Tilt – what is it?

Tilt – what is it?

Ben Roberts – a famous poker-player – tells us about such a phenomenon in life of each poker player, as Tilt (position of the player who is in the negative emotional state caused by bad beat, or by the absence of good cards on the pre-flop and for other reasons, which has bad influence on the game of the poker-player), and how it is possible to struggle with this state.

Let’s begin with the fact that tilts occur with each player in poker. Tilt is one of the most terrible words for any player in poker. It is caused by the different reasons for every poker player. For someone receiving bad cards during the game already may cause tilt, for others it appears because of unsuccessful draw of pot (the illusive card is dropped on river, which helps the contender, that is, he catches one or two outs). The third one can simply play badly throughout any period for not revealed reasons.

The reason of tilt appearing is not important, but the consequence of its occurrence is important – the game goes worse. The player in poker starts to play off bad cards in wrong situations during unsuccessful time; loss of all money becomes a result of that. For some players Tilt can even become the cause of the loss of all poker bankroll.

So what is Tilt? It is the chemical reaction occurring in your brain which is similar to reaction, when you are in danger. This chemical reaction leads to some emotional reorganization in your brain which cardinally changes your game. In order not to become a victim of tilt, it is necessary to distinguish in time these emotional reorganizations and to suppress them. That is you should abstract and not listen to your emotionality dictates, and should continue to play clever poker, making the weighed decisions and not looking at the short-term results.

To reach this ability of abstraction, you should understand, that a win or loss at poker table, at least for the short period, means the same. At first this statement seems to be contradicting to itself, but you should look at game in poker from such a position that you cannot always win, you cannot win each hand, and loss is a part of the game in poker.

We take, for example, situations in poker which are approached to throw coins (a lead is calculated on good luck). If you win and face such situation, you don’t want to play the coin, because you don’t want to lose all your won money; and if you, by the moment of approach of such situation come to be in loss, you with the big desire enter game under the name «we will throw a coin» as you wish to win back already lost money. The both cases – when you win and when you lose, influence the acceptance of your decision, and it is wrong. You think about prize and defeat in short-term prospect, and it influences your game, and it should not happen. You should play correctly and to make clever decisions irrespective of these factors, only this way it is possible to become the player winning on a constant basis in long-term prospect.

When you get indifferent to the fact, whether you will win or will lose during the short period of time then you will not be afraid of Tilt, because your thoughts will be occupied with one thing – playing poker correctly. By the end of the games the only idea is important if you played correctly. We can do nothing with cards to lie down on your hands or on a table, therefore it is not necessary to think and worry about it.

As soon as you develop in yourselves understanding of it and ability to concentrate exactly on the game, instead of concentrating on short-term results then your long-term results will really improve!