The True Origin of TILT

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
The question that I have had to ask myself is: Is this a form of tilt?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is a matter of definition. Many would say that tilt exists whenever your emotions are interfering with your play. By that definition it certainly is tilt.

I would eschew that definition because it is not useful. The emotions involved are completely different. So are the causes and effects. Overconfidence when winning needs to be studied and treated as the separate and unrelated problem that it is.

Similar remarks apply to the situation where strong, game-unrelated emotions such as grief are dominating the player and interfering with play. You could call it tilt but it is really a separate topic.

[Danenania]

True points. I was employing a fairly broad definition in my post.

[BBill]

Again you present a very analytic case with many valid points. I concur with your reasoning that “Tilt can only be overcome if one truly understands its origin.”

Some key statements in your first post that I believe are worth noting are:

For the purpose of this essay, I will define tilt as the loss of emotional composure and self-control such that it causes irrational and incorrect decision making that negatively affects one’s poker game.

This is a reasonable definition of Tilt.

Lack of complete understanding causes players to expect to win with strong hands like AA, while ignoring the possibility of loss.

Yes, although this is not the origin of tilt it is as DSM says in his post one of the “triggers” of tilt.

Maximize the value of your strong hands under favorable circumstances, and minimize your losses of strong hands under unfavorable conditions. Because tilt and the relative losses are experienced from losing with strong hands not weak hands.

This is a valid strategy the will allow players to avoid the above mentioned tilt trigger.

I don’t mean to be nit-picky here but what interests me most about your post is that it is delving into the origin of tilt. But, if we want to understand the true origin of tilt we have to step back and see tilt for what it really is. If we want a method to avoid ALL tilt triggers we have to start at this true origin.

The slang term “tilt” equates to “exhibiting a type of self destructive behavior.” This could also be explained as “behavior that is counterproductive to our defined goal.”

“Tilt” exists in many places besides poker. This type of behavior can exits in everything we do. It exists in relationships (spouse, kids, family, friends co-workers) often as arguments, it can occur on the job where people get discouraged and want to quit, in sports for instance a golfer misses an easy put and breaks his club over his knee or an entire pro-football team could go on tilt when they are having a bad game and draw penalty after penalty which solidifies the chance that they will lose the game.

In my “Musings of a….” post I used the word addiction to explain certain feelings. I said that for many people poker is psychologically addicting. Maybe this is not accurate in the widely accepted definition of addicting.
For the purpose of this post I will define addiction as “an abnormally strong craving“. I believe that many aspects of everyday life could be considered psychologically addicting. A relationship with at spouse, kid or friend (aka: love) is really just a psychologically addiction when you get right down to it. I would say Tiger Woods is psychologically addicted to playing golf, Lance Armstrong is psychologically addicted to racing bicycles and many people are psychologically addicted to playing poker.

Would these pros go on tilt because they were having a bad day at their sport? Probably not because they have gained control of their competitive emotions otherwise they would not be where they are.

I believe that self destructive behavior is the default undeveloped reaction that the human brain issues when circumstances beyond its control threaten to remove the stimulation that has been providing comfort (the psychological addiction).
Further I believe that to evolve in poker the psychological addiction has to be conditioned within a persons mind. This conditioning should be a form of reprogramming from the default (I have to WIN) to the new “I will continue to play poker as long as I want as long as I separate my emotions from the game and accept the natural patterns of wins and loses.
As you said, digdeep we should not always “expect” to win.

[Mr. D]

When nearing tilt I always remind myself of poker's parallel to "Sh*t Happens," which I've coined as..

30% happens.

[digdeep]

I believe that self destructive behavior is the default undeveloped reaction that the human brain issues when circumstances beyond its control threaten to remove the stimulation that has been providing comfort (the psychological addiction).

This is a fascinating idea. Are you theorizing that tilt is some form of withdrawal, which would correlate to your concept of addiction?

I enjoy the dialectic process, and in no way do I mean to be critical. I do not believe that addiction is the origin. Addiction, even in your explanation, is a coping mechanism and therefore a reactionary tool used by individuals in an attempt to satisfy their percieved needs - (Maslow's hierarchy of needs). I would contend that addictions are destructive coping mechanisms utilized by individuals that either do not want to, or do not know how to cope with psychological trauma.

