The Underrated Mental Game (Day 24 Course Discussion)

Katie Dozier

Katie Dozier

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Total posts
1,331
Awards
2
Chips
0
My problem is that I often cannot stop when I start to lose! Previously, I increased the limit and either won back (very rarely) or lost the entire bankroll! Now I have found a way to handle this, I have set a limit on the responsible game, and it helps a lot!
It is so great that you realized this and have solved the leak, well done! :)
 
Good Man

Good Man

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 8, 2020
Total posts
144
Awards
1
Chips
0
I try to keep in mind that poker is a long journey, and everyone makes mistakes along the way. The ability to identify and overcome mental faces is what sets the best players apart from everyone else. Profitable poker means not only high-class technical skills, but also a correct mental attitude.




Life is a game , play beautiful
 
Geyomobama

Geyomobama

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Total posts
218
Chips
0
I try to keep in mind that poker is a long journey, and everyone makes mistakes along the way. The ability to identify and overcome mental faces is what sets the best players apart from everyone else. Profitable poker means not only high-class technical skills, but also a correct mental attitude.


Life is a game , play beautiful

This is well FN said and its true this is mental game of high caliber yet it is underated. Because the stigma that people place on gambling. The mental push ups that I get to do while I discipline myself in this game. Help me out so much in approaching real life.
 
Good Man

Good Man

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 8, 2020
Total posts
144
Awards
1
Chips
0
This is well FN said and its true this is mental game of high caliber yet it is underated. Because the stigma that people place on gambling. The mental push ups that I get to do while I discipline myself in this game. Help me out so much in approaching real life.
I don't believe there is any magic cure that can completely eliminate tilt from our game. Some players will handle it better by listening to their emotions and reacting properly, and some will do worse. Sometimes the best thing to do is just admit that today is not your day and quit the game.




Life is a game , play beautiful
__________________
 
Collin Moshman

Collin Moshman

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Total posts
1,317
Awards
3
Chips
2
This is well FN said and its true this is mental game of high caliber yet it is underated. Because the stigma that people place on gambling. The mental push ups that I get to do while I discipline myself in this game. Help me out so much in approaching real life.

Huge cross-over between poker mental game and real life mental game, that's a great point.

I don't believe there is any magic cure that can completely eliminate tilt from our game. Some players will handle it better by listening to their emotions and reacting properly, and some will do worse. Sometimes the best thing to do is just admit that today is not your day and quit the game.




Life is a game , play beautiful
__________________


Yes exactly, particularly if you're playing cash or you're just near a good stopping point for an SNG/tourney session, quitting for the rest of the day can be a nice/simple option.
 
carmenzu

carmenzu

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Jul 4, 2016
Total posts
3,108
Awards
11
Chips
266
Hello Katie & Collin, very interesting lesson, in my beginnings I tilted so many times because the variance, But in those moments instead of stopping playing I started to be more selective in my plays at the same time that I lowered the buy-in level. This helped me a lot.
 
Collin Moshman

Collin Moshman

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Total posts
1,317
Awards
3
Chips
2
Hello Katie & Collin, very interesting lesson, in my beginnings I tilted so many times because the variance, But in those moments instead of stopping playing I started to be more selective in my plays at the same time that I lowered the buy-in level. This helped me a lot.


Great, we're glad to hear that!
 
Pokerpoet2

Pokerpoet2

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
May 7, 2020
Total posts
2,722
Awards
2
GB
Chips
720
My thanks to both Colin and Katie for this fantastic course, I have been through it twice now and will again and again as I do with some of my books I purchase.
I feel my game has improved greatly and do have better results than I used to mainly because I now profit from the Power of position and make better plays on the button and in other positions.
Lets just say I find better positions for bluffing pots and taking them down before the river. Sometimes I have the nuts and still play a bluffing strategy but they do not realize that.
I used to play differently in that if I missed the flop entirely I would fold to any bet, now I will float trying to improve especially if I have multiple draws, Double gutters and flush draws, etc.
Quite recently I played a hand on the small blind and when the flop came Jack of spades, 3 of spades and 10 of hearts I had a middle pair with the Ace of hearts in my hand and the ten of diamonds I checked, Villan bet, I called.Turn card gave us another heart so I checked Villan bet pot I called. I figured he was drawing to a spade flush or had top pair, River was another heart and although my pair of Tens had not improved I pushed all-in as I only had about half the pot behind, He snap folded and thought Yes! he was on a draw. I would never had made a move like this in the past as I would normally have checked and hoped he didn't have a better pair, of course by checking I would be in bad position if he had top pair.
Thank you again and keep up the good work.

