Know when your on tilt!

Having had a pretty basic search around this site Ive decided there is not much in the way of threads about what exactly tilt is!

So feeling I'm rather experienced in that area having unloaded my bankroll severall times with AA KK beaten by the lower pair, allow me to elaborate, and hopefully put a valid piece of information out there in its absence.


"Tilt" is the word given to the emotional loss of concentration to the game.

Being "on Tilt" Means that you are letting your emotions get in the way of your ability to maintain the "rules to successful poker", in other words you are upset and play poker desperately trying to fill the void that YOU CREATED FOR YOURSELF and this is important, you decide when you are on tilt.

Tilt is a state of mind. The kind that will have you screaming and shouting at the powers that be to give you such dumb luck, and all the while you remain on tilt those "powers that be" will continue to give you the worst luck you have ever seen in all the years you've ever played poker.

The idea that "you decide when your on tilt" is the challenge, when playing poker you should be happy to begin with, playing when in a fit of rage is never advised, it sounds obvious, but that's a big killer of bankroll, poker should be fun after all, and it is if you stick to the rules.

Here is my attempt at some basic rules for staying off tilt at the card-room.

1. Love the game, enjoy every second of it, and see every bad beat as a positive learning experience, which will provoke only the best from you. in other words always have a positive mental attitude.

2. Learn the game. I believe poker is a learnt skill, "some people are just born that way" doesnt exist in my world anyway. So learn your premium cards, your Bank roll management, your strategies, % pot odds, % river odds, learn to read your opponents, etc. these are all teachable, and can be discovered to some level. once you know exactly what your doing, the rest will follow.

3. Play within your limits, once youve got used to bankroll management this shouldn't be an issue, but that's a big piece of advice personally anyway, getting caught out when your taking a shot out of your comfort zone hurts more than you could imagine, albeit a very fast learning curve.

4. Look for the signs of tilt, that you are drifting into negative attitude towards your cards, or opponents. acknowledge you don't want to be on tilt, and pivot your state of mind to a better feeling about poker, and your situation, look for the good (bright side of life) when your at the table, or even away from the table, this sounds very spiritual, but its not, its ALL ABOUT STATE OF MIND

5. TAKE REGULAR BREAKS!! this speaks for itself and will inevitably save you money in the long run, so don't think you will be wasting money every second your not at the table, think of it as your reward, and stay on your break as long as you need to 15 mins/1 hour/ 2 weeks, whatever you need to keep your head focused and away from tilt will make you more money than you could ever have achieved had you waited on that table for that next big hand.



I feel this advice you may or may not be useful to you, but either way you should know that knowledge is power, and even having read things along these lines gives you a better perspective over your opponents who havent. this in my opinion is how you can be the one "seeing" someone on tilt, rather than being the one "on tilt"

Thanks very much for your time, have fun with this

The blufmaster52

What to do if you are on lifetilt like me?

Good article..can find myself in most of what you said...

Great article, it is great to print it out, keep it next to your computer when playing poker.

"see every bad beat as a positive learning experience"? I'm not so sure I've meant too many players who could pull that off. If I try to smile after I lose to a runner runner flush or straight, I'm likely to gring my teeth to nubs.

But I do see value in much of what you say. If nothing else, it's important to have a sense of where you are mentally at all times, particularly if you are tired (too many hours at it, or in need of sleep), bored (tight player not getting any hands), or the victim of some bad luck. By all means, don't take it out of your bankroll, your computer, your dog, your spouse, or your kids.

Thanks for the carefully thought out post. I agree with most of what you said, but I also must agree with Ckingriches regarding seeing a bad beat as a positive learning experience. In tournament play, I have learned the mistakes I made that led to someone administering a bad beat to me...I should have raised more, gone all-in preflop, or C-betted, etc.

However, when playing cash games, I find bad beats MUCH harder to take. I get extremely frustrated when players call a raise who have NO BUSINESS in the hand and then suck-out to win. In a cash game last week (low Limit Hold'em) I had one guy beat me twice when he was only 10% on the River. This was compounded when another guy hit an 8% card on the river to beat me. Yesterday, another guy hit a 10% card on the river to beat me. In every case, I had big pocket pairs (AA, KK, or QQ) and raised preflop. Here are the cards that these guys cold called (they had no money in the pot up to this point) with 10 2 off-suit, 9 7 offsuit, A 2 off suit, and 8 2 offsuit. Each of these players hit one of their cards on the flop (the guy with A 2 hit the 2) and then called my bets all the way to the River, where they hit their second pocket card.

