Discussion: Psychology Of a Tilting Player

RE: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17766

Very impressive post. I remember back before I started playing poker I thought I'd be invincable to tilt. Yea right. nh

The thing that tilts me most is chasing and fishy play etc. which pays off. Even though I know this is good for me in the long run. Sometimes its sooo hard to see that!

tilt
I dont think ill ever handle this. Still, i know the maths now and know that anybody who puts me on tilt by hitting miricle cards is someone who i want to play poker with day in and day out.
Making money is fun.
This is a great post, its probably a shame many of us cannot put it into practice, but may we all try to succeed in doing so Surprised

Tilt just cost me 5 grand in 2 sessions over the course of 5 days. It sucks. Hopefully this will help to prevent this from happening in the future. Great post pokerfanatico. Setting a limit for how much you can lose before you have to quit for the day is a good idea too. Once you know you're on tilt I think the most important thing to do is to stop playing!

Tilt for me is when I know I played an entire hand badly - I can forgive one wrong bet (usually), but when I end up calling to the river with barely a decent draw or 2nd pair good kicker and then get rightly spanked, why, it fair gets my blood boiling!

Just read your post. Very good.

I don't think 'Odds Tilt' gets me that much. You know... you just appreciate that its a game of putting 5 random bits of card with markings on out to match up with the 2 you have in your hand in some way, and sometimes they match up with the other guy's in a really surprising and unlikely fashion.

That has a lot to do with playing within your bankroll though.

You lose $30 on a terrible beat... "haha you totally sucked out on me!! what a miracle card"... But losing $300 on the same beat would of course be less funny.

It's the "Ego Tilt" that gets me more. If someone wins my money then sometimes i want it back. Or if there's a player who distinguishes himself in some way then you can unconsciously set him up in your mind as "the bad guy" and make emotionally-clouded judgment calls. Never good.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to write it all. Very Happy

Tilt I've found to be something I tend to do as a response to feeling like I'm not getting my "fair" share of winning hands. Not being colddecked or outmanouvered, that I can deal with, it's when for an extended period you lose 4 out of every 5 80/20s when you are the favourate, win one race in 4 and get AA cracked 3 times in a row by J2, Q4 and A2. At that point, I start to think maybe I'm doing something wrong? So I analyse HHs and really can't see anything that would cause a 10 SnG losing streak, sure it's not perfect, but then no games are. I resolve to keep treating each game as it comes and sit down to play again only to then bubble on the next 3 games. Of course what I fail to realise is at this point I have already slipped on the tilt-skin and suddenly without realising in the next game I'm reraising the supertight UTG player with 72-0 in my hand and knowng full well it's a stupid thing to do. If you can't beat them, join them...

Tilt will creep up on you and mess with your head long before you realise it's there, until all of a sudden you dish out an insanely bad beat to someone and realise quite how badly you've been stinking of fish.

It's a virus, and I think I just passed it onto the holder of AA that I cracked with 72-o...

Thanks Guys that took me a good amount of time to really think about and create...

I also think it's an important thing to think about when you are just trying to find your way... and even some of the more experienced players need refreshers at times...

I think there is something to learn for us all here. I had my blow up a few days ago and he posted exactly what i did. I was playing on FullTilt at the .25./50 started out with 50. 2hrs later i was up over 140 was playing well doing the right things hand after hand. I busted this one guy he went and got more money and came back. good I thought ill do it to him again. Then he won 2 big pots from me and started calling me a fucking newbie and talking trash on me. I thought you know what Im not letting this poopyhead do this to me I'm winning every cent of that money back. TILT ALERT< TILT ALERT. Now im not playing my tight agressive game anymore i mean I'm looser than a gay prostitute. I m mean I think I went beyond tilt in this case into full blow up mode. I lost that 140 plus another 50 more. what should I have done..... Well im going to not play for a week or so and think about that for a while read phils book and try to comeback a more disciplined player. If some jackal comes along and beats me for a big pot.. well hopefully you wont see another blow up post from me beacuse maybe ill use my brain get up and leave go to another table or just turn my damn pc off

I see it's been a while since this has been bumped, but it is a vg post and I just had to comment. Last night in fact I fell victim to "Don’t think about outside issues you might have, think about and concentrate on poker." I was on that type of tilt and didn't even realize it until now - that's how clouded my mind was, haha. Good advice.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-17766.htm
very well written and detailed.
"3) Think about the long term math "
So true. Every time you start with those calculations everything goes sour.

Thanks

I think "tilt" is handled easily.
The trick is recognizing exactly WHEN you become tilted.
To handle tilt; just steer clear of every casino, every place where you might see poker.
Uninstall the programs if needed.
Forget about poker for two weeks (depending on your state, perhaps more). Go shopping. Smell the coffee.
After this period, start by playing on simulators for a day or two (Wilson Software, Poker Academy, etc).
When you feel your decisions are no longer biased or fearful, and that you can handle a bad beat without the irrepressible, impending, urgent URGE to kick your monitor, kill your neighbour, or deep fry your dog, then you're ready to resume.
Business should continue then, as usual.

It worked for me. *works, works*

I guess I'm lucky. I'm not emotionally attached to poker, or hands, or pots. Bad beats do not bother me in ring games, but does occasionally in SnG's & tourney's if it puts me out. Bother is not the same as tilt.

Not that I don't go on tilt...LOL. The biggest single thing that will send me off the deep end on occasion is getting disconnected in the middle of a tourney or SnG! Man that bothers me sometimes, if I cannot get back in a few minutes. When this happens, I usually just quit for the day.

Each day is a new day. Each hand is played as if the universe was reset as the cards are dealt. The game owes me nothing, the pot owes me nothing, the players owe me nothing. The fruit is on the tree ripe for picking. My tools for the job at hand are 2 cards.

Shall ye enter? Or wait for the next tree (hand)?

I think your personality and/or nature plays a big factor in how tilt affects you. Also in how fast or slowly you recover from tilt. Maniacs are usually very egotistical & tilt easier than most. They do not usually let go once you stack 'em & come back for more. I love maniacs!

I also love tilted players!

Seeing others on tilt, I think, helps me to avoid it as it is obvious to me & everyone else at the table that they begin to play badly or worse. I do not want to be that player.

But, like I said, I am more of an emotionally unattached player. What I enjoy most, is the challenge of outwitting someone & is why I try to be aggressive & isolate players in a hand. When I do get outwitted, it motivates me to be better.

There are 2 great motivators in this world. Fear & greed. Get past those, or redirect them, & I believe you will become better at almost anything. It allows you to see with clarity. On tilt, we simply cannot see clearly & emotions enter our decision making proccesses & we are doomed.

So when the dark cloud is overhead, head for the light & get out from under that cloud!....LOL

Has anyone ever tried meditation to avoid tilt? One of the central themes of buddhism is mindfulness, which involves bringing your awareness to the present, as opposed to the past or future.

Anyone tried this? Read anything about it?

Tilt for me is when I know I played an entire hand badly - I can forgive one wrong bet (usually), but when I end up calling to the river with barely a decent draw or 2nd pair good kicker and then get rightly spanked, why, it fair gets my blood boiling!

Poker Forum

Join Our Poker Community!

Poker Forum Index

Live Poker

Discussion: Psychology Of a Tilting Player

Poker Forum Index

Live Poker

Discussion: Psychology Of a Tilting Player