I never tilt
 

Frankly, I am stunned as to how somebody can talk about how he goes on tilt. I would think that recgonizing the problem would equal eliminating it.

Sometimes I lose my attention span. Or I play in the wrong gear for a few extra hands without paying attention. But I honestly don't believe I ever tilt.

On the highway of poker, overcoming tilt is the entrance ramp. I don't see how you can even think you are learning to play, if you are throwing away all your evidence.

The margins of victory are so slim as it is, I don't see how a high-hour player can get anywhere if he ever tilts. I think most long-distance players never tilt.

Maybe I am wrong about this, maybe the players with some flair - the good readers as opposed to the rocks - go on tilt all the time, it's a personality type.

But I would be curious to hear from David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Howard Lederer, whether they ever think they go on tilt. Maybe I have the definition wrong.

eLROY

That\'s a bold statement!
 

Never, huh? Well, here's how I would define it:

to tilt: to make less than optimal decisions due to an emotional reaction to recent events.

A guy doesn't have to cap four hands pre-flop to be on tilt... It could be something as trivial as limping QT out of position because you "would have won that last huge pot if not for the preflop fold." Granted, the two are varying extremes, but the illness is the same.

Re: That\'s a bold statement!
 

I guess what it comes down to, is why people tilt. Perhaps it is a poor delineation of the time axis in their brains.

For instance, I recently overheard somebody say "Darn it, I should have owned X stock, and Y stock, and Z stock."

And so what could "should have" possibly mean? That you should have been in possession of perfect information about the state of the universe within a light cone of the deck you got dealt from?

If you lose a hand, I am not sure what there is to get angry about. Certainly, you are glad the game is random, otherwise bad players would never play.

Certainly, you are glad you always fold hands that will probably cost more to play than you can hope to win.

So what is there to get mad about? Perhaps it is people who have tilted in other areas of life, that are left with poker as a final option.

Sure, I get sad all the time, or disappointed, or frustrated. But I don't see what that has to do with playing QT.

I guess your brain has to have pretty short feedback/reinforement timing - like a dog. Like where an epoch involves the order of multiple events, including proprioceptive ones, your evaluation is just unmoored from the distant outcome, or something...

eLROY

Re: That\'s a bold statement!
 

I don't think I have tilted yet either. Watching a longshot suck out is frustrating, but then again I realize that it's one hand and that suckouts are actually good for the game. I come to expect that my pocket Jacks will get outflopped by 8-5offsuit, but that doesn't stop me from re-raising him after he bets into me. I want to be heads up against this guy. He rivered a 5 for the Full House. Bummer. Please try that again, sir. I've noticed that the guys who are prone to tilting are the ones who play junk like that. Prepare yourself for the worst and hope for the best. Getting yourself all caught up in the moment is a disaster waiting to happen when you're sitting at the poker table. It seems so simple. Do you believe in bad beats, eLROY?

sure, I believe in bad beats but...
 

I believe in bad beats, but I can't recall ever taking one. Though I remember giving some.

In general, I can say the reason a guy was calling or betting is because he had some non-zero chance to draw or win.

I don't remember anybody ever winning who, at an earlier stage, had a chance of zero.

Except maybe me [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

eLROY

Re: sure, I believe in bad beats but...
 

.....winning who, at an earlier stage, had a chance of zero. This is a very good definition of a "stone cold bluff". So eLROY you may have been a party to this without knowing. Seem reasonable?

I sure hope I\'ve mucked some winners :)