I realize that this is immature, but I consistently get into arguments with other players online and it has been putting me on uber-tilt lately. My problem is that I get bored, even when multi-tabling, and gradually, I start firing away on people since I can only take so much of their stupid play being rewarded and I snap.

Yesterday was the worst, as I flat out gave this guy $9 in a PLO game (I had trip queens on a 4 K Q board, bet the pot and he re-raised me). This was after I was in a heated argument with the guy about who sucked worse. I proved that he was right by calling him a $@%()*, etc., by re-raising him and telling him to shove my $9 up his you know what. Boy I taught him a lesson.

Long story short, I emailed support and asked them to disable my chat feature. I tried before to disable other players chat, but inevitably, I would get bored, turn it back on and start chatting it up. I will now be the silent/deadly guy who takes their money.

I know this post makes me sound like an idiot, but I guess I am, lol.

I think what you did is double -EV

1. You're teaching people to play better. BAD!

2. You're tilting yourself making YOU play worse. BAD!

I think disabling you chat was a very smart +EV move.

It's quite sensible IMO. My chat is banned on about 2/3rds of the crypto sites I play on, mostly for stupid stuff rather than actually going crazy at people for bad play, and I've not emailed them to turn it back on because I think it helps me put 100% concentration into the game, rather than having conversations or arguments with the other players. It is annoying when I see someone I know, or something happens like I want to defend a fish against someone who's being unpleasant to them.

I can understand that no talking leads to better concentration and hence to better results. However, I think I'm playing my best game when there is a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere at the table, where the majority of the players want to have a good time, laugh, have fun, play a bit. Then the other players are only moderately concentrated, they don't mind losing a bit because they are having a good time, they are not overly focused on snapping on your bluffs or getting even with you, and they will play relatively straightforward poker against you.
In these situations, I find that I almost always make optimal plays against my opponents, since they are playing more straightforwardly.

Just some thought; take into account that when you appear to be "all business", people will also start focusing more on playing well against you. Make sure you know what weighs heavier for you...

The other day, I lucked out on a hand. Of course, some guy called me on it. I said, "just wait, I can play a lot worse than that." This made people laugh and the rest of the time at the table was relaxed and a lot of fun.

kdiddy, while it may be a short term gain, the long term loss may be immeasurable. If you expect to be a long-term winner, you have to develop your discipline on your own self. It's a skill that is at the base of the winning player's toolkit. I have lots of leaks. I work on them constantly and slowly some of them are going away. It may take me a long time to get rid of the most egregious, but I must if I plan on making this a profitable waste of time. If this is your biggest leak, it may take forever to get rid of it. If this isn't, then how do you overcome that which isn't solvable by software?

For instance, suppose your leak is playing hands out of position. You could quite easily click the Sit Out after you fold in the CO and come back in to post your blind. That would solve the problem, wouldn't it? But, would it be +EV?

I'm not busting your balls. I have the same problem. I just feel the answer for me is to work harder at not letting myself get distracted.

CJ

Thanks for the input Cactus. Here's what I've noticed so far since closing my leak:

3 straight winning sessions. A typical example is last night at the PLO8 $25 max buy table, where I had A288 and played to a limp, 3 players in the hand and I'm second to act. Flop comes 6 K 8 rainbow.

Guy in first position bets the pot for $1.85. I flat call (wth the low and trip 8s). The third player raises it to $8.

The first player re-raises his stack and I call as well (I had them both out-chipped by $10, so I was only risking $15) as does the third player. Obviously, I knew one of them had kings, but I had the A2 also so I figured I'd pick up half the pot and if one of the players was trying to play the K 6 two pair game, like some idiots do, I could theoretically scoop it. Some on this board may argue that I should have folded to the second re-raise.

The turn came a 2, and blew up my low hand. One guy did have kings (the guy who raised to $8) and the other guy took the low with 3 5. So I was correct, had the right pot odds (IMO) to make the play, and lost $15. Now in the past, I would have gone ape-crap and called the guy out in first position for being such an idiot. But instead, I knew that I didn't have access to type into the chat feature, so I took a deep breath, reloaded and ended up winning $25 off the guy who I would have been berating, when I could have scared the fish out of the aquarium.

So, my point is, that I think its working for me. I feel much more focused on the game and I'm making better decisions. I kind of liken it to when I used to switch sites more frequently, I didn't know any of the players and didn't talk as much in the chat. I also won more often because of my "focus" on beating the game and the players.

Part of my problem is that I have a rare manly ability to type extremely fast. Probaby because I work on a computer all day. By the way, when I play live, I don't have this issue, even when I take a bad beat. Although I do have a temper like anyone else.