I’ve gotten many requests to post my 2010 poker results from my fans, as well as another strategy article, so here goes:

Long time no post. I’ve had a solid start to 2010 thus far. Heads up, I played 844 games in 2010 at the $36-$100 level for a total profit of $8,134. I also went 8-5 at the $200 level for a total profit of $470.

In 2010 multitable tournaments, I have been doing very well. I only played 3 live tournaments and somehow managed to cash in all 3, with 2 final tables and 1 win.

January 27, 2010- Finished 59th out of 1100 players in Borgata’s event #14 for $453

February 22, 2010- Finished Tied for 1^st out of 42 players in the Showboat 7pm tourney for $427 (we chopped 1^stplace when 5 handed)

February 22, 2010- Finished 7^th out of 86 players in the Taj Mahal Midnight Madness for $188.

In 2010 Online multitable tournaments, I played only 13 mtts in 2010, with 3 cashes, 1 Second Place Finish and 1 Win.

January 26, 2010- Finished 2^nd out of 40 players in the Full Tilt Heads Up Shootout for $200

February 13, 2010- Finished 1^st of out 244 players in the Full Tilt PL Omaha Tourney for $317

Altogether, with $8,604 total heads up profit, $1,013 multitable profit (including tourney fees losses), $875 rakeback, and $90 coaching fees, I have made $10,582 in 2010 through the first two months. Useful.

So that’s a little bit about my 2010 thus far. Now I want to have a little discussion on “Tilt.”

A well known fact,  Heads Up Poker is the most tilting form of Poker. Since you literally have to play every single hand in heads up sit-n-gos, you have no time to “recover” from tilt. Everyone tilts at some point or other. Everyone. Phil Ivey tilts. Phil Hellmuth tilts. Livb tilts. The best players in the world tilt at some point during their poker career. Some people go on tilt everyday. Some people only tilt for a few hands. Others can tilt for a few matches. And yet others can tilt for hundreds of matches lol. Tilt is a crazy part of poker, and anybody who plays poker knows the feeling:

You get aces cracked by kings as a king hits on the river. You may start to tilt.

You lose to a turned flush after flopping the nut straight on back to back hands! You may start to tilt.

You lose 5 straight matches to a mega fish who got his money in bad each hand, yet won every single one. You may definitely start to tilt.

What can we do to stop tilt? Well, the simple fact is, tilt cannot be stopped. It can be controlled, but there is no way to actually never tilt at some point in the future in your poker career. It is inevitable that you will tilt. The key is to control it and lessen it when the tilt occurs. Tilt can come in many forms. You can tilt due to a single bad beat. You can tilt because you just lost 3 matches in a row to a fish. You can tilt because a dog is barking outside and you are trying to concentrate on your match, but the distraction is just too much to handle and it frustrates and tilts you.

Control your tilt, limit your tilt, and your wallet will be fatter at the end of each month, that’s a guarantee.

So, what can you do to limit the tilt in your poker game? Well, that’s a tough question. Each person has to find out what works for them. When tilting, some people throw stuff at the wall, or at their computer, or do a multitude of other things. These things will not control tilt, they may even make it worse. Thus they are not recommended.

Personally, what works for me is this: whenever I feel myself slightly tilting, I take like a 15-20 minute break after the match that I’m playing ends. I go get something to eat, or watch a little TV, or listen to the radio. I take my mind off of heads up for a little bit, and then return with a refreshed, tilt free, state of mind. I also think to myself, bad beats are good for the game. If there were no bad beats, bad players would not have the illusion that they can sometimes win, and they would inevitably stop playing without this false impression. So in effect, bad beats are good for the game, because they keep the fish coming back for more. And eventually all the money will filter its way to the best heads up players, that being in the longrun of course. So when you take a bad beat and start to tilt, just remember that bad beats are part of the game, and it inevitably is what makes the game so profitable.

Let’s say that we have a hypothetical player named Jack. Jack makes $100,000 in an average year playing heads up poker professionally online. He plays the $200s, $300s, and $500s, 4-5 days a week, 6-8 hours a day. Now Jack, a person with major tilt problems, tilts off, on average, 10 buyins per month. He can’t control his tilt very well and throws away, on average , $3,000 per month due to his inability to control tilt. Lets do the math, if Jack meaninglessly throws away 3k per month due to tilt, that’s 12*3=$36k per year Jack could’ve made if he had no tilt issues. So, instead of making $136,000 per year playing high stakes heads up sit-n-gos, Jack only makes $100,000. Sure, $100,000 is decent, but wouldn’t you rather make $136,000?? Controlling tilt for Jack could literally mean the difference in $36k a year extra profit. And, as many of you know, 10 buyins of tilt each month is very reasonable. That’s only like an average of ½ buyin per day, if he plays like 20 days a month, it’s very very very reasonable.

So, basically, you have to find a way to control tilt, because the higher you move up in stakes, the more tilt will cost you. You have to remember that poker is as much a game of emotions as it is cards and mathematics. You have to bring you’re “A” game to the table as often as humanly possible, in order to make as much as you possibly can.

I recommend getting a mental poker coach if you have serious tilt problems. For those players who only tilt occasionally, I recommend reading about it, perhaps asking other players how they control it, etc etc. For those players who tilt very rarely, keep up the good work, and keep the almost tilt free $$$$$ rolling in.

Until my next blog entry, play good everyone, and focus on trying to minimize your tilt. Remember that tilting does nothing but cost you money. The higher stakes you play, the more money it costs you.

Brilliant27