When the fun Stops, STOP!
 
P

Phyrrura

Rock Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Sep 27, 2020
Total posts
262
Awards
1
Chips
6
Never play C!

If there is one thing I learned, is that I'll almost never win anything by playing in my C moments. The B moments are a little harder to runaway for me, because it use to come when I'm in the middle of a session, but when I notice them, I just stop joining new games.
 
Daddysprincess99

Daddysprincess99

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 24, 2020
Total posts
58
Chips
0
I love this section, it's super important. I loose the most when I'm winning too often then play too loosely haha looking back for sure not my A game just because sometimes I get really lucky with C game.

Minimizing loss is helpful, it's not fun to loose your bankroll and not be able to play at all to improve :'(
 
Collin Moshman

Collin Moshman

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Total posts
1,317
Awards
3
Chips
2
Thanks Pokerpoet, Phyrrura, and Daddysprincess! We're very glad you enjoyed this section and agree on how very important the poker mental game is when it comes to being on top and doing the best you can at the tables.
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 10, 2017
Total posts
404
Awards
1
Chips
1
Thank you for sharing this. My rule is, after losing 2 times full buying, I will quite playing for the day. This will help me to remain calm and not starting a big losing session. Mental game play is so important. Let's go to next day!
 
Katie Dozier

Katie Dozier

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Total posts
1,331
Awards
2
Chips
0
Thank you for sharing this. My rule is, after losing 2 times full buying, I will quite playing for the day. This will help me to remain calm and not starting a big losing session. Mental game play is so important. Let's go to next day!


I think that’s a great way to stop a potentially tilt-inducing mindset from damaging your bankroll, well done!
 
xOneCoolHandx

xOneCoolHandx

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Jul 15, 2015
Total posts
1,810
Awards
20
US
Chips
175
Super helpful. I rarely go on tilt but found it hilarious that you said throw a mouse at your monitor because I did that one time in the past (distant past lol) and broke my mouse and had to finish using the keyboard shortcuts :(.

I really like the idea of switching to a B game for awhile if you are having a bad run, although, I have trained myself to walk away for a while and try to re-adjust my attitude. I know you can't do that in tournaments when you are still in, so I think that is where is will be particularly helpful for me.

Katie, you should totally post pics of Collin dressed as Genie HAHA
 
Collin Moshman

Collin Moshman

Poker Expert
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Total posts
1,317
Awards
3
Chips
2
Super helpful. I rarely go on tilt but found it hilarious that you said throw a mouse at your monitor because I did that one time in the past (distant past lol) and broke my mouse and had to finish using the keyboard shortcuts :(.

I really like the idea of switching to a B game for awhile if you are having a bad run, although, I have trained myself to walk away for a while and try to re-adjust my attitude. I know you can't do that in tournaments when you are still in, so I think that is where is will be particularly helpful for me.

Katie, you should totally post pics of Collin dressed as Genie HAHA

Nooo, don't do it Katie! :D

Haha that's a great story too, I think we've all been there at one point or another with the broken mouse :)
 
eberetta1

eberetta1

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Total posts
2,300
Awards
7
US
Chips
310
At the 7:10 mark

Genie: Win $10k more in up sessions or lose $10k less in down sessions.

It is not the same thing whether you increase your wins or decrease your losses by 10k.

If I won more games at the table than I lose, like I have 4 winning sessions for every 1 losing session, I would like the Genie to grant me winnings of 10k more.

