The Tilt
The tilt is something that no poker player wants to get sucked into, but many amateurs do. A player goes on “the tilt” when they begin to let emotion control their game because of something that has happened in the game recently. Maybe he lost a big hand due to bad luck and wants that money back from that player that should be out right now and so he calls that players raises in an attempt to try an eliminate that person from the table.
So rather than stay within his normal game, the player begins to do things they would never usually do. They become overly aggressive, refuse to fold when they should, lose their self discipline and self control. They get sucked into way too many pots that they should’ve never been in in the first place.
Many people don’t understand how it happens or why a player goes on the tilt. The large majority of the time is when a player loses a hand he expected to win, in other words a “bad beat”. This causes a major surge in emotion which the average person can’t control. Your emotions will always win out over thought and logic.
The player sees all his work of being patient and getting a large chip stack go down the drain and naturally he tries to win it all back as soon as possible. The brain wants you to win back everything you just lost as fast as possible which means that the player is going to play hands or bet with hands he would usually fold 90% of the time.
Many people wonder if the tilt can be avoided and in a word yes it can (sorry a few words). It takes a large amount of self control and discipline as well as a well planned emergency plan, but it is doable. There are some people who believe taking a few minutes of folding hands and “counting to ten” mentally will allow you to avoid it, but this just isn’t enough usually.
The best thing to do is to leave the table if you can for a few hands. If you are at a casino then get up, go to the washroom get something to drink. If you are at an online tournament click “Sit Out” and then go do something around the house until you are back to the right frame of mind. You should take a break for as long as you need. Make sure you leave right away, don’t be tempted to play the next hand because you think your luck might change. You should leave immediately.
At the end of the day, a good poker strategy will allow you to avoid going on the tilt and this good poker strategy will always win over your emotion as long as you are disciplined, proper calculation will win over your instinct and more important than anything experience will win over anything. Poker pros don’t go on the tilt because they are used to losing hands they should’ve won and they understand that it happens sometimes.