a big mistake. When you can understand and apply this perfectly, you'll have your tilt under control! Don't get upset when you get bad, but rather when you play badly, even if you win the hand!

There is no point in knowing that EV is what matters, knowing how it works in theory, but not being able to apply it in practice... We know that in practice it is very complicated, and that is what we should focus on... When we suffer a 4% suckout we cannot be sad, we need to be happy, because after all, we are the ones who will be playing better than our opponent. If we suffer another bad hand right after, we know that it will be very difficult to maintain control, but this is extremely important, it is what separates great players from good players. Making the right decisions is the goal in poker, this is what will bring profit in the long run! If we suffer 4 or 5 bad hands in a row we will probably feel uncomfortable, this means that our subconscious is not yet sufficiently prepared. Why do we think this way? Why want to profit in the short term? It is very complicated to play without emotional influence. We need to have a very good understanding of these concepts in order to be able to apply them in practice. If every time we suffer a bad hand we have to think about these concepts to try not to tilt, we will be taking the focus away from the actions of the game. Once again, these concepts need to be well understood, fixed in our subconscious.

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Fish are there at all limits because they are in that phase, where losing is bad and winning is good. And that is why they play. And there are many of them! Not sharks, sharks take advantage of this erroneous thinking, they know that winning does not mean good and losing does not mean bad, they know that poker is long term, where +EV is good and -EV is bad.

Fortunately, this transition in thinking is very difficult, so donks will not become extinct. If you play tight, it is even more complicated, because it gives the impression that by selecting your hands better, every time you enter one you will win.

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Let's make the transition from donk to shark – day by day

But we, my friends, have to try to get this into our heads, moving away from the donk state and towards the shark state. Tilt, no matter how slight, can be a real hindrance! You can be sure that a game without any tilt has a much better winrate. There is no point in being able to play perfect poker for hours on end, and then tilting and throwing away your profits in a single hand.

Remember, what matters are the decisions made, not the results.

Continuation from the article adapted from the original, by Tex Wilde.