Poker is an infuriating game. It can make your eyeballs bleed and your head split open like a battered melon. You play perfectly (well, you get your money in a long way ahead against some chip-tossing monkey) and you lose. And it happens not once or twice but time and time again. The brutal swings of variance you can suffer, particularly if you are multi-tabling, can push you into a state of tilt that causes your bankroll horrific problems. Everyone bar the very best or most robotic players is affected by tilt from time to time. You’ll make calls when you know you’re behind, you’ll shove bluffs into the middle when you know they’ll be called and you may even chase your ‘losses’ by playing at a higher level than normal.
None of the effects of tilt are particularly beneficial for the health of your game, so what are the emergency remedies that can keep you out of trouble until your boiling blood falls back to its normal levels?
1: Take a break
This is the most obvious cure for tilt and in many ways the most difficult. Walking away feels far too much like backing down and no one wants to lose face at the poker table, whether online or live. But sitting out of the game is the only thing that’s 100% guaranteed to stop you playing like a fool. You can make yourself a coffee, walk the dog round the garden or rush off to your private porcelain throne for all I care! Don’t rejoin the action until you’ve relaxed, which may be as short as 30 seconds if you’re a player of cool temperance or as long as an hour if you’re anything like me.
2: Go mental at micro stakes
This is not only hugely cathartic but can also be a lot of fun. Play at stakes significantly lower than you would normally and embrace the term loose-aggressive. Become one with it like a Zen archer becomes the arrow. Bet, raise, check-raise and four-bet bluff your tilt out of your system. If you lose a couple of buy-ins at this level it shouldn’t matter (make sure you’re playing at least two levels lower than normal).
3: Play a short stack
Playing a short stack is great when you’re on tilt for two reasons. Firstly, your losses are limited to around 20% of a normal buy-in and secondly there are very few times you’re making an incorrect decision by getting your stack in. Shove pairs, big Aces and good suited connectors into the middle and you’ll feel your anger seep away with every click of the button.