Dealing
with TILT
BY:
Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud
The
difference between winning and losing
is often the ability to keep oneself from
going on tilt. You know what tilt is,
don't you? It's a term borrowed from pinball,
back before pinball was a digital, electronic,
video game...when it was a mechanical
machine. Back then, good players often
tried to physically manipulate the pinball
machine to make the ball score more points
and stay alive longer. But the pinball
machines were equipped with a switch to
prevent people from moving the machine
too aggressively. When that switch was
jostled too hard or moved to far it disconnected
the pinball machine -- literally shut
it down -- flashing TILT. You lost the
game immediately -- no matter how many
points you had scored up until that point.
TILT
in poker is essentially the same thing.
You get set off in some way -- maybe because
you just lost your fourth contested hand
in a row, maybe because you started ahead
of the field and lost to some clod who
caught a miracle card on the River. So
your good judgment and common sense get
shut down. It's also known as steaming.
Well,
how do you deal with going on tilt? Are
there any things that you, the determined
player, can do to prevent it? Or if you
notice that you seem to be tilting, what
should you do about it?
I
have a few suggestions that have helped
me.
I
start by telling myself that I, and no
one else, is responsible for what hands
I play and what hands I don't play. I
am the master of my own money. That's
my affirmation.
It's
an important one. It's all too easy to
blame other people for our losses -- for
our loss of control. But don't. Start
by taking responsibility for your own
actions and you'll be ahead of the game.
So you're responsible.
Once
I have taken responsibility, the next
step is to notice the early warning signs
of going on tilt. Before I actually GO
on tilt, some event tends to get me upset.
So I need to recognize that event and
respond to it by resisting the urge to
start playing differently from the optimal
way that I have learned.
Once
I can learn to recognize those early warning
signs, I need to learn to inhibit my habitual
response. Initially, this may mean leaving
the table for a while. That's right --
actually walking away from the game. Maybe
you get something to eat. Maybe you just
stroll over to some other game and distract
yourself watching it for a while. But
leave your game for a while until you
can calm down.
After
a while, after you've learned to spot
your tendencies to go on tilt and inhibit
them, you may be fine just standing up
for a hand or two. Eventually, you may
be able to control your emotions as soon
as the hand is over. But for a while at
least, when you experience those situations
where your blood boils, get away from
the game until your temperature drops
to 98.6.
Sometimes,
by the way, what can set you on tilt isn't
just a bad beat. It can be a wave of winning.
Some players go on tilt when they're up
-- feeling invincible or giddy or like
they're playing with other people's money.
SO they become loose, or maniacal, or
crazy or wild. And their behavior feeds
on itself until it is out of control.
Large wins become small wins which can
easily turn to losses and large losses.
(If you have one of those poker simulation
games like Turbo Stud by Wilson software
try this experiment. Just go crazy for
15 hands -- just 15 hands. Raise and reraise
recklessly with no attention paid to what
you have or what you think your opponent
has. If you're playing $10/20 you can
easily drop $1,000 in just those 15 hands.
Try it yourself and see.)
It
also helps to recognize -- even before
you feel the feeling of frustration or
anger or frenzy or whatever it is that
leads to TILT -- what SITUATIONS tend
to make you go on tilt. For example, do
you tend to get set off by loud, aggressive
players? Do they make you uncomfortable?
How about a table full of calling stations?
Do you get annoyed when people draw out
on you? Does that set you off? What about
rocks -- guys who keep folding hand after
hand? Do they press your buttons? For
me it's short-handed play. I find that
I get frustrated -- that I tend to become
overly aggresive -- playing other than
my typical, optimum, winning strategy.
When
you can see, in general, what types of
situations tend to set you off, just be
even more vigilant about keeping your
focus. And, if that doesn't always work,
then avoid those situations. No one can
force you to play in a game. So if you
don't like playing with rocks -- if their
tight style pisses you off -- then don't
play with them. If you tend to lose control
of your betting when you're playing against
a table full of loose passive calling
stations then for God's sake, stay away
from it until you've learned the self
control to master this type of game.
The
bottom line, is that YOU and only YOU
can and must control how, when, and where
you play. If you're starting to lose the
discipline you need to play winning poker,
leave. If you're not in a frame of mind
to do so, don't play. If you planned to
play but recognize that the game conditions
are not to your liking, go elsewhere or
don't play at all. Remember, there is
no prize in poker for playing the best
under the worst conditions.
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