Tilt

Over the last couple of weeks through some different poker groups that I am affiliated with, I have been seeing and hearing many comments and questions about the subject of tilt. Many have had questions or their own definitions about what it exactly is, how do you know if you’re on tilt, and just as importantly how to avoid it. I think tilt has so many layers to it so I believe it’s vitally important to understand it’s nature because it is perhaps the most destructive force to a poker player’s earnings and bankroll.

In order to face tilt and combat it head on we have to have an understanding of what it is. Many of us think of tilt as a player steam betting or raising after losing a big pot to a suck out, berating a bad player at the table for their horrible play, foaming at the mouth and wanting to shred the dealer to pieces because they can’t win a pot, etc. But none of these things are tilt. These actions, attitudes, and emotions are all the fruits of tilt. Getting upset and being on tilt are two different things. A player can be upset yet make the correct decisions on the next hand as to how to play. Albeit, it is a more complicated task when emotions and tensions are high, but it can be done. At it’s core, tilt has a very simplistic definition. It is simply the act of playing worse than what you are capable of. To go on tilt means that your play has deteriorated in some way where you are no longer playing your “A” game. 

I have heard players, many times, mention how the result of a certain hand or the play of a particular opponent has put them on tilt. Their comments will be along the lines of, “If that card on the river hadn’t been that suit, my hand would have been good,” or, “How did he call that big bet on the turn for a four outer?”, or, “That player is such a moron. I know I am a better player than they are. They just keep sucking out and getting lucky. I’m going to get them back before the night is over. Then they’ll know to watch out when they play against me,” and a myriad of other asinine statements. After these situations occur they start to play worse than what they are capable of. When they go broke and storm out of the casino, swearing that they have had it with the game of poker and the casino that they lost at, they will focus back on those individual instances as to why they had a bad night. 

Even though these are good excuses for getting upset, they are nothing more than that. Excuses. This may seem a little critical, and I know that what I am about to say is welcoming criticism, but any disciplined player that reads this will know that this next statement is fundamentally sound. If you go on tilt is of no one’s fault but your own. No matter what the results are of certain hands that didn’t go favorably for you, no one forces you to go on tilt. Tilt is a personal decision and choice, plain and simple. You are only responsible for the decisions that you make at the poker table. Yes, you are a subject to the randomness of the cards that come out. However, no one can put a gun to your head and tell you to call a pre-flop raise with a hand that you know you should throw away. Your opponents may have the ability to antagonize you in an attempt to get you to play more hands than you should, but if you take the bait, that’s your fault. 

So how do we keep ourselves from going on tilt and if we do start leaning that way, how do we keep it from hurting our game. One of the things that we have to accept is that all of us have tilted in the game at one time or another. Anyone who has tried to say that they have never tilted either hasn’t played poker, or is a liar. Everyone who has ever sat down at a poker table has made a decision at one time or another that they knew went against what they consider their fundamentals of correct play. Remember, anything that you do that is less than your “A” game is tilt. However, the levels of tilt can vary and the consequences can be far less disastrous than others. None of us ever wants to admit that we aren’t playing well, and it takes swallowing a lot of pride to look at ourselves and say, “I really stunk it up when I played those hands that way.” Recognizing that you have tilted off of your best game and catching it is a huge level of maturity for a player, and that type of maturity is one of the elements that separates the winning players from the losers.