How To Control Tilt At The Poker Table

What Tilt Is

Tilt Is Usually Pictured As Anger After A Bad Beat, But It Is Broader Than That. Frustration At A Run Of Cards, The Need To Win Back A Loss, Boredom After Hours Of Folding, Overconfidence After A Big Win And Fear Of Losing A Stack Can All Push You Away From The Decisions You Would Make With A Clear Head.

The Common Thread Is That The Emotion Changes The Decision. You Call Because You Want To See The Hand, Not Because The Price Is Right. You Bluff Because You Feel You Are Owed A Pot. You Play A Hand You Would Fold Because You Are Tired Of Waiting.

Spotting It Early

Tilt Is Easiest To Stop Before It Takes Hold. Learn Your Own Warning Signs: Playing Faster Than Usual, Replaying A Hand In Your Head While The Next One Is Dealt, Raising The Stakes Or The Number Of Tables, A Tight Chest, Or Talking To The Screen. Write Them Down, Because They Are Hard To Notice From The Inside Once They Start.

A Useful Habit Is A Short Check After Every Big Pot, Win Or Lose. Are You Still Thinking About The Last Hand? Are You About To Change How You Play Because Of It? If The Answer Is Yes, Take A Break Before The Next Decision Rather Than After The Next Mistake.

A Plan That Works

Decide Your Stop Rules Before You Sit Down, When You Are Calm. A Common Guideline Is A Stop Loss Of A Fixed Number Of Buy Ins For The Session, Often Two Or Three In Cash Games, And A Time Limit, Because Focus Fades Whatever The Result. When A Rule Triggers, End The Session. The Rule Only Works If It Is Not Up For Debate In The Moment.

Separate Results From Decisions In How You Review. After A Session, Look At The Hands Where You Felt The Strongest Emotion And Ask Whether The Decision Was Right Given What You Knew. A Good Decision That Lost Is Not A Mistake, And Treating It As One Is The Fastest Way To Start Tilting Again Next Time.

Look After The Basics. Sleep, Food, And Not Playing When You Are Already Upset About Something Else Make A Larger Difference Than Any Technique. And When A Downswing Goes On Long Enough To Wear You Down, Drop In Stakes Or Take A Few Days Off; The Games Will Still Be There.

Practise It On Smarter.Poker

The Answer Above Is Complete. When You Want To Drill It, These Are The Matching Training Tools.

• Play Tilt Control The Training Game For This Lesson.
• Open The Tilt Guard
• Open Jarvis Training Insights Jarvis Explains Your Training Decisions In Words.