a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

Please do not respond to this thread with ANYTHING other than your answer.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

When I tilt I stop thinking. I tend to bet.

It becomes a blur. Sometimes I don't remember the board. I want to win the pot. I make loose calls.

Sometime I expect to lose. Last month I called the river expecting to lose. My opponent rolled over 5 high, but I expected to loose so much that my cards were in the muck, and the dealer started to push the pot before I realized that I mucked the best hand.

I don't enjoy poker when I tilt. I enjoy analyzing each situation and taking the correct action. Tilt gets in the way of this.

I don't tilt as much when I'm well rested. I don't tilt as often at average tables. I tend to tilt more at crazy tables.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I get stubborn and rabid. In limit, I will 3-bet a raise, or cap a 3-bet. In NL, I will go all-in against a re-raise without stopping to think about if I am pot-committed or not.

In a SNG or late stages of a tournament, I will get so frustrated at missing out on the "big money" that I will push prematurely or tangle with chip-leaders when others may bust out before me. I get so sick of waiting for cards to play that I make my very marginal cards "the right cards".

I know that all of these things are WRONG, but I just can't stop. It's like stubbing my toe, then punching a wall because I'm angry at myself for doing that, then kicking the wall with the foot I originally stubbed my toe on because I'm ticked off I lost control enough to punch the wall.

Since I mainly play SNGs and the occassional MTT, I can just get up after tilting off my chips and take a walk while I feel stupid about my play.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

Hey! thank you for a good and very imortant post. I'm sure that many players feels just like you do sometimes, including myself.
I think that the main factor for start tilting are, when you are tired, irritating or both of them - over losing your money to some sucker, and just wants to win it back QUICK, so you can continue making more money for yourself. with that I mean you don't wants to work as hard to get you're money back you lost by being unlucky, as you will working to get new money.. Do you see what I'm saying?!?!

Well anyway, i saved the post you sent on my computer, because i liked it very much... Not because i feels like you do all the time, but because it's a very important thing to think about.

// Rio Bravo

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I start hoping instead of reasoning.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

[ QUOTE ]

...
It becomes a blur. Sometimes I don't remember the board. I want to win the pot. I make loose calls.
...


[/ QUOTE ]

this pretty much sums it up. plus its very hard to quit, even when i realise that i'm on tilt.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

When I am on bad tilt in hold em, I start thinking like an omaha player. When I have a set, even if its the nuts, I tend to feel like I know that I need to redraw againt the straight that I know it coming on the turn.
I start getting afraid of running into the nutflush when I hold a lower flush.

What else? I stop paying attention to other peoples betting patterns. Sometimes I misread the board too. For example, I might put in too many bets with a flush on a paired board against a rock for example.

I start three betting a lot more preflop. I might 3 bet with as little as sevens against an EP raiser for example. Against an MP raiser, I'll probably 3 bet pocket fives or better.

What else? My head gets really hot, like Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite. I might get angry at another player, but I don't say anything.

This stuff doesn't happen all at once though. It happens in gradations. I almost always quit before it gets bad.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

I feel that I have magical powers.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

I start cursing at the screen and the other players. Get really angry and feel like I need to win or am due the pot or else there is no justice in the world.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

I get the death wish. I stop caring, watching, and just want to lose it all or double my buy in.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

Short of breath.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I become disappointed in myself and turn into a calling station, hoping that I can suck out and get back on track.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

I get angry. Not at the donk that spikes the two outer, or at myself, or at the cards. I just get angry. Maybe frustrated is a better word. I keep reminding myself of variance and the long run, but all I can start thinking about is how really the long run is. I lose interest. It's not that I stop having fun, I just lose interest. The desire to go outside and do something active starts to build up, and results in me quitting.

When I start to tilt I flat out quit. I convince myself I'm playing poorly and that I need to take a break. This results in me leaving many profitable tables and playing a lot of short sessions. It wouldn't surprise me if it ups my standard deviation, either.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

Feel:

It feels like someone has set off a ticking bomb in my chest, and when the beat card comes, it explodes.

