On Tilt: Chapter 3 – Trying Too Hard

***In Chapter 2 of this guide, I discussed ways to alleviate the negative effects of tilt. This installment’s objective is to look at one of the less obvious manifestations of tilt and discuss how to recognize and counter-act this problem. ***

In season two of GSN’s High Stakes Poker, Daniel Negreanu hits a tough run of cards and goes on tilt. He exhibits a few of the stereotypical signs of tilt such as playing looser and more aggressively. He does a decent job of attempting to control it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop one of the more subtle aspects from rearing its ugly head. Daniel began to try TOO hard.

Unfortunately, this happens to players when they chose to battle their emotions and continue to try to play good poker on tilt. They try too hard to win and end up beating themselves. For instance, a poker player might flop a set but the flop is all hearts and call when he is check-raised all-in because there is no way his set is second best AGAIN. Perhaps, a person has been playing more aggressively yet with control. However when someone stands up to him with a re-raise, the player thinks the person is just taking advantage of his aggressiveness. He may push or call all in with the poor reasoning of “He probably just thinks I’m bluffing and is trying to catch me in one.” Of course, the other guy turns over a big over pair and doubles up. Then there is the flipside. Players may play more passively to make sure they don’t get out drawn again. They are trying so hard to save money on another possible bad beat that they are creating opportunities for their opponents to correctly draw out on them.

The best way to counteract this is to stop playing. Take a break for an hour, a day, a week or whatever it takes. However not everyone has that luxury. Some have an addiction that needs satisfying. Others have bills to pay. Still others have an opportunity that forces them to play because it won’t be available if they wait a day or a week. Often it is a combination of these and other compounding factors. These players try to play their best and hope the poker gods cut them some slack. That’s not all that can be done. Players can do things like listen to relaxing music. This will help them calm down and remain focused.

However, if one has to play, the best advice is a little unorthodox. Instead of trying so hard to play well, try less. If you are playing online, multi-table while browsing articles on the web or talking on aim. If you are at a casino or a home game, pay more attention to the game on the TV or strike up a conversation with your neighbor. Just take it easy, play the cards instead of the player for a while, and distract yourself. It’s not maximum EV poker but neither is playing on tilt. If you do things like this to take some of your attention away from the game, you are less likely to imagine your opponents are trying to bluff you every hand or you are better able to lay down that flush draw. You’ll let the game come to you and that’s the easiest way to win at poker. It’s not always the best way, but it’s the easiest. Play tight and aggressive. Fold when you think you are behind and bet when you think you are ahead. And most importantly, don’t try so hard. Have some fun and the tilting will be over before you realize it.

On Tilt: Chapter 2 - Softening the Blows

***In chapter one of this guide, I stressed the importance of understanding how exactly tilt affects you. This installment’s focus is on ways to prevent and reduce the effects of tilt. We’re talking pre-tilt here.***

It is said that some pros can lose millions before they go on tilt. Obviously this isn’t the majority. For most of us, it’s far less. Might even be play money. It just isn’t practical for everyone to expect to have a mental six pack that can take one gut busting punch after another. Thus, like a good boxer, you must learn how to avoid the big blows as well as strengthen yourself to get up off the mat when you do get hit with one. With that said, here are some ways to protect yourself.

1) Exercise.

Jamin recently offered this advice in a post and in conversation with me. I will attest. It is solid. I don’t care how you do it. Sit-ups. Running. Sex. Whatever is accessible and/or works. The key is to sate the dog in you enough so that it doesn’t go rabies on you when someone hits that lucky straight card on the turn five minutes after he hit a river flush.

2) Table Risk.

Quick. Which do you think is easier to handle? Losing one hand or losing 20? Now what if I told you that it could be easier to lose 20? Well it is not some miracle drug. Nor is it some dubious home remedy. It just is a simple concept that is really hard to actually follow. It’s called “PLAYING WITHIN YOUR BANKROLL”. If you are playing within your bankroll limitations, you can lose 10, 20 times in a row and while it will hurt, you won’t be on life support. I won’t lie. It will hurt a lot, but play outside it and one or two suckouts followed by a round of tilt is liable to “kill you.” At least, until the bank account god can add some more money into your poker account. As both Jamin and I can attest, while playing higher stakes and making more money sounds like a good idea, all it takes is a couple bad hands for things to start spiraling out of control.

3) Reminders.

Keep reminders of your success easily accessible. For me this is one of the many ways that poker tracker comes in handy. I pull up my profile and sort my hand history by how much I won. I see something like “+$12… idiot called all in with a gutshot. +$7… guy had second pair.” Etc etc. Then I don’t feel so bad. The $20 I just lost seems small compared to the sum of all the other times that people were stupid with crap hands. And these are just the hands where they were all in or called on the river. Imagine how many other times they called a couple big bets just to fold on the river when they had nothing and there were no more cards to come.

4) Clear head.

Don’t play when things in your “other” life aren’t going well. This only compounds the problem of tilt. It’s hard enough handling bad beats when that’s the worst thing going on. Imagine that instead of saying “Damn I just lost “X” money” it is “Damn my dog ran away, my girl left me, I’m failing my class, and I can’t win a stinking pot! What’s the point?” I’m sure you can imagine how easy it is to lose control here and blow all your money in frustration/self pity at the poker table.

