The True Origin of TILT

[digdeep]

Tilt: it’s true Origin?

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. While all players struggle with some form of tilt at some point in their poker career, this emotional hiccup can be debilitating and severely destructive to one’s game. The question that many therefore ask is: How can I overcome tilt and prevent it from interfering with my game?

Tilt can only be overcome if one truly understands its origin. Many wrongfully assume that experiencing bad beats and incurring a long run of bad cards are the causes of tilt. This is a fallacy that must be recognized and dismissed. Incurring bad beats and long runs of bad cards are triggers of tilt, but not causes. On tilt, players feel frustrated, disappointed, angry, exasperated, helpless, etc. all because they have LOST one or many hands. Losing can therefore be identified as the primary TRIGGER of tilt, whether in the form of bad beats or bad cards.

The question one must therefore ask is why does one go on tilt from losing? Losing is a natural part of any game, and most players realize and accept losing as a natural part of poker. Consequently the cause is not losing, but losing when one has EXPECTED to win. It is a player’s EXPECTATIONS that ultimately cause tilt. Unfulfilled expectations that arise when one loses are the basic cause of the disappointment, frustration, exasperation, anger, etc. that take form in what we know as tilt.

Ultimately, one must address his/her expectations to fully understand, accept, and overcome tilt. Most players’ expectations are based on limited and incomplete information. Not realizing and accepting the possibility of loss when one looks down at AA, is a dangerous thing, and this is where one must correct his/her thinking if he/she wants to maintain self-control and emotional composure. Lack of complete understanding causes players to expect to win with strong hands like AA, while ignoring the possibility of loss. Even the strongest hands under the most advantageous of conditions are susceptible to loss. For example, AA heads up is an 85.3% favorite, but against nine opponents it is only a 31.1% favorite. Flopping trips and losing to a straight, filling a straight and losing to a flush, completing a full house and losing to quads, are all tough beats, but they happen.

Knowing that hands have only relative strengths is important to understanding that the best hand pre-flop will not always be the best hand at the river. Knowing and accepting the concept of relative strength can be critical to eliminating unrealistic expectations of one’s hand, and therefore eliminate the severe unexpected disapointment that sends one on tilt. This is why most of the successful veteran poker players know and adhere to the probabilities of hands, and the concept of relative strength. Every possible hand outcome has a probability, and understanding, knowing, and accepting these probabilities is vital to maintaining one’s poise and consistent solid play. In the long run however, the stronger hands win, and the weaker hands lose. 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.

[Malarky]

That was awesome.

[BBill]

Very thought provoking post, my readings on this four letter word also brought to light Dr Al's article on Cardplayer Tilt Article <<< which explains how to cope with, create and even exploit it.

Although as the title of your post is the "Origin of tilt" (I did not capitalize this word as you did because this word should not be given that kind of respect, as it is the nemisis of poker players) I think I "dug-deeper" in my post called "Musings of a deranged mind" which is a few pages down in this forum.

bbill

[digdeep]

BBill,

I appreciate your response, and I thought your series on tilt was extremely interesting. One common theme that we both touched on was the concept of winning, and players' need and desire to win. The articles by Dr. Schoonmaker were excellent as well, thank you for the link.

Tilt is capitalized in this post because it IS the nemesis of poker players, and because it must be given a tremendous amount of respect if one hopes to overcome and prevent TILT. It is imperative that one acknowledge and respect tilt as the destructive force that it is in order to realistically and honestly work to prevent its occurrence, and cope with its destructive nature. It draws a parallel to your concept of addiction; if one is unable to recognize and come to terms with the power of an addiction, whether it be drugs, alcohol, poker, sex, etc. that person will remain in denial, and unrealistically assume that he/she can CONTROL the addiction. Only when a person has realized that he/she has lost control, which is the very nature of an addiction, can one begin to work to rid him/herself from this controlling force that dictates one's actions and choices, the addiction itself.

Thus, this is the reason that I do not believe that tilt is a function of addiction. Addictions have their own origins, most often people are seeking to cope with some psychological ailment, or simply trying to fill the eternal void that few ever comprehend. Whatever the cause of addiction, it is much more complex than what I have sought to discuss: Tilt, which is caused by unrealistic expectations based on limited and incomplete information.

Addiction and tilt do however share many similar elements, the primary element being a player's denial of reality, and the loss of control and perspective. Denial of reality with respect to tilt, specifically applies to the relative strength of hands, and the probability of winning, which is ignored by many players and thus creates one's unrealistic expectations based on incorrect or incomplete information and understanding. The loss of control that begins to dictate decision making is similar to addiction, but occurs in poker from prolonged stress created by unfulfilled expectations, unrealistic expectations.

[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.

[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

[Helland]

Good post.

[dsm]

[ QUOTE ]
most players realize and accept losing as a natural part of poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

When they're away from the table maybe, but not necessarily during the heat of battle (this especially applies to rookies, as well as recreational players, and even longtime recreational players).

[ QUOTE ]
It is a player’s EXPECTATIONS that ultimately cause tilt.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like another type of trigger to me, as opposed to "thee origin."

By the way, I've never met a lowball player who "expected" to win a hand. Quite the opposite. I wish a had a buck for every time I heard something like this:

"I knew I was gonna lose. I just f___king knew it."

-dsm

[WTF]

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, I've never met a lowball player who "expected" to win a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol, so true. Or at least for the Southern California lowball players of yesteryear. They had absolutely 'NO' expectations of ever winning a hand. High-draw players were much more optimistic (and friendly).


-WTF