Being a tight player (read nit!), I had not played even 20% of my hands outside of the blinds. What did they think I had when I raised preflop? And, how could they possible think that they had a legitimate chance to win, even after they hit one of their cards on the flop? While I did not go on a verbal tirade against these players the way Hellmuth does, they certainly deserved it. (But, yesterday I did grab my chips and "storm away" from the table, muttering that I could not play against someone who could possibly cold call a raise with 8 2!) In fact, these donks should be stood before a firing squad!

So, how can I treat these bad beats as a learning experience. Here's how...after carefully examining the dynamics of my low Limit Hold'wm tables, I have found that, assuming I can get at least a few cards, I can routinely beat good players. In the summer I ususally head to my local casino about 11:00 when the low ($2/$4) Limit Hold'em game first gets rolling. Everything is usually going fine and, after starting with $100, I am usually up $50-$80 within 2-3 hours. Sometimes I can win a little more and other times I might lose a little of what I am up if my draws don't hit. But, over-all, I'm still up. But, between about 1:30 - 3:30, the good players slowly leave and are replaced by the donks. I can usually tell the donks because they have their players card on an elastic cord, indicating that they are slot machine players. To them success in poker is just like success at the slots...pure luck. So, they have no qualms about calling a rise with 8 2 off-suit. They are looking for action and what better way to get action than by straddling (another sure sign of a donk) and calling a rasie with rags. What I have learned, and hope to put into action soon, is to head for home with my profit once more than 2 of these donks appear at my table. Another possibility is to play the $3/$6 Limit game, which is only comprised of more serious players. But, the $3/$6 only gets enough players to make it go on Friday evenings and Saturdays. ANother possibility is to play No Limit, but there appear to be as many donks at $1/$2 No Limit tables as there are at the $2/$4 Limit tables. And, I can't afford to play the $2/$5 No Limit game.

So, I hope to take what I've learned from these bad beats at $2/$4 Limit and use it to my advantage. Oh, and one other thing...I owe Phil Hellmuth an apology. I used to think he was a complete idiot for his tirade against donks. While I still think that he needs to learn to control his outbursts, there is no doubt that the targets of his abuse have earned every ounce of it!

I find my self on tilt more and more. When I raise my qqand am called with 55 from someone that has been playing everything I find myself wondering if its going to be the turn or river when the 5 comes out and I am beat... I notice that this causes me to play less hands and then I realize I am playing with scared money.. I notice that if I play a little "maniacal" I can do better in the game picking my spots and such. I really do not know what to do about this..... My view of it is tainted IM ON TILT!!!!! guess I need a break.....

I usually know when im on tilt, but that doesnt stop me from a all in spree >.<

Remember that tilt works both ways - I've seen many players get on a rush after winning a lot of hands. They start thinking they can win or buy every pot and soon enough they're out of chips or into negative tilt.

"Tilt" is just a catchall term for when you are letting emotions run your game. Different people react differently.

What helps me is having a quick mental checklist to go over - what do I think the other player has, what cards can improve my hand, what cards might give me the second best hand, what did they have the last time they threw their chips in like that, etc. When I'm on tilt I can't make it through the list or I realize I hadn't even tried to figure out what everyone else is holding.

This was a good read.

I know exactly when i go on Tilt, when I suck out and win with like an 88 vs qq and get cocky or when i lose with the qq to 88. Normally my "tilt" will last 2-3 hands before i realize how it has affected my game. I am trying harder to recognize my weak points when playing and just realize a bad beat or a cheap win are sometimes both part of the game.

i was reading a book, i think it was called the poker mindset, and it had a pretty good section on tilt. they said that they best possible way to deal with bad beats and tilt is to not let it have any effect on you at all. they said that if you can get to the point where you feel the exact same whether you just flopped the nuts, or your opponent hit a 1 outer on the river, then tilt will have no effect on you. i think that is what we should aim for to a certain extent, i mean if you don't get excited when you flop a great hand, or when you take out a big stack then what's the point in playing? but i do think we should all try to take the bad beats in stride and realize they will happen, so why let it bother us? then the tilt will start to go away quickly.

