Curing the Tilt?

invulse · #1 10-23-2006, 04:51 PM

Lately I have been trying to figure out my major leaks in both LHE and NLHE, on and offline, and I have found leaks in my game which I am working on, but it seems like my major leak is bad tilting.

This current week I was playing very well in both 5/10Limit online and 2/5Nl Live, but yesterday after dropping a buy-in to the 5/10limit online I went on tilt and dropped 2 more in 5/10 and a buyin to 10/20 which killed all of my profit from the last week and $500-700 more.

Has anyone here conquered there own problems with tilt, and what did you do to remedy it? Any systems you use for stopping yourself from tilting off money, or any advice for someone who is working on his own problem with it?

Mike · #2 10-23-2006, 04:57 PM

Have you read this months Magazine? Excellent article about tilt and how to cure it.

trentk268 · #3 10-23-2006, 07:07 PM

Get up and get away from the table when you're feeling it: the injustice, the resentment, the "I'm owed one" attitude.

Go outside, check and see if any pigs or cows are flying in the air, and review the general rules of probability. Do not resume play until you either see the mistake you made, or identify the mistake your opponent made that led to the bad beat/lucky suckout.

Do not resume play until you're "over it."

deacsoft · #4 10-23-2006, 07:47 PM

Time and experience. Time and experience can cure it all. With time you should mature as a person and as a poker player. You grow up and stop acting like a baby when something doesn't go your way. You'll learn how to control your emotions rather than letting your emotions control you. With experience you'll begin to see these beats over and over. You'll get used to them. You'll understand that 2 outers happen because you've seen it 50 times before. You'll also have the experience to learn from your mistakes and properly manage your bankroll. Time and experience can change it all if you let it.

aces_acehigh · #5 10-23-2006, 09:45 PM

I've been playing for a bit less then a year so i don't have great amount of experience but i find that when i play live i barely ever go on tilt but when i play online i go on tilt much easier. I know several people who this happens to.

*** · #6 10-23-2006, 10:11 PM

Try meditation. If you develop mindfulness you will learn to take heed of your thoughts and release them. You'll understand there is no reason to get angry. It's helped for me, and I am only a beginner at it.

*** · #7 10-23-2006, 10:15 PM

I forgot to say that you should think about what makes you tilt, and use this as the starting point of understanding why there is no reason to tilt.

Curse · #8 10-24-2006, 09:12 AM

Do you know when your on tilt? Or is after you drop a buy in and take a break and you realize it. Is it a bad beat or your own play that puts you on tilt? Is it poker at all? Or something that happened in your day. Figure out what puts you on tilt, and if you know your on tilt thats a big step, the next one is doing something about it, if at the start you have't to walk away from the table thats ok, but later you should be able to play on.
Edit: Being rolled for the limit you play is a helps alot, and not playing with money you need. Just poker money.

Curse · #9 10-24-2006, 09:13 AM

Very True

AlienBoy · #10 10-24-2006, 01:58 PM

Bad beats put me on tilt, making big mistakes can too.

But I also go on a different kind of tilt when I'm running hot. Inverse tilt I call it.

I define tilt as "playing cards you would not normally play when level headed, and going farther with hands than you would when not tilting".

With Inverse tilt, you feel invincible, and play crap thinking "I'm so good I can even play this!!"

With regular tilt you are thinking "nothing is working, I might as well play crap and hope it hits".

BOTH TRAINS OF THOUGHT ARE COMPLETELY WRONG.

TILT is the major leak in my game. I'm can be pretty emotional, and start slowly tilting till I'm way down in the hole. So I've focused this last 2 months on curing tilt.

This is what I am now doing to combat tilt:

1) WHen I get beat - either a bad beat, or a big beat that I misplayed, I stand up, tell the dealer to "deal me out for an orbit". I walk around, look at other games, go to the restroom and wash my hands AND FACE with hot water, and return to the game relaxed and refreshed. (Watch the film THE