Dealing with Tilt in Poker

TILT in Poker

Tilt can be defined in different ways, but the most fitting one I've come across can be paraphrased as "when emotions make you play worse than you should." Emotions such as anger, fear, sadness or vengefulness and hate. These are all "destructive" emotions of some kind, but emotions that would normly be considered good can also have a detrimental effect on your poker game; feeling overjoyed because you just found out that you're getting promoted might make you lose focus on the game. Or perhaps your maternal instinct makes you feel sorry for the guy who's lost a lot of money and you start to soft-play him, perhaps without even realizing it.

Tilt is the most expensive leak in poker. If you have some other leak that you don't know about, let's say that you think that it's profitable to call raises with 97s in middle position, it's not going to be anywhere near as expensive in the long run as tilting easily. Calling raises with 97s, if you think that it's a profitable play, is a rational move albeit incorrect. You can rationally explain that you think you win money in the long run, maybe because of implied odds. And as long as you're making rational plays, you can't be off by very far because you're - probably - not stupid. You might be wrong about 97s, but it's not going to be at all as big of a mistake as something that you normally wouldn't ever consider a correct play.

What I mean is that if you're wrong about 97s, even by a little, it's at least going to be closer to correct poker strategy than a move that you couldn't even begin to defend. Like calling an all-in with K-high on the turn because you were sick of playing and just wanted to get up and leave... From a cash game! There's no excuse for that. Why not just fold and walk away with the rest of your money? Perhaps you haven't made a mistake as egregious as this one, but chances are you've done things that are pretty stupid when you've been tilting. If you think you've never tilted, you're probably in denial.

This article is intended to give you some idea of how you can lessen the effects of tilt and how you can gradually learn to deal with it.

There are many reasons why one may tilt, but the most common reasons, I believe, are losing big pots to long-shot draws. When it seems like you can't play a hand past the turn without getting checkraised by someone who hit two-pair, then it's going to be hard to maintain composure and shrug it off and move on. Often, just losing money will set someone on tilt. It may not have to be a spectacular two-outer that got there on the river, it may be enough to just lose small pot after small pot and slowly see your money wither away.

Some tilt-triggers can be avoided. Losing big pots and being sensitive to losing money isn't something you can do a whole lot about, because it's going to happen even if you play perfectly. But some other situations that tilt you may be avoidable. Like sitting with rude players. If someone taunts you, calls you names - possibly racist or very offensive in some other way - are you cool enough with that not to let it get to you and try to win HIS money? Going after the bully is not proper poker; going after the soft money is. If the bully is the soft money, by all means take it. But don't let him get to you. Pick another table.

Maybe you tilt more easily when you're tired, or hungry, or are under any other external influence that you know about from before that it affects you. If that's the case, just don't play.

But if you're feeling fine with everything at the table and it's just between you and losing that monster pot to that gutshot draw that called a bet and a raise on the turn, how do you most effectively deal with it? Let's talk about that.

Identify triggers

This is step one. In order to learn how to deal with an instinct or emotion, you have to be aware of it. I used to wake up the morning after a really bad session and be ashamed of how I could allow myself to tilt so badly. But I didn't realize it at the time; my desire to get even and my anger with the lucky - and in my mind, bad - players at the table blocked any conscious thought about tilting. I just sat and played and told myself I could beat them and that my luck had to change soon.

So how do you identify triggers? It's not easy, because it requires you to be able to view your own emotions objectively. Or at least, as objectively as possible. It's hard to admit to yourself that you're tilting, but there's a three-step program that might help you.

Step 1: Look for situations that commonly tilt people. Losing big pots. Losing to longshot draws. Missing several draws in a row. Rude players. Getting into an argument with someone at the table. A feeling of being unlucky. Maybe you've experienced other situations in the past that you know in hindsight that they tilted you. Make a list of everything that you suspect might tilt you. Study the list and/or keep it handy.

Now, when any of these situations occur at the table. It's time for step 2.

Verbalize decisions

Step 2 is firstly a mechanism to make your decisions conscious, but it's also something that helps you slow down and avoid rushing to lose your money. Verbalizing your decisions means explaining - quitely in your head if you're playing live, out loud is fine if you're playing online - to some imaginary friend watching the game why you're doing what you're doing.

"This guy raises often preflop, so I think it's okay to call a raise on the button with AJs."

"I've yet to see him bluff, and he seems very tight/passive, so I can probably safely fold if he raises."

... etc. Form complete sentences. Imagine having a dialog with a person who's constantly questioning everything you're doing. Explain it to him or her. Does it seem silly? Regardless of how silly you may feel it is, it's extremely helpful. If you have a problem with tilting - and, like I said, chances are very big that you do - then you're going to run into a situation sooner or later where you'll simply be unable to motivate your actions to your imaginary friend. You can try, but you will fail. "I raised with K9o under the gun because... Because... " and then it's going to hit you. You raised with it because you're angry. Or because your sick of playing and want to lose the rest. Or whatever other subconscious reason you might have for playing that way. But it's unlikely that you'll be able to calmly and rationally explain why you just did what you did.

Once you've finished step 2, we move on the to the final step:

Step 3: Leave.

It's just that easy. You've now confirmed that you're tilting, and it's time to get up and walk away. However, you're not walking away because you're running away from your tilt, you're walking away because you have work to do. There's always more time to play later, right now you should focus on your own emotions. If you're playing online, log off from the poker site and sit down with some pen and paper and take notes on what the exact situation was that got you tilting, if you can remember. Was it a specific hand? Several hands? Something your opponent said?

Take as detailed notes as possible. What are you feeling right now? This will help you identify a similar situation much easier next time, and it will help you gain something very, very valuable: Perspective. If you're steaming because you lost a 10BB pot to a dominated hand that hit two pair on the river, that may be so, but once you distance yourself from this even - away from the table, with pen and paper - and rationally think about it, you should come to the conclusion that in the long run this event doesn't matter much. Sure, it sucks to lose a pot, but could you have played it any better? If he really was just lucky and you didn't get outplayed, does it really make sense for you to be mad at HIM? In fact, if he just got lucky, then he probably played the hand poorly. And you should want poor opponent like him around you, so it doesn't make much sense to be mad at him. So who are you mad at?

The dealers? The cards? The poker gods?

There's nothing sensible for you to be mad at. If you calmly come to this conclusion, it should help you regain the proper perspective and return to the tables more confident.

If you find that even though you understand that what happened was inevitable but that you're STILL fuming, then it's probably time to stop playing entirely for the day. Return when you're feeling more up for it. Because luck doesn't change, and this is not some "what comes up must come down" effect waiting to happen that you're missing out on if you get up now.

Luck doesn't change, because luck doesn't exist other than in the past. Just because you lost 10 hands in a row doesn't mean that you are more likely to win the next one than average. I used to feel like that a lot; that if I had had a really bad night I would be a fool to log off because it had to change at some point and I didn't want to miss it when it did. That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? No, it doesn't.

And that's what I discovered when I sat down to think about it. Since then, I've had a much easier time getting up and walking away when I feel that I'm letting my emotions overwhelm me at the table. And better yet, I've had a much easier time stopping my emotions from overwhelm me at all!

It's all about perspective, and the best time to get that perspective is when you're smack in the middle of the events that you're trying to get a perspective on. That's why it's so important to get up and take these notes while you're still tilting. Don't continue playing, stop now, take notes, maybe return later.

Because tilt is likely your largest leak, and what you should probably be working the hardest on.

How to play 97s probably isn't.

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