Tilt

Tilt!

No, I know it's not the type of subject a poker player should be talking about, but it is something we all should be aware of, because at some point it will defiantly happen to you. "Tilting" or "going on tilt" are phrases used when somebody loses emotional control. This could result in shouting/swearing, or a player stopping for the night or even turn a player into a loose cannon and make him play very poor poker. Tilt can be caused by many things, or even nothing at all, it's a state of mind.

I can hear you all asking the same question as you read this "how do I avoid tilt?"

Well in my personal opinion I think it is pretty much impossible for any poker player to avoid tilt his whole career, let's be honest, we have a bad run of cards, it will affect most players attitudes. My first tip is to play well within your bankroll, there is nothing wrong with learning your game on micro limit tables, even if $0.01/0.02 won't win you much money, you defiantly won't lose a lot. Especially for beginners, most people go through a phase where they can't win anything, so why not minimize the loss? I know definitely know I would prefer a $5 bad beat compared to a $100 one.

Secondly, the main thing to do is to remain calm, look back at what happened, analyze your play, were you ahead then completely outdrawn? If you made an obvious mistake, learn from it! There is absolutely no point beating up yourself and in turn your bankroll over one mistake. However, if you had thrown the chips in while you were ahead, you did nothing wrong. Just remember you played the hand well, your opponent got lucky.

There is of course the other side of the coin, again an obvious question pops up "can we take advantage of tilters?" Yes of course we can. Its just a simple case of playing premium hands against the person, chances are they will try and raise you out of a pot, if you think you are comfortably ahead then call, if not lay them down. Simple! Eventually you will hit a big hand and the tilter will cough up.

When at the poker tables, keep your emotion in check, If you feel you are losing control, best thing to do is to stop playing. If you really need your poker fix for the day, move down the limits, to make sure you don't destroy your hard earned bankroll.