Techniques for avoiding tilt

[Mr Trips]

I enjoy playing poker and believe I am good at it. Allthough I dont have poker tracker I am up on the 6 months I have been playing and reguarly have large winning sessions.

However I have a serious problem with tilt. For instance last week I was up $900 and lost it in a single session because I was tired and on tilt. Allthough I have recouped my losses this weekend I really need to think about how to avoid these situations.

I know the obvious answers such as not playing when tired ect but I was wondering if other people had found unobvious usefull techniques to combat these situation.

I know I am probably going to get flamed for this post but I would be very suprised if there wasnt a few if not a majority of players out there who have problems with tilt at some point in there playing.

Thanks in advance for replys.

[college kid]

Get yourself a really big loss from tilting (you did!) and think about it every time you start thinking you can play just a few more hands. It worked for me! Just leave man, it's as easy as that. And by all that is sacred and holy buy yourself Poker Tracker. If you have it, you'll have more incentive to leave because you'll be so excited to see all the cool [censored] it can do with your latest hands. Damn I love that thing.

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
I know the obvious answers such as not playing when tired ect but I was wondering if other people had found unobvious usefull techniques to combat these situation.

[/ QUOTE ]
The only way to avoid playing when you are tired is to stop playing. Sorry, it's both that simple and that difficult.

Fatigue is like alcohol in one respect. Almost everyone severely underestimates how much being tired affects them. By the time you consciously think about how tired you are you are already seriously impaired.

[Al Schoonmaker]

I wrote a four part series on "Tilt" that you can read on cardplayer.com.
Stellar Wind's point about fatigue being approximately as destructive as alcohol is supported by studies of drivers. An exhausted driver is about as dangerous as a drunk.
Regards,
Al

[ewile]

I'm finding that I'm having an easier time dealing with stuff like loosing streaks and tilt as I get more experience. I understand how the game works and I understand myself (and my game)better after playing for a couple of years. As your 6 months becomes a year...two years...hopefully this will be part of the process for you too.

I can sence when I'm starting to tilt or run bad and I have a bunch of things that I do to get out of it. (move dowm in limit, re-read my books, post hands here, play a cheap tourney for a change of pace...)

Get poker tracker, it's a very different (and motivating thing) to see you're results in front of you. I know that it pains me to enter my losses into PT when I know that I wasn't at my best, likewise it motivates me to play at the times when I am capable of playing my best.

Bad streaks and bad beats are part of the game, they should not be an attack on your self esteem (if it feels like they are you need to think about that)....good players know that over time they will come out ahead and just keep plugging away.

Read The Psychology of Poker and Inside The Poker Mind.

[Mayhap]

For me, tilt is borne of various frustrations or a combination of them. Beats, not gettting cards, watching LAGs steal while I'm not getting cards etc. One thing I've done in the past and is very helpful, especially when not getting cards, is to take a deck of cards and start peeling pockets off the top. Shuffle, repeat ... I found this grounds me in the reality of randomness and most of the time I begin to get a new appreciation for the cards that I actually am dealt in the game.
I think the really more potent question here is: Are there techniques for snapping out of tilt?. I'd like to see posts on THAT QUESTION. For me, I've found that reading John Feeney's essay on Professional Attitude is a good way to get yer head screwed back on straight.
/M

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
Are there techniques for snapping out of tilt?.

[/ QUOTE ]
Stop playing poker until you feel better. This is not just a bankroll damage avoidance technique, it also helps cure the underlying problem.

You just admitted you are on tilt in a way you cannot easily deny to yourself. You also did something constructive about it. Those are huge steps toward both regaining control of your emotions and avoiding future incidents of tilt. Moreover, the really bad tilts usually come when you are already upset and something new happens. If you walk away when you're only a little upset, you avoid full-blown tilt.

However the real cure is preventive medicine. Tilt is much easier to prevent then fix.

1. Don't play with money you cannot afford to lose. Don't play in a bad game. Don't play against people that you know upset you. Don't play when you don't feel like playing. Don't show up late for a tournament. Don't play shortstacked. Do not do anything to set yourself up to fail. Always plan ahead and be prepared to play your best.

2. Don't drink or use other mind-altering substances. Aside from directly affecting play, they also weaken emotional control.