5) Situation Management

The best advice I can give here is simple. In some ways it is a sum of all the previous advice. The best way to stay out of trouble is to avoid those situations where you can get yourself in trouble. In other words, don’t play with fire. And especially, no matter what else you do, don’t play with money that you can’t afford to lose.

On Tilt: Chapter 1 - Know Thyself

The first step to a cure is understanding what ails you. Look at Jamin. He knows he goes on tilt and loses a lot of money because of it. However, he is one of those souls that tilts both ways. He probably doesn't even realize it.

People, in general, tend to have a double standard about things depending on the outcome. Take Phil Mickelson for example. Before he won a major golf tournament, sports writers were constantly dogging him for taking big chances. But where is that now that he's won a couple majors? He's still the same player but no one gives him crap for it anymore. Now move on to poker. For amateurs, people who play loose and aggressive are generally termed as fish and donkeys; however, listen to analysts talk about pros who play the same way. Often the words "great" "inventive" and/or "original" are used to describe this sort of play. The only major difference is that the players are proven winners.

Tilt is similar to this which is why I can say Jamin tilts both ways. Only it is called "riding the rush" when it is working in his favor. There was one day in particular where J rode his rush to near perfection. He twice flopped a flush draw that day and just pushed all in. He was so hot he knew he was going to hit it. His adversary knew it too but that didn't stop him from calling with two pair and trips. And guess what. Both were right. Jamin hit the flush to knock his opponent out both times. But that's a digression, not the point. J was tilting. Making a decision that he wouldn't normally make based on emotion.

So here's the thing. You will never be able to control your tilt until you understand in what particular manner it manifests itself in you. And there are many different types. For Jamin, when it is going good he sticks all his chips in the pot and when it is going bad he sticks all his chips in the pot. Reasons are different. On one hand he goes "I know I am going to get lucky" and on the other he goes "I know I'm going to get unlucky." Funny thing, he probably plays his best poker when things are just going okay.

When I look at myself in the mirror, things are very different from J. I tilt in multiple ways. There are times when I am frustrated from bad beats and suckouts. In these situations I am like J. I go "It doesn't matter. I'm going to lose it anyways." Being uncomfortable with the table also causes me to tilt. I feel overmatched and start looking at hands like pair of aces with jack kicker while thinking of all the hands that can beat me. This is before I ultimately fold.

I have a tilt for running well. I start playing more aggressively with middle pair or medium pocket pairs (sixes through jacks). I will generally build up a decent stack of chips playing like this and then it will bite me in the butt. I'll catch a hand like 10s in early position. Someone traps me and when I go all in they call, turn over kings, and send me to the felt. Finally, there are times when I am just plain ticked off. This isn't rip my hair out frustration but beat you to a bloody pulp mad. However, I am not sure if this is really tilt or just me playing better poker because I am using every ounce of skill and talent I have to take all your money (and anyone else's who crosses my path). Either way, it normally works out pretty well for me.

If, by now, you are lost and confused, GOOD. You should be. How can you even begin to fix a problem unless you understand what it really is. The best advice one can give to start out with is to anaylze your play and figure out exactly how tilt affects you. Both for good and bad. And remember, it may not just be one or two simple ways. It could be a half dozen. So study well. Who knows, it may help you win a world series some day.

On Tilt: An Introduction

There are two major keys to being a profitable poker player. The first, and the easiest, is to understand the odds. You can make a consistent profit just by playing the strength of your hand. There are valleys and peaks. Swings. But that's just the nature of both poker and of life. Overall, though, if you play the odds you should survive.

The other key is handling tilt. This is by far the hardest aspect of poker. It is really easy to get frustrated, mad, and make stupid decisions if you catch a run of "bad cards." People lose hundreds of dollars because they went on tilt after getting bad beat out of $20. The truth about going on tilt is that it is something normal and it may even have nothing to do with poker. But everyone goes on tilt. We only vary in the degree to which we let it affect us and in the way we each deal with it.

So now the questions are: What exactly is this "tilt" and what do you do about it?

The first question is fairly easy to answer. PokerNews defines on tilt as "playing worse (usually more aggressively) than usual because a player has become emotionally upset." Alan Schoonmaker, writing for Cardplayer, provides a similar definition. "'Tilt' means someone is making plays for emotional reasons that he would not normally make."

Now if only the answer to the second question was so quick and painless as the first answer. And in truth there is no one right answer except that everyone has to find his or her own way past this obstacle.

How do you find your way? Well you can learn by trial and error. However, this could cause major damage both to your psyche and you bankroll before you figure it out. Or you could search poker literature and online poker articles for tips and advice. Only problem with this is that books can be expensive and a simple Google search for "on tilt" provides about 17,500,000 results. A third solution would be to ask other players for their advice. Unfortunately, everybody is different and what works for one person might not work for the next. This is, of course, assuming that they are even giving you truthful advice. After all, they are trying to take your money.

I am going to offer a fourth solution. A guide to preventing and controlling tilt. I am not worried about whether this will prevent me from taking your money. I don't believe I need you to be on tilt to give it to me. And if I am unable to take it? Well there are always plenty of fish in the sea. Besides, putting this into writing may help me too. As my recent few days of poker have reminded me, tilt happens to everyone. Even me.