To paraphrase poker legend Barry Greenstein, ‘The winner in any game is usually the player who steams the least.’ When we think of tilt we usually think of someone raging, thumping down their chips or mouse, and generally being just a couple of steps away from actual steam emerging from their ears. For seasoned poker players this is rarely the case – in fact if this happens to you, you should probably be leaving poker far behind in favour of some kind of outdoor survivalist hobby. A more useful definition might be ‘any kind of change in your emotional state which affects the decisions you make and the way you play.’ Tilt comes in many forms and degrees but all of it is bad because it means we’re making decisions on the basis of our emotions not the cards and the actual situation.
The different forms of tilt
Traditional tilt is anger and frustration that things aren’t going our way coupled with the pain of losses. It is especially acute if we feel injustice. For example we get our money in good having out played someone and they suck out. This feeling makes us ram and jam our chips in, almost demanding our money back.
There are other manifestations of it too – one we can call ‘zombie tilt’, which is the slide into accepting losses in a nihilistic way rather than getting angry and jamming chips in, we call too much and become passive and accepting.
Then there is also the imposter we can call ‘positive tilt’. This happens when you’re winning and you think you can bully your way through every pot. Again it is playing based on an emotional state and can be equally destructive to profits.
The key thing to realise is that you can be as happy, sad or pissed off as you like when you play poker – the cards don’t know. In poker the only control we have is over our decisions. If those decisions are being made through anger and frustration they are unlikely to be clear-thinking quality decisions. Tilt is the enemy of the winning poker player: it can turn winners into losers and small losses into huge ones. Avoid it at all costs!
Understanding tilt
Tilt happens for one reason and one reason alone – losing. We hate to lose. We are taught that losing is failure and failure is bad. Poker challenges that assumption – losing is not only part of poker, it’s a big part of poker. Ponder this: the best cash player in the world will lose over 40% of the time they play. If you losing gets to you emotionally you are in big trouble. The good news is that for most players, this problem is correctable by understanding what tilt is.
Most people’s problems with tilt come down to either a basic misunderstanding of the game of poker, or they may understand the nature of the game but not accept it in the moment. The simple truth is that poker is not about winning and losing; poker is about making good decisions. So many poker players get this wrong and focus on the outcome, however very often, because we can’t control the cards, the outcome is irrelevant. If we make correct decisions we will win chips – but we don’t know which pots we’ll win and which we won’t. Tilt happens because people often focus on results not decisions.
Tilt may also happen because you feel negative things about yourself or your play. If you play a hand badly it’s easy to become frustrated and this can result in you turning that one mistake into several bigger mistakes. Again this brings us back to the central point about tilt which is that you can only control your reaction to things, not what happens at the table. Every decision you make, or pot you play is in the past – the cards don’t know you’re angry or disappointed with how you played a hand.
Finally realise that if we struggle with tilt, then so do our opponents for the same reasons we do. Make sure you’re aware of opponents that are tilting and don’t fold anything to them!
Curing tilt
For some players, once the tilt monster is out of the bag it's game over. The red mist has descended and they’re going home with nothing. We hope you’re not one of them but even if you don’t suffer from raging tilt, it’s impossible to play poker without suffering some frustration when you play. Even the best players have to deal with tilt.
Luckily, there are some practical things you can do when playing to counteract tilt. First of all, maybe every half hour or every 200 hands, check you’re thinking clearly and playing your best. If you think you may be tired, upset or frustrated think about quitting or taking a break. After you lose a big pot you should definitely take a big deep breath and a huge pause. The reality is we all have to lose big pots in tournaments or cash games but the damage is done when we allow them to upset us and lose even more pots.
Recognising whatever causes you to tilt is vital – whether it’s hating when you make mistakes, hating losing, hating short-stackers, hating the 5c – whatever it is see it and know the signs, so you can stop it before it starts.
Decisions over results
All of the best players who don’t tilt have something in common – they understand the true nature of poker and focus on their decision making not their results. This gives them an inner calm that takes a huge amount to disturb. They still hate getting sucked out on of course but their annoyance is temporary as they go back to making good decisions – the only way to win. If you fully embrace this way of looking at the game, it will go a long way to easing your pain towards bad results. Whenever you play remember this one truth – the cards don’t know you deserve to win, or that you’re upset; the probabilities remain the same whatever your emotional state.