Keep Tilt Under Wraps
"Tilt, huh, yeah. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing," is a song not actually sung by Edwin Starr but it is perfect for the purpose of this article so stick with me, OK?
Let's get something out of the way before we move on. Everyone tilts, even if it is only for the briefest of moments. Those who say they don't are lying. It's human nature not to like losing, our brains are programmed to seek pleasurable things and unless you're part of a small group who gets off on negativity and pain then losing dishes out anything but pleasure.
There are many forms of tilt that exhibit themselves at the poker table, you'll know how you tilt of that I am certain. For the sake of simplicity, let's say that tilt is anything that prevents you from playing poker optimally and that should cover whether you go on raging monkey tilt splashing chips everywhere or whether you throw computer equipment at walls.
Tilt is bad. Tilt can and will decimate your bankroll if you let it and for that reason alone it has to be kept under wraps or you risk bleeding more money than my beloved Leeds United currently does. And that is a lot. Trust me.
As tilt comes in many different guises, and with everyone who tilts have a different psyche, it is difficult - if not impossible - to come up with a solution that fits the bill for everyone. That said, there are a few pointers that I can give that have helped me to stop the dreaded tilt monster rearing his ugly little head as often as he used to do when I first started taking poker seriously.
Make sure you're properly bankrolled: Nobody likes losing but losing $100 to a bad beat when you have $10,000 behind you is a whole lot easier to take than losing $100 with only $500 to your name.
Know the odds: Do a little research to see how often hands beat other hands. You may be distraught at the fact your opponent's Kh-Qh beat your Ac-Kc for a massive pot but that will happen 28.7% of the time, which is a lot more than you would like to believe. You might surprise yourself when you look at some of the hand match-ups.
Research variance: Knowing the odds is not enough. Knowing Kh-Qh beats Ac-Kc 28.57% of the time is all well and good, but you need to understand why it sometimes beats your hand seven out of eight times you run it.
Variance is very complicated, but you can scratch the surface and learn enough to keep you relatively sane when you lose 10 coinflips in a row!
Don't dwell on your losing hands: While you should review hands that you lost so that you can look for any errors you may have made, you shouldn't dwell on them and especially don't come up with false statements such as "they always hit their flushes against me," because no the don't!
Don't over-celebrate wins: It's all well and good painting the town red if you've won a life-changing sum of cash, but is bragging to all and sundry about a $200 win really necessary. Doing so can make the losses you will inevitably have feel greater.
Play more poker: In the short term variance can be a real bitch, but in the long run all that equity comes good. The problem is, the long run is much longer than you could ever imagine. The only way you're ever going to get anywhere near the long run is to play as much poker as possible. The more you play, the more crazy stuff you'll see happening and the more you should realise that the game isn't rigged against you, it's just completely bonkers!
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