As most of you probably know, I'm a really new player...in my 7th week of ever playing Poker. I still don't know all the basics, but am learning everything as I go. I have wondered what 'on tilt' meant, and now I can apply it to me. When I've been playing all night & I'm too tired to care, then I guess I'm 'on tilt'. Usually, if I start making stupid mistakes, I will go all-in to remove myself from the game. If I stay, it only gets much worse! For the most part though, I go into a tournament with a positive view & look at each one as a learning curve...that each mistake I make will make me into a better poker player. I accept the losses with the wins and try to convey to the other players that I appreciate their great hand, regardless as to how bad I was beaten. From all that I've read above, this is the only way to look at Poker. I was told once by another player that Poker is a cruel game...I realize that skill makes up alot of it, but luck, to me, is a very major factor. Luck with the cards dealt, luck that I hopefully have been dealt better cards than my fellow players & luck that I can use my knowledge at the correct time when someone else isn't 'on tilt'! While I only play freerolls for now, I hope this serves me well into the future when I eventually have amassed a bankroll to play some tournaments with much better players.

The main problem on being tilt is the reckless playing that results from it.
Ive had tilt moments where i'd be extremely pissed off, but still continued playing as i was playing before the tilt session.

But sometimes i reach the tilt limit where i limp & even pushed all in with nothing just in hope to hit something and get some of it back. With most cases being a failure.

If you feel your running bad, get out and take a break.
Yes, you might not gain back that pot you just lost, but there's always another hand & another session.

If you realise your making mistakes, and its going from bad to wose. the only advice is taking a break.

Thats how people play and what they play it for.
I play poker for fun, but mainly to add some cash into my account.

Doing so I give great value to my money and try not to lose to much of it.
the fact that i know i might lose the cash on my table at any moment is what could get me tilt if it actually does happen.
When i hit the nuts i get happy, cause i know that pot, more cash, is comming to me.
When i miss my hand and lose alot (or lose alot of hands in a row) i get angry, because i know that money isen't gonna come back and i'm just trowing it away.

Thats what makes me tilt, and thats probably why alot of other people get tilt.

Play a poker session as serious as possible with free chips, and just try to pay attention to your emotions.
bad beats? you won't care cause it wasn't real money.

After you take enough bad beats you start to do a serious re-evaluation of your game. I put my money in good so many times only to be sucked out on time and time again. Finally, after thinking about it for about two weeks, I found the leak in my game: I wasn't taking into account my oppositions stack size and was putting too much emphasis on pot odds and 'getting my money in good.' I went back and read my Harrington, Moshman and Kill Phil books and focused on what they had to say on stack sizes and that made a huge difference in my game. These days I'm more inclined to throw away hands like AKs, AQs or high pocket pairs when I'm doing battle with a bigger stack or someone who could do serious damage to my stack. I also re-evaluted who I should be stealing from or bullying at the table.

This seems all really basic, but sometimes you overlook the elephant in the living room.

Thanks for the info. BTW once im on tilt... I cant stop i need to control it haha.

Is about a year long enough? Seriously, I haven't played in about a year. I'm just finally getting "the itch" again, so I think I'll start up again soon.

I still love the game, but I went through a period where both the game and the odds just seemed too long. I think anytime you have to seriously fight with your own ability to be patient, then it's time for a break.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share. Some breaks are longer than others!

See you guys at the tables... hopefully soon!

-Dave

if i get my money in with the best and lose i know they played bad not me so no tilt for me lol

I usually mostly see ppl go on tilt in freerolls or cheap buy ins, I hardly ever see it in the bigger buy ins but i geuss it does happen too just not as much as freerolls,, and usually when they go on tilt they just end up going all in every hand which is really frustrating to me becuz sometimes I fold small pkts or middle pkts fearing the tilter will end up getting lucky with ace crappp lol

rule #1 love the game. i heard Andy Black answer the question "what would be the best advice he could give to a poker player?" this is exctly what he said. i liked it so much i wrote it down. good advice.