Ultimately I would have to say the origin of every psychological and emotional state is perception. Perception is what creates people's relative realities. In these realities, people feel, think, do, and act according to past experiences in their life. And ultimately, it is these past experiences, (childhood), genetics, and whatever unexplainable force that collectively contribute in creating one's percieved reality. This percieved reality, in its very nature, determines and establishes a person's needs and wants. And this is where Shoonmaker's and other's theories of player's motivations plays a role the emotional aspect of poker and life. Individuals act according to what they percieve they need in order to achieve our basic needs (Maslows hierarchy of needs).

As these motivations have been addressed in "The Psychology of Poker" by Al Schoonmaker, I will not try to address them. I instead will try to stick to the concept of expectations. Expectations arise from the combination of one's percieved reality and one's unfulfilled needs. Expectations are what our perceived reality tells us we supposedly need in order to fulfill our fundamental needs. The key elements here however, are perception and needs. But only the combination of these, in the form of expectations does one feel and act. And in this culmination of perception and needs does one create expectations. The key here, is creating REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS based on knowledge of yourself, the mathematical certainties of poker, and other players. Ultimately, it is unrealistic expecations about oneself, the mathematical certainties of poker, or the other players that creates the emotional instability we know as tilt.

[BBill]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe that self destructive behavior is the default undeveloped reaction that the human brain issues when circumstances beyond its control threaten to remove the stimulation that has been providing comfort (the psychological addiction).
This is a fascinating idea. Are you theorizing that tilt is some form of withdrawal, which would correlate to your concept of addiction?


[/ QUOTE ]

Actually I am theorizing that tilt is an irrational reaction to the “threat” that a comforting activity will come to and end because of certain conditions (i.e. running out of money / chips)
I see now that using the word addiction is inappropriate here. Possibly the word passion is better suited.

I think you’ve nailed the “origin” question with your explanation of perception, very interesting.

As per preventing tilt you say:

The key here, is creating REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS based on knowledge of yourself, the mathematical certainties of poker, and other players. Ultimately, it is unrealistic expecations about oneself, the mathematical certainties of poker, or the other players that creates the emotional instability we know as tilt.

Yes, I like this explanation.
If we could place a model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, to the evolution of an aspiring poker player, I’d say that properly creating realistic expectations would fall within the “Ego Needs” and the “Self Actualization” levels of the hierarchy.


Thanks for the thought provoking posts digdeep, I have enjoyed the reading. This is food for thought without a doubt!

bbill

[digdeep]

Bill,

I have learned much from this dialectic process, and I have appreciated your responses. Describing a player's want and desire to play the game as passion as opposed to an addiction helps me better understand your point. This idea, if I have interpreted it correctly, would represent a player playing poker to fulfill a basic need in his/her life. Tilt would arise when a player feels as if the fulfillment of that need is threatened, by losing one or many hands, which utimately threatens a player's bankroll - obviously needed to play. You may be correct, that a person's needs, which in this case are the origin and fundamental cause of tilt, are much more basic than a person's expectations. As I have described, expectations are created from needs and perception, which would indicate that the need itself, and the potential threat to the fulfillment of this need, are more basic than one's expectations.

[PocketsRA]

brought a tear to my eye. lol. no really good thinking. makes sense. really does

[Tommy Angelo]

StellarWind,

As a permastudent of tilt, you got me a bit excited by detailing something I hadn't even thought of.

"Good players should expect to:

4. Be publicly humiliated by real or perceived errors."

Excellent point! And one I happen to be most keen on, since this is precisely the expectation that has been removed from my game, through drastically modified behavior and thought, and after reading your post I believe this to be the biggest stone on my tiltless path.

"Point #4 goes back to the original topic of ego. Those who are completely self-assured do not care what others think about them as players ..."

Hi there.

" ... but most people are extremely vulnerable to the opinions of others."

Way true.

Sometimes I wonder just how much of my edge at poker comes from which things I do or don't do differently than my opponents. I've never thought it was just the betting. It's the steadiness. But where does it comes from? What is it that I do that is so different than the others, that really makes a significant difference in overall tiltlessness? Reading you post made me feel, perhaps, the same way as the scientists who cooked up dark matter and dark energy to explain some missing components of the universe. Now I'm thinking that being 100% and always impervious to other player's judgments (spoken or otherwise) at the table is my dark energy.

Good post, good thread.


Tommy

[Lawrence Ng]

Digdeep,

Thank you very much for posting this insightful essay.