how do you stop tilting?

good question, and one that i have been working on for a while. the one thing i have found that helps is to really try to see things from your opponents side. when he bets or raises, its not a personal attack... he is trying to do the same thing you are...win the game. if you keep this in mind, and try to figure out what he might be betting on, it makes it much easier to release the hand...yours probably is not as strong as you would like it to be anyway. staying focused on that really does help. (when you are totally tilted, rationality goes out the window. and you can forget about anything i just said. once u start thinking again, it can help you to get back on track.

GLAD YOU PUT THAT IN WORDS I SOMETIMES FORGET TO THINK LOL BUT WHEN I DO I PROBABLY TALK MYSELF OUT OF IT THINKING THEY HAVE A BETTER HAND THAN ME AND FOLD MOST LIKELY THE WINNING HAND BUT YOU ARE RIGHT, ALSO TRY PUTTING SOMETHING UNDER THE LEGS OF THE TABLE ON YOUR SIDE THAT SEEMS TO HELP 2, GOOD LUCK TO YOU SIR

Well, when I am on tilt...I just take a deep breath and try to get back into it...

I mean, the main thing is you have to try and get over it...

Oh well, he had a bigger hand and you got beat, just take a breath and suck it up...

It's not over...
Chip and a chair!!!

Only thing that works for me is play really really bad, hit that miracle suckout card and give a big bad beat back. After that it's usually ok again .

I type in caps to relieve the pressure of tilt.

YOU KNOW GUYS!

The problem is already half solved if you realize that you're on tilt. From there, just tell yourself not to do anything stupid.

Easier said than done. Usually I realize I'm on tilt but say "I'll chase this draw, I'm already down so much, plus I can't miss 15 flush draws in a row can I?". Yes if I weren't on tilt I'd realize that I don't have to miss 15, I have to miss 1 for this one to miss, and that my play shouldn't differ based on how much I've won/lost (unless it has to do with stack size or mentality), but that's what tilt can do. If I realize I'm on tilt, I immediately sit out of all games I'm playing, and do something else (maybe the homework I was putting off by playing ). I used to wait until my BB came around but then I realized I would leak chips even then. In a tournament I can't really do that but I just do my best, worst case scenario I don't money, which is usually majority if it's an MTT. This is one of the reasons I admire people who are able to play poker for a living. They need to survive the bad beats, not go on tilt too much, knowing that the pressure is about 100 times as great on them as it is on me because they're playing for their income. If I lose, it's spending money, and it's nothing more than a hundred or so. I just watched the high stakes poker episode that ended with Farha calling Greenstein down KK vs. AA and setting his kings. That was over a million dollar swing.

Now imagine it's not QUITE that much, but still a considerable amount (a thousand or so?) and this is your job. You have to continue playing after that horrible beat, play the same way you have been, grinding it out, not letting the temptation to play reckless to regain what you lost get to you. I could be the best poker player in the world and I'd have a hard time doing it for a living. Even if I knew I could make a living playing poker, I think I'd stick with it as a hobby/side job, I just don't think I could handle the pressure. After the AA gets cracked by KK for payment on the house, every time I was looking at an all-in I'd remember this time. I'd be pushing way too hard with good hands (don't want to get called and lose a thousand bucks like I did last time with AA). To be able to resist that, survive tilt, and grind it out day in and day out is tough, and you've gotta have nerves of steel. It's like the quote in Rounders, "this guy hasn't had to work in years", "you don't think what he does is work, grinding it day in and day out?" (very loose not even close to exact quotes).

Well, that's why I said "half solved."

And rule #1 in poker: Don't ever risk more money than you can afford to lose. If you have to worry about losing, you shouldn't be playing! Especially true for going pro. If you haven't got enough cash to sustain lengthy losing streaks (6 months), then you haven't got enough cash to go pro.

walk away from the table, catch your breath and maybe have a sip of water

if you are playing online, get up and walk around your room.

The sit down again.

The tourney I am playing in right now, I suffered a beat early on and nearly tilted by going all in on the next hand with like some really crappy hand, but I took a few deep breaths, kept my cool and started inching my way back.

I made it into the money, in fact I am still in it with a decent stack.

keeping your cool helps.

on another note, I have on a couple of occassions gotten premium hands right after suffering a beat and pretended to tilt in order to get a caller.

once I got AA right after a beat and immediately went all in and got 3 callers, I was back at where I was prior to the beat with a few more thousand chips

if i receive a bad beat, i immediately stop tilting by using my imagination to make believe bubbasbestboobZ has the hots 4 me!

read about my moron move the next time you get a bad beat and it'll make ya feel better. i think it has become the official beat tilt thread

Play with an amount of money that is so miniscule to you that it is inconceivable that it could cause a true emotional response. Basically, it's the same thing in the stock market, or pool, or just about any other endeavor you might put money on.

The great thing about tournament play is that you can pick one that's equivalent to the cost of a beer or two (or less), and actually start to accumulate money if you're good enough.

If you're in a freeroll, there's only one reason to go on tilt, and that's because you feel you lost so many chips that you're questioning whether you still want to be there. Maybe you'd rather start over in another one. I use those periods to test some tactics that I might not use when I'm sitting in a good spot in the tourney. In other words, I'm learning from my tilt state.