HAHHAHHAHA Often when I realize Im severly Tilted its already too late.


Now I take breaks. That really helps! Allows everything to be put into perspective.

I just read The Poker Mindset also. I found the chapter on tilt very interesting. We all know the screaming chip-spewing tilt, but basically anything that keeps us from playing our best, thoughtful, unafraid but rational game is "tilt."

Even turning ultra-tight and unaggressively is a form of tilt -- you know that one? After your AA, AK, QQ have all gone down in smoke and you are wondering if any hand will be good enough to survive the horrible losing streak you are on? And you keep playing, but you are like a turtle, sticking your head out rarely and folding at the least hint of challenge. That's tilt, too-- a safer form for your bankroll, yes, but you are not taking advantage of the situations that you should.

Tilt control is about getting your head straight and keeping it straight about the realities of poker, and they don't suggest that anyone can maintain perfect control. But the thing is to recognize when you are playing less than optimally, less than correctly -- and do something about it.

The key concept of that book, IMO, is that poker is a game of long-run small edges. To be a winning player, you have to take advantage of those small edges when they come. And not sweat the short-run results, because if you play correctly, you will be ahead in the long run.

You know, I've never really thought about that, but you're right; that is a form of tilt as well. And in a tournament game especially, that will kill you. You are only going to get so many opportunities in a tournament before you get blinded out, so if you don't make use of them all, you really have little to no chance of winning.

Thanks for pointing that one out. I'll definitely have to keep it in mind.

-Dave

so true in the end if you play something correctly someone sucks out on you fair enough its poker if you play properly all times around you will win more times then you lose just we all seem to remember more of the negatives then the positives these days

Thanks for all the great responses, really glad to help.

With regards to the statement "let all bad beats be a positive learning experience".

simply by asking how can this be a positive experience, is answering the question. it is making you question and review your experiences, this is a good thing, whether your bad beats are in fact bad beats, or was it bad play.. etc. and if your conclusion is there is literally no other way that hand could of been played(or beaten) then the positive in that is that you have discovered you were playing correctly, and you hit that "unlucky" 3% that time.. this is where im coming from, in the fact that when you are sucked out on, be at peace, and know that you played well, and inevitably over time your game will hold up the other 97%... which should be where you pick yourself up and get stronger..

hope this helps..

thanks

Since reading all the threads on what it means to be 'on Tilt', I am recognizing that in myself...I used to just go 'all-in' and quit, but now I take deep breaths & remind myself as to why I entered the tourney in the first place! Usually that works well...as with any situation that is stressful...awareness of the feelings involved & positive thinking works nearly every time! If not, I take a moment, sit out a hand or two and then generally re-enter much more refreshed!
During the Twitter Freeroll tourney on Carbon Poker(8/29), I found myself getting extremely stressed during the first rounds of play...I was reacting rather than acting strategically & had to remind myself of my goal...to finally burst through the bubble & get ITM! It worked because I made it well under the magic number '40' to #15! I merely had my chips eaten up by the blinds...4000/8000! I probably would have done much better if I had understood the rules of Poker concerning all-in & main pots/side pots! I have since learned about both through this forum & can use all to my advantage!
BTW, the euphoria that followed was AMAZING! Such an adrenalin rush that it makes me believe that I can not only burst through the bubble, but win eventually!

@Maid Marian That is very good to hear, keep it up who knows maybe you will make your first million in poker with this help! no limits yes! good, thanks for your response, the adrenalin rush means you have connected the dots, you understand a little more, and the understanding is key. id say good luck to the future, but we both know.. it isnt luck that determines a winner.

Thanks!

Thanks for the encouragement! Since I'm still learning, I fully expect to have good days and days when I just don't connect all of the dots. But I really love pitting myself against others...mind to mind. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose...as with anything else in life...you have to deal with the 'human factor'...no one is predictable 100% of the time...in life & in poker! GL to you too...sometimes it is the luck of the draw, but mostly IMO, it's the use of knowledge of the game and the strategy involved to make the best judgment call at the right time.

This is a great post for a person like me. But I can attest that I play much better after a few bourbons and a couple of pipes, when the idea of feeling a bond towards my money no longer exists, and when that bond does show itself, I laugh in it's face and fold those AK's like an origami swan.