3. Think of yourself as a professional and act like one. Take pride in playing correctly. When you define success as playing well you can always be successful. If you insist it's just about going plus on the session you are going to have a lot to tilt over.

4. Learn to laugh out loud at the way your opponents play. Works for me. Of course I'm only an online player, but I'm sure it will be just as well when I try B&M /images/graemlins/wink.gif.

[goose58]

I also have this problem of tilting. But not only does it happen when I'm frustrated, but it happens after I win huge pots.

If your tilting I suggest keeping a list of playable hands and do not alter from that list until you think you can start using your head again. If you find yourself playing worst hands because your not getting cards, or because of trash talk from another player, you should just get up and leave and try coming back at a later time.

For me, learning how to deal with tilt is huge because I try to play all day long. And I hate to have to quit a game because I cannot handle the psychological affects.

Good luck though /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Mayhap]

I used to have that 'on a roll tilt' pretty bad and still do. It seems the more I'm aware of such tendencies the more they dissapate. Everyday I'm reminded that depth of experience can't be taught, bought or studied in.
/M

[Mr Trips]

Thanks for all your replys.
I was expecting to get lots of posts asking me why I think I am a good player if I lost XXX amount ect, but instead got some really usefull advice and support.
I will definately be posting again in the near future.

Cheers,

[DVO]

I'm in the middle (or at the end, I hope) of a bad run. Here's what I do.

I say to myself: "I'm being tested. "

I literally whisper it, over and over again, making it into a game: Let's see how bad it can get; let's see how much I'll be tested; and I taunt the Poker Gods back, saying: too bad, no matter how much you test me, I'm going to play well.

No matter if the last 4 times I have KK, it's come out of position and and the flop comes with an Ace.

No matter if 9 of the last ten times I had AK, I missed the flop.

No matter what, I'm not going to fall apart & start calling raises with AJ off. Ain't gonna happen.

So, I say, you might as well give up, poker Gods, because I'm not going on tilt.

It may sound crazy but this works for me. It helps me take the problem of a bad run off my shoulders and put it on someone else's (the Poker Gods').

The other thing I tell myself is: If I can have a run this bad, I can - and will - have one equally good.

You'll be ready to turn it around when it gets so bad, you're laughing about it. That's often the sign of 'the bottom.'

[Knox]

Find a happy place, it worked for happy gilmore...

Think of something that makes you happy to take your mind off of whatever is making you tilt, or stop playing for awhile as everyone else has said.

[cusss]

when tilting it is so easy to go all the way down if you don,t realize that you are infact tilting.first things first accept ware you are in you head and be honest to yourself.learn how to recognize when you are not playing well.this is a personal thing that i belive to be different for us all. A problem i have had in the past is when i am not getting any good starting hands and find myself reaching into my inner strength to lay down down cards that i really know i should.I lay down a bad hand (the correct play) say5 6 off.only to flop a str8.i then curse to myself and play weak hands having just missed out.WRONG WRONG WRONG .I hAVE learnt to commend myself for theses laydowns even if they would have won.the point i,m making is that if you find youself tilting becuse of bad beats or you know you played a hand badly.take the positive from it there and then 1.bad beat --if you played the hand correctlly take pride in that you have no control over the river and you played well.2 if you played the hand badlly AGAIN take pride that you have accepted you played the hand badlly and are willing to learn from it.This mind set had helped me and may help you.these are the main reasons i find myself on tilt.as for drink ,if you are drunk try to leave and get even more drunk instead its cheaper and if you drink enough you wont even remmember how much you could have won were you not drunk.this is more own theory,i hope it helps you.tell me what you think ....good luck CUSSS

[SirFWALGMan]

I think everyone can relate to a tilt. I had a major one last night. The thing that is REALLY bad about my tilts, is I do the worst thing possible (go up levels) and win or even out. I know this is going to bite me in the butt some day and wipe out my bankroll. I am REALLY trying to control it. If you want to read about my tilt check out the Blog (www.SirFWALGMan.Blogspot.com). One thing that the Blog helps me do is put down my feelings on my bad play, and my major tilts, and hopefully get a handle on them. Hopefully I will stop them. It is no fun being at work the next day after staying up until 2AM on a tilt.

[Crumpled Ear]

DVO--I liked your advice so much I'm printing it out, tacking it to the bulletin board near my computer, and plan to read it every time tilt lurks. Poker gods be damned!

Thanks!