The heat gradually rises through my throat, into my brain. It literally feels like the heat is making my head expand. I lose focus, I cant see as clearly.. My eyesite goes ( I cant see the fold button)... I focus on the person that delivered the beat and wish many many cruel deaths upon him.

Actions:

LOL. If I lose in a cash game.. I short buy at a high stake (10/20 NL) and just try to double up in 10 minutes. If i lose that, I get even worse. I then buy in for the full amount.. and will call any possible draw (gutshot/backdoor flush) irrespective of pot odds. One time I got busted from a $11 rebuy with 12 people to go (AA vs 9/6 on a 9/2/2 flop where if I win that I am monster CL) and I ended up steaming through my entire bankroll ($5.5k) in about 11 minutes. Its like a force comes over me. its uncontrollable.

Thats how I used to feel anyway.. these days if I get a sick beat, 80% of the time I will walk into my lounge, kick open the bong and smoke my way out of the tilt. 20% of the time I still go f***king rampant on the cash tables, but at lower stakes.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on
 

[ QUOTE ]
I start hoping instead of reasoning.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perfect.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I feel impatient and angry. As another poster wisely said: I start to hope instead of reason. I usually stop playing fairly quickly.

Last night what I did was go to a .05/.10 limit table (I usually play no limit) at pacific and played like a maniac.

Raise with K2s utg 2x and then type in chat what I have and continue to bet/raise with nothing.

Three bet with 36o in small blind (flop came 445 and I bet my draw agressively as possible hitting the 2 on the river to take it down)

Raise in ep with 10 4o and bet/raise all the way on a 33K board hitting running 4's on the turn and river to take it down.

Checkraise in a multiway pot on the river with 5 high.

I kept typing in the chat how I was a great player and how 36 always win if you raise with it, etc...

I think I limped preflop twice and folded about that many hands preflop too. The rest I raised/reraised regardless of position/action. Once in a while I slowed down post flop but not often.

It was great fun. I cashed out like .50 in the negative after about 2 hours of play. Most fun I've had playing poker in months lol

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

My stomache will ache and I'll feel like I need to vommit. My mouth gets dry, and starts to taste bad. My whole body overheats, but mostly my head. It really feels like steam is coming out of my ears. After a while, I can't really see straight. Its almost like I'm dizzy from a head trauma. I'll think I have the nuts w/ my flush, but fail to see the PAIR on the board.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I have three types of tilt.

Tilt 1 applies to limit. It is when I am being drawn out on and I get angry and overaggressive against anyone in marginal situations. I bet and raise far too much and then my bluffs get picked off alot more. This makes me more angry when the call down with bottom pair etc. Weirdly, this only applies to the table I am being outdrawn on when I am multitabling.

Tilt 2 is for NL. I don't play it alot and tend to be more results driven. When I am down a buy-in etc I push alot harder and my bluffing frequency goes up alot. Incidently it is the tilt that I am most self-aware of when I am playing. I should be able to correct it easily. But I don't.

Tilt 3 is not really tilt. I play drunk and can lose 5% of my bankroll playing like a donkey.


Very good thread idea.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I think it is useful to focus on the physical feelings - to try and isolate them - because, let's face it, you KNOW when you are on tilt - you can feel it - you can feel the physical symptoms.

One approach you can use to deal with it is to actually say out loud "I feel I am on tilt. I can feel the anxious feeling in my chest and my shoulders tightening. I don't like this feeling. I don't want to feel this way. I want to feel relaxed and comfortable. I want to feel how I feel when I am playing correctly."

You'd be surprised how successful this technique is.

Re: a quick excercise - Describe how you feel and act when you are on Tilt
 

I can feel myself getting frustrated. When someone shows agression or plays back at me. I w/ auto reraise or be over agressive w/o any kind of thoughtful analysis. I expect to be beat, but yet I feel like I have to win back the stack that I lost (which I had been building all night, usually) before the end of the session.

I can feel myself losing focus, stop looking for reads or analysis. Then everything becomes a blur.

I know this is bad. I have gotten better at not going on tilt due to bad beats, by thinking in terms of macro or metagame terms. I.E. playing everyhand correctly and thinking in the long-term.

But that doesn't always work.