Reverse Pyschology to Fight Tilt

[shummie]

I found myself doing this last night after getting drawn out like 6 times in 2 minutes. I was having a bad session overall and was down about 35BB playing 4 limit tables.

I was on the verge of tilting! But I have enough discipline to know when I’m tilting and get away from the situation. I unclicked the "auto-post blinds" box and was ready to call it a night after I finished playing my "free hands".

But then I thought to myself, "Why you tilting, self? And why are you leaving these juicy tables?” It felt like a challenge playing against the suck-outs. And even though I know that being in a game with a bunch of LAGs is an optimal situation to be in, when I’m tilting it seems like a huge hassle. There was still a bit of rationality left in me though, and I tried to find it. I knew these tables were profitable as long as I could overcome my tilt. But how do I do that?

What I had to do was think of an even greater enemy than the suck-outs at the table: the Tilt. When you’re tilting, you’re mad at the other players. It’s that emotional energy that causes you to stop thinking… maybe you continue to think, but too much is focused on how you lost and how to get even and not enough on how to make money. So last night, instead of focusing my energy on overcoming the punks at my tables (and getting too loose), I focused my energy on overcoming Tilt. Overcoming Tilt involves playing tighter, making better decisions, and playing good poker.

It was beautiful… a little bit of redirection. I turned a negative emotional energy (Tilt) into a positive “rational” energy.

It may not be easy for everyone to do this switch. Often time people give the advice of redirecting your negative energy. But how do you do that while playing poker? First, you have to consider Tilt to be a real enemy, one that pisses you off as much as those suck-outs. Then you have to understand that good poker is the best tool to overcoming Tilt. Overcome Tilt and you will overcome your opponents.

I feel now that I’ve done this once, it will be easier in the future for me to switch back into my A game when I’m on the verge of tilt at a soft table. “What’s this? Tilt back to mess with me? I’ll show him!”

In conclusion, tilting on a soft table is one of the worst things you can do as a poker player. Realize when you are tilting. Realize that the real enemy at this time is Tilt and not your opponents. Realize that fighting Tilt is the best way to fight your opponents and that good poker is the best weapon for this purpose. If you can “realize” all of this, you’re well on your way to eliminating tilt from your game.

Hope this helps.

- Jason

[the_rookie]

Very nice post, I'll definitely keep this in mind when I start to tilt...