Why Do You Still Tilt?
Introduction
In this article
- Why your previous attempts to curb tilt have failed
- How to spot the early signs of tilt
- Why managing tilt doesn't get to the root of the problem
If you have been around poker long enough you will have had to deal with tilt. Although you can never truly say any aspect of poker is fully 'solved', there is a lot of comprehensive material out there about the technical aspects of the game. However, tilt is one element of poker where there doesn't seem to be a generally accepted strategy.
You will have been given plenty of advice on tilt by now, in some cases it may have worked but it's likely the benefits have only been short term. Maybe they worked for a while but all of a sudden the problem came back, maybe worse than before. Because it worked one day, then not the other, tilt feels very mysterious and unsolvable, which in turn makes it even more frustrating and can actually make you tilt worse as a result.
Conventional poker psychology wisdom has been too generic and narrow in its approach to dealing with tilt. The advice we give in “The Mental Game of Poker” completely redefines tilt and how to deal with it. Although resolving tilt issues requires a great deal of in-depth consideration, believe it or not, tilt can nonetheless be resolved in a strategic manner. I will detail this much more in the coming weeks, but first of all let us look at why your previous attempts to curb tilt have failed.
You think tilt is unavoidable
The biggest myth about tilt is that it is an inevitable, unavoidable part of the game. I am living proof that it isn’t, as I have made a living from helping people resolve tilt issues. When you think tilt is unavoidable, it becomes very frustrating and can also leave you feeling helpless. It might be hard to believe, but tilt is actually very predictable. However, until now it has not been very easy to spot the patterns that lead to it.
You don’t know why you tilt
This may sound silly at first because if a bad beat has put you on tilt, you know damn sure it was getting sucked out on that put you on tilt. But most poker players do not delve any deeper into why a bad beat or losing to a fish might put them on tilt. If it was just sucking out that caused tilt, then everyone would go on tilt when they ran bad, but not everybody does. The fact that something causes you to tilt but doesn’t have the same effect on other people, means that the actual problem is something deep within you.
There is always something else that annoys you to the point that it sets you on tilt. When you know what that thing is, tilt becomes much easier to prevent. There is always something else on the line other than money that is personal to you – it could be pride, confidence, identity, feeling like a winner, your perceived skill advantage or it could be something as simple as just hating to lose. Whatever it is, as soon as you can work out what is really on the line when you go on tilt, you can take the first steps towards resolving it.
You don’t know how to spot early signs
For many players it is like tilt just creeps up on them, one minute they are playing fine and the next they seem to awaken having spewed off five buy-ins. Others may have recognised the signs starting to accumulate – you start to feel your stomach tensing, you start playing looser and making Hero calls, you start calling everyone a donk in the chat box. The first step to making progress is recognising you are your own problem. It is only when you know what to expect with tilt that you can nip it in the bud early.
The first thing I do when I work with a new client and the first thing we advise you to do in “The Mental Game of Poker”, is to create what we call a "tilt profile". Write down all the nuances of what tilt looks like to you – how does it feel in your body? What thoughts come into your head and what do you say? What poker mistakes do you make and what are the first signs that you are going on tilt?
This is not a one-off document, the tilt profile is something you should add to regularly as you learn to recognise more and more of the subtle details of your tilt. Eventually it will get to the point where you can say to yourself "I've started calling with weak aces out of position; I need to take 5 minutes off to clear my head". When you can teach yourself to spot the early signs, you can take control of tilt before it overwhelms you.
You think emotion is a bad thing
One of the biggest differences between my work and the rest of the conventional poker psychology wisdom out there is on the subject of emotion. Most literature out there treats emotion as the enemy, like it is irrational and needs to be blocked out. Emotion is not a bad thing; it is a messenger that tells you when something is wrong or right. Instead of repressing your emotions, listen to what they are telling you. If you don't, you can actually make a tilt issue much worse.
You are only managing tilt, not resolving it
A lot of advice out there suggests things like exercise, meditation, positive thinking and deep breathing to prevent tilt. Believe it or not, I don't disagree with this; these are called 'containment strategies' and are a great way of dealing with tilt....in the moment. If you can do something like this that works for you, then do it.
The problem is when this is the only thing you do to prevent tilt, because it doesn’t get to the root of the issue. If it is the tactic you employ it loses its effectiveness and only works for a short amount of time. It is like putting a band aid on a gunshot wound. As a licensed mental health counsellor I can assure you that the only way to truly rid yourself of a mental game issue is to confront it, understand it, and resolve it at the core.
You can find out much more about how I have helped hundreds of poker players in “The Mental Game of Poker”. Next time we will look at how to take the first steps to combatting your own tilt issues.
This article was written by mental game coach jaredtendler, author of The Mental Game of Poker alongside PokerStrategy.com's . You can purchase it via The Mental Game of Poker website.
You can currently get a copy of The Mental Game of Poker audio book for free by following this link.