If I am a frequent loser, like i lose 4 games to every 1 winning session, I would choose Genie to lower my losses by 10k.
 
barbados

barbados

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
May 23, 2019
Total posts
1,636
Awards
6
BY
Chips
505
I will assume that everywhere and in everything, including in the poker game, the golden ratio rate should be remembered. The golden ratio is a proportion that was noticed by the ancient Egyptians. To get it, you need to divide the line into two parts so that the long part correlates with the short one in the same proportion as the whole line correlates with the long one. It turns out that this proportion is always equal to 1,618. This number is also called the "phi" number. I think I conveyed the idea accurately enough for understanding.
 
mariussica88

mariussica88

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
May 8, 2017
Total posts
1,146
Awards
3
RO
Chips
386
Finished day 24...6 to go

I really enjoy this lesson. There should be more videos on metal part of poker. What I realized on my days playing poker is that mentality, a proper mindset and discipline is very important in poker. There where times that I lost all my bankroll just because i got tilted and gambled my bankroll away. Nowadays before playing a session I always watch a mental game video and in my case that helps me get into the right mindset before playing.
 
Oranaro

Oranaro

Rock Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Feb 7, 2022
Total posts
160
Awards
2
Chips
6
I had some of tiltig moments in my short poker life time, and the most dangereous is when external events influences your state during the game, because sometimes you don't understand why you play poorly, as you don't feel yourself tilted, but just unfocused. So limiting the loses is a very good strategy here, I made for myself a limit of 3 buy ins limit (playing on 2 tables, if I lose overall 3 buy ins I already know that I'll be tilted)
 
C

Chase

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 10, 2022
Total posts
234
Awards
1
Chips
0
This quote from Lesson 24 makes an incredible amount of sense and is now posted on my computer:

"Less skilled player can win more than top player if constant A-Game"

Well, I have the first part "Less skilled player" down. The second part "constant A-game" is going to require concentration and discipline.
 
C

caracaski220

Visionary
Bronze Level
Joined
Aug 27, 2015
Total posts
620
Awards
1
VE
Chips
36
caracaski220

I think that the mental game is the most important part of poker. If you tilt, there is a good chance you will be stacked. Also, you must be aggressive and not sweat the money if you are going to be able to play fearlessly.
 
Atararo14

Atararo14

Visionary
Platinum Level
Joined
May 28, 2020
Total posts
788
Awards
5
MA
Chips
345
Finished day 24

The mind in poker is an essential quality for a poker player.

The poker player is not a robot but he is a human and his decisions can vary according to his concentration and his psychic state at a precise moment.

The downswing and the bad beats are the cause of the loss of concentration. This creates a feeling of revenge and can easily impact the decisions of a player who wants to quickly make up for his losses. This is the big mistake!

To correct this problem, it's important to assimilate one thing, it's necessary to be convinced that it's the long turn which makes it possible to earn money and that the short turn doesn't matter even if we take bad beats all the time. So, we must trust this system, close our eyes and accept it despite its difficulty and even if it doesn't go with the nature of our brain.

I liked a sentence quoted in the video : Win 10K in a session or not lose 10K in a session.

I appreciated this sentence because it's part of my philosophy. In life in general, I find that doing no harm is better than doing good. It's good to do good but first you must not do harm. In poker, I think that before you win you have to learn not to lose.

Losing is part of the game if we play our A-game, but we have to learn not to play C-game so as not to lose.
 
Eduard0Felipe

Eduard0Felipe

Visionary
Bronze Level
Joined
Nov 23, 2022
Total posts
718
Awards
2
BR
Chips
105
Very pleasant to see Collin and Katie in a video, another exemplary class taught, a very important topic, many players are still not familiarized with the idea that losing is inevitable in poker, which is part of the nature of the game and I want it or not, that it will happen to you sometime, when you become aware of it, maybe a cooler or a bad beats won't get you mad so easily.


24/30.
 
Gutshot Gus

Gutshot Gus

Visionary
Platinum Level
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Total posts
978
Awards
6
Chips
495
I work very hard to avoid tilt. In the past I have torn decks of cards in half.
I have now come to realize that suck-outs and bad beats are part of the game. If you are playing an 80% chance of winning hand, that means you are gonna lose with that hand once in a while.
If I'm playing online and get a bad beat I simply type in the chat "Cards are funny things" and sing to myself Daniel Tiger going "Take a deep breath and count to four".
 
Top 10 Games
Top