CARDRUNNERS
What's Your Edge
verneer's Poker Blog I’ve been thinking about tilt recently. Specifically, I’ve been trying to come up with common situations that happen at the table which throw me off my game and figure out what it is about that situation that causes the reaction it causes.
Once again I turn to “The Bible” to begin looking for guidance:
“Tilt is any deviation from your A-game and you’re a-mindset, however slight or fleeting.
There are two reasons to define tilt in this way. One is standardization. All A-games are identical. Anyone who is playing his A-game is making the best decisions he knows how, and his mind is as right as it ever is. That’s what A-game is. So by defining tilt from the top down, we can draw a line for ny player that cleanly divides his tilt from his non-tilt.
The other reason is that we aren’t just playing with words here. We are using them as shovels to dig for gold. And by using the word tilt to focus on our best, instead of our wors, we hit a lode: Tilt is non A-game. Tilt is anything less than your utmost.” (EoP, 55-56)
Tommy then defines hard tilt and soft tilt. These days, when I’m playing 6-12 tables of 200NL, I don’t think I tilt hard, but I’m sure there are plenty of instances where I experience soft tilt. So … what causes me to tilt softly and why? Let’s look at a few situations.
Situation 1: You raise KK from early UTG + 1. An aggressive 3-bettor from the button re-raises you. You decide to make a small 4-bet and he thinks for a bit and then 5-bet ships it in. You snap call, and bam – there is that dreaded Ace on the flop. You can’t see his cards just yet due to the site you are playing on, but sure enough, once the board runs out and the cards are flipped, he scoops the 200BB pot with AJo.
Situation 2: You raise Kd Td from MP and a station calls you from the SB. The player is clearly the target at the table. The flop comes Jd Qc 4d. He checks, you c-bet, he calls. The turn is a 7c. He checks again and you bet again to continue building a pot in case you hit. Once again, he calls. The river is the 8h. He checks, you check behind and he shows you T8o for a missed gutter, but his pair of 8’s is still good enough to take the pot.
Situation 3: An loose 64/25 type sitting on a 150 BB stack min-raises from early position. You are sitting on rockets, 110 BB stack, and since this guy has been in just about every pot, you make a big re-raise to 24 BBs. He insta-calls your raise and checks a Q75r flop to you. You bet 60% pot and he calls rather quickly. The turn is the T with no flush draws out there. He checks again and you bet again – this time around 60% pot to set him up for a river jam. He once again calls rather quickly. The river is a 3 and he checks. You shove and he quickly calls with 33 for a rivered set. He types in the chat “Wow – I put you on AK.”
Situation 4: You open AK from the button and a solid regular 3-bets you. He defends his blinds a lot so you 4-bet for value. As this is happening you pick up JJ on another table in the BB. It’s folded around a solid regular in the SB who opens for pot. You 3-bet him. You attention shifts back to the first table. Now the regular shoves over your 4-bet and you call. On table 2, you are now faced with a 4-bet yourself and you ship it in with your jacks. As the hands run out, you end up losing both – the first to QQ when the board runs out low and the 2nd to AQ on a turned queen. This puts you down 4.5 BI’s for the day.
Situation 5: An aggressive regular opens the button and you 3-bet him from the SB with AK. He calls and the flop comes 57Jr. You c-bet 60% pot and he min-raises.
Situation 6: You’re 190BBs deep with a solid regular. He opens in early position and you flat call in the CO with 88. The flop comes 8h Jh 2s. He c-bets $10 into $12 and you raise to $32. He thinks for a bit and 3-bets to $100. He’s got $280 behind and you cover. You decide that the board is too draw heavy to peel so you shove. He calls and you end up being on the bad end of a set-over-set and his jacks have you drawing to 1 out or backdoor hearts – neither of which get there.
Situation 7: You are 240BB’s deep with a massive fish who is playing 90% of hands and potting every street. The waiting list at the table is 14 deep and you have position on him. You pick up KK on the button. It’s folded around to the fish who raises for pot. You 3-bet him to $24 and he makes it $70. You elect to flat call. The flop is Kh 7s 2d. He pots it right into you for $140 and you flat call. The turn is the 2h. He now shoves and you call. The river is a harmless 8 and you scoop a massive pot in which your kings out-flopped his aces. He sits out and leaves.
Situation 8: You open 9Ts from the button and a 30/10 player from the BB calls. The flop gives you the nut straight: 8c Jc Qs. He check/calls your $10 c-bet. The turn is a blank – 4s. He once again check/calls your turn bet. The river is the Kc. He thinks for a bit and pots it into you.
Situation 9: A super-aggro (35/31) player raising UTG and you flat with 88 on the button. The flop comes 8h 6h 2d. He c-bets to $10 and you raise to $32. He flats fairly quickly. The turn is the 5h and he checks to you. He checks, you bet $40 into the $70 and he calls. The river is the Th and he shoves. You hate life and decide to make the fold. He scoops the pot and shows you Kc Jd.
So … those were some of the situations going through my head. None of these actually happened as such at the tables, but these are definitely representative of situations that happen all the time. In my next blog post, I will try to break down what it is specifically about these situations which could/will put you on tilt.
For now, let me know which one of these would tilt you the most. Also, please leave a comment in which you describe a hand (real or imaginary) that can/has caused you to feel really tilted.
Jan 5, 09 08:31:06
All of the situations about post all-in equity never, ever, ever tilt me because of pokerev software. I don't consider my blue line at all important.
The most tilting is easily 5.
Jan 5, 09 08:56:26
Reading this tilted me, lol. I would say 1, 4, 5 and 8 are a tie for how much they tilt me.
Jan 5, 09 09:18:30
You just decribed my entire month of December. After having my best month ever in November, I think every situation you descibed happenened to me every session I played. It tilted me so much that I quit playing for a couple of weeks, and ended the month down @ 13 buy ins.
Jan 5, 09 09:56:26
Ummmm... How about all of these? How about check a hand I posted where some loose/passive fish donk/calls, donk/calls then shoves the river into me repping trip 4s... I can't stand villains who donk/call the flop then donk the turn...
Jan 5, 09 10:42:29
i came close to going on major tilt last night when my AA got cracked by Q3 and he hits flush and then a few minutes later AA gets beat by 78 when he flops trips. Worst thing about it is that I wasn't even going to play on sunday but decided to put in a few hands before going to bed. Nice to try to go to sleep losing 2 buyins when you weren't even going to play.
Jan 5, 09 11:27:09
i dont tilt too terribly bad, but the worst is a session where situation 5 comes up 3 or 4 times in just a few hundred hands.
Jan 5, 09 11:29:22
Situation 3 is the most tilting. Sigh.
One hand that has caused me to tilt real bad was on 2-4 where I raised utg AK (s) to 12 140bb deep. A fish with similar stack I have been abusing alot 3bets to 30. I lick my mouth and 4bets to 74. He tanks for like 1 minute and repops it to 212 and I knew ha had nothing. I pushed and he snapcalls.
Flop A99 turn 2 river 4.
I was like 100% sure I had him beat until he show 10.7 of clubs. The bastard had rivered a flush. Normally its hard for me to tilt but at that moment I was really mad.
Jan 5, 09 15:34:44
Didnt read all of the situations, but the one that would tilt me the most is a hand where i make mistake after i've taken a few beats. That's the one that always gets to me.
FWIW if you want to get over tilt i'd reccomend playing plo for a month. After the first few days, you stop feeling that tilt feeling in your gut.
Jan 5, 09 17:06:19
Omg, I'm so f'ing tilted right now from this.
Situation 3 where the villain calls you down on ever street with the underpair to the board and catches a rivered set to stamp out your Aces...and then says that bullshit about "putting" you on some other hand. Omg, I basically want to kill myself when that happens.
Also, I laughed my ass off at Situation 5...doesn't even matter what the outcome of the hand is. Happens a lot too.
Great job; keep up the good work.
Jan 5, 09 18:38:28
Haha, this is gold. Hilarious.
I think I only find this funny because it used to happen to me tons, but I very rarely tilt anymore.
Whats up with 7 though, you stack the fish deep?!? Whats so bad, that he leaves? You've got his \$\$\$ though. Or is it that he actually had a hand? I dont get it, I'm well happy when that happens....
Jan 6, 09 00:20:07
lol i was about to start a session but for some reason i don't feel like playing anymore.
One thing that tilts me hard is when i 3 bet a semi decent reg in the blinds with say KK and they flat. Flop come's Jd7h3s, i bet half pot hoping to induce something crazy. Opponent tanks for a bit and then shoves, i snap only to see him flip 33.
Jan 6, 09 01:16:12
Situation 2 is very funny but soo anoying.
Lol at the way you wrote them, there is a hint of a dark humour in all of them.
Jan 6, 09 04:31:37
snapjam hand 5 imo :P
seriously though, i don't see how hand 9 is a fold against a maniac.
if these hands happened the way you described them, that'd probably tilt me, because i made a mistake in hand 9 for sure if i folded and possibly hand 5 too, but i can't tell without more info.
The thing that tilts me most is tilting(not playing my A-Game). If I make stupid mistakes that's when I get angry the quickest.
Jan 6, 09 13:06:01
I'm with burack in this...
No matter how i get rivered, as long as I see my EV line to go up continously.
But i like this topic verneer, gr8 stuff
Jan 6, 09 13:19:37
You're BB in blind battle against 50bb effective stack who opens from SB. You have AK and 3 bet. He 4 bet shoves w/ 44. You hit your A but he binks a 4 and rakes the pot. After the hand, he needles you and says, "I put you on AK, I was ahead." Yes...my range is only AK in that spot...*groan*
Jan 6, 09 18:56:05
I have 2 that were within the same hour last night:
HU NL50. Raised KhKc to a limp, called by JhTs. Flop is AQ4hhh giving me 2nd pair and nut flush draw, but I'm obviously a little worried about an ace, to which I'm only 40% favourite now. He actually has a gut shot to the 2 remaining kings, which would give me a set and a redraw to a boat/flush and the worse flush draw making me 93% favourite on this flop. Turn is a king and even though it's the only card that could have helped him, I'm still 41% favourite on the turn. River is predictably as blank as they come.
HU NL50. I called with 86o, flop is 754dd. He reshoves my raise, and I think momentarily while thinking about the hands I am favourite to, and it's pretty much every hand, except... 8d6d, for the freeroll, and gets a diamond on the turn.
Jan 7, 09 07:00:27
Ones that tilt me: 1,2
Ones that don't tilt me: 6,7,8,9
Depends on my mood: 3,4,5
Situation 8 tilts me if I make a hero call and he has the goods ;-)
Actually, the ones that tilt me the most are like this:
Open KK MP and get called by 21/18 reg on the btn. Flop comes T62 with 2 hearts. I 60% pot, he calls. Turn offsuit 8. I 60% pot he shoves. I know he has a set. He can have nothing else. Well, he might have JJ...or maybe 98h...or...er...omg I know I'm going to call and see 66...aarrggghhh...I call, he has 66.
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