Battling Tilt in Rush Poker

Everyone’s favorite new game, Rush Poker, is a godsent for players who like action. Players who like action tend to sometimes get carried away. Sound like you? Read on, warrior…

You’ve been sucked out on 3 hands in a row. The fish two seats to your left is trying to tell you how to play poker. Your deck is running cold. If you’re human, these situations do not make you happy. The difference between a long-term winner and a long-term loser in poker largely depends upon how you handle these situations. You need to learn to control your urge to tilt. This is especially true in Rush Poker. Here’s why.

Rush Poker Magnifies Tilt

In a normal-paced game of poker, you’ve got some room to breathe in between hands. You can think for a minute or two after a bad beat, and regain your composure. Even if you fly off the handle, you can only do so much damage; you aren’t seeing that many hands per hour, and can’t blow your entire bankroll in a fit of rage.

Rush Poker doesn’t give you this time to breathe. You can quick fold your way out of a crappy hand and into a brand new one in a matter of seconds. If you’re on tilt, this means you have a chance to blow a much larger portion of your bankroll in a much quicker span of time than you would in a game of regular-paced poker. You can 3-bet and re-steal and squeeze your way through 300 hands per hour, rather than 80. Obviously, this can be dangerous.

Focus is Important

Rush Poker requires a constant, long-term oriented focus. Immediate results don’t matter, and you need to keep that in mind. Remember that you can only make money by making correct decisions with a positive expectation. By spewing chips, you hurt your long-term winrate.

Sure, suckouts blow. But they happen. If you’re a 9:1 favorite all-in on the flop, that means you’re going to lose the hand one out of ten times. You can’t get pissed when that one time comes along. Recognize that it’s a part of the game, and make peace with it. Profit comes to those who get their money in good, without fail. You’ve just got to wait for it.

Waiting Sucks, Right?

That’s the key: waiting for it. Rush Poker makes it incredibly easy to fall into a go-go-go mindset. This mindset encourages making bad plays, reading too far into opponent’s moves, and thinking in the short-term. All of these things will lose you money.

Your edge in Rush Poker will come from your ability to slow down your thoughts. Given the sheer speed at which the game plays, deep thought will be rare amongst your opponents. Thus thinking slow is thinking above.

When you’re making decisions in Rush Poker, specifically preflop, follow these steps:

1. Wait a least 3 seconds from the deal to press any buttons. This will prevent you from falling into a robotic manner of play. If you don’t wait these three seconds, you’ll start pressing quick fold immediately as a habit. When you fold pocket aces as a result, you will regret it.

2. Speak your cards in your head. Listen to the little man in your head actually say the words “ace of hearts, queen of spades”. This will help you recall any past experiences with the hand; you can then think about what lines worked, and which didn’t. Giving your hole cards nothing more than a passing glance will not lead to informed play.

3. Closely analyze previous action. Who has bet before you? Are there limpers? Who are you hoping to isolate if you make a move?

4. Determine the best course of action. Size your bets according to previous action. Think about what you’ll do on future streets, if the round continues.

5. Bet it and forget it. If you made a mistake, don’t dwell on it; just don’t do it again. You can’t turn back time. Ruminating on a poor play will only tilt you, and this is precisely what you’re trying to avoid.

Following this 5-step thought process will help you focus your game. I cannot overestimate how important focus is in a game of Rush Poker. The key to avoiding tilt is to remain focused. Rush Poker is a game that actively discourages deep focus. It follows that if you’re able to make calm, collected, well-thought-out decisions, you’ll be at an advantage to the majority of players at the table.

To be honest, you don’t even need to follow the above steps in order. You just need to follow some sort of decision-making framework. It’s not the steps that matter, it’s the fact that you take them. Structuring your decisions will help you make sure you’re clicking buttons with purpose.
Most players will not be doing this, and thus will be making lots of terrible decisions. If you want to make money, structure your thoughts, and exploit those who’d rather gamble than play poker. After all, Rush Poker is still poker; and in poker, the money comes to those who consistently make correct decisions.