| To state the obvious, tilt happens to | | | | instead of playing with your instincts and |
| everyone in Texas Hold Em poker, regardless | | | | worrying about what might happen right now, |
| of who you are. Indeed, "tilt" is one of the | | | | with this hand. |
| scariest terms - and experiences - when | | | | |
| playing poker. | | | | You have to convince yourself that winning |
| | | | and loosing are one in the same in poker, at |
| So, what can cause tilt? It's not the same | | | | least in the mean time, until you can |
| for everybody. It could be your constant bad | | | | accomplish this. This might be |
| luck when other players are hitting | | | | counter-intuitive at first because the |
| miraculous two and three-outers on the river, | | | | objective of the game is always to win. You |
| or it can simply be a bad run of cards. It | | | | have to accept every losing hand as it is a |
| can be simply playing poorly for a long time, | | | | part of game. |
| for others. | | | | |
| | | | Consider your approach to a coin toss. When |
| Regardless of the reason, when the majority | | | | you are on a winning streak facing a coin |
| of players go on tilt, they no longer play | | | | flip, you are going to be more cautious |
| sensibly and they tend to lose. They then | | | | because you don't want to take a chance on |
| start playing the wrong cards in the wrong | | | | losing what you have previously won or |
| situations, or playing them at the wrong | | | | possibly more. On the contrary, if you are in |
| times, and lose a lot of chips. This starts a | | | | the same situation of losing, you may be |
| vicious self-destructive cycle for some | | | | willing to take a risk to get your money back |
| players where their self confidence is | | | | by going for the coin flip. In either |
| destroyed, and their money is lost. | | | | situation, I think both cases can hurt your |
| | | | game because in each instance, you are more |
| The most important thing to know is what tilt | | | | concerned about the short-term outlook than |
| is, but you might also wonder what causes | | | | about playing a good, solid poker game over |
| tilt. Personally, I have read it's a chemical | | | | the long term, which really is what a winning |
| reaction in the brain which puts us back to | | | | player is all about. |
| primal days of fight or flight. Except now we | | | | |
| are being hunted by other players, instead of | | | | When you can develop this indifference to |
| wild animals, who seek to kill us down with | | | | winning and loosing, it will help you focus |
| another bad beat. | | | | on how you play, and you will find yourself |
| | | | worrying less about going on a tilt. All that |
| This primal emotion has an overwhelming | | | | counts at the end of the day is how you |
| impact as it causes your entire chemistry to | | | | played, anyway. Being poker players, all we |
| change and sends you into another frame of | | | | can do is play the best game we possibly can |
| mind, causing you to change the way you play | | | | and let the cards fall as the may. No matter |
| your game. You have to be able to remove | | | | what kind of variance you face over the short |
| yourself from this emotion in order to stop | | | | term, your long-term results will simply be |
| that change from taking place and sending you | | | | better when you adopt this attitude. |
| on a tilt. You have to focus on keeping your | | | | |
| cool and using your head while playing poker, | | | | Thank You. |