Techniques for avoiding tilt

[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!