Recognizing Tilt
Tilt can be one of your biggest enemies on the poker table. You might be thinking, what is tilt? Tilt is when you make a decision based on emotion instead of logic. If you are playing back at someone with a hand that is lesser than ideal just because that player sucked out on you earlier you are probably tilting. If you have something on your mind that is not poker related that you are thinking about while at the tables then you are probably tilting. Recognizing tilt is the very first step in eliminating tilt from your game. By making sure that you leave the tables when you are tilting you can guarantee to save yourself money in the long run.
This is our list of the top five means of recognizing tilt. By following this list you should be able to eliminate nearly all the tilt from your game. This will show a large increase in your win rate and you will soon be better at dealing with tilt.
Top Five Means of Recognizing Tilt
- Suck Outs- When someone sucks out on you, especially a fish, you need to watch yourself and make sure that you are not isolating that player with lesser hands than you should. You want to play a lot of hands with the fish, but if there has been a previous suck out where you felt angry at your opponent for their ridiculous outcome in a hand then you should probably get off of the tables and take a small break. This is possibly the most common cause of tilt at the tables. Even if you just take a small fifteen minute break and then sit back down, this will make a large difference in your play.
- Trouble at Home- This is another huge distraction for a lot of players. Sometimes if there has been trouble at home where something is on the player’s mind instead of poker they will try to ease their mind with poker. You should buy a poker video game if this is the case and play that to ease your mind. There is money at stake so you have no need to put your money in jeopardy when you are already having things go wrong for you. At these times it might be hard to spot that you are tilting, but if you do not have your whole mind into the game then you are playing at less than optimal, so you shouldn’t be playing.
- Playing Scared- If at any time you make a different bet than the amount you really should because you are scared to lose the money then you are tilting. You should never be playing poker in a situation where you are afraid to lose the money that you have invested. When you are playing poker you are playing with the intention to make money by risking your own. If you are not comfortable with the simplest part of the process of poker then you need to move down and play at a lower limit.
- Playing a Limit You Shouldn’t- This normally leads to playing scared and most of the time is caused by a repeated number of suck outs. A large majority of players who tilt in this manner are chasing loses and end up going bust. This is also a bankroll building tip! While it might be correct to move down in limits after taking some beats, it is never correct to move up in limits to try and win your loses back. You are playing against better players at these limits and for a much larger portion of your bankroll than you are used to. You will more than likely end up playing scared and a better player will realize this and take more from you because of it. Only play at the limits that you are properly bankrolled for.
- Why Did I Do That- This phrase is a killer for most poker players and is a sure fire sign that you are on tilt. If at any point you take an action and you cannot answer the question “Why did I do that?” you are tilting because you are making plays without using reason. Every action you take needs to have logic behind it. To be quite honest a lot of the actions you need to take require every bit of brain power that you can muster. If at any point you ask yourself why you made a play and you cannot answer it you need to get off of the tables because you are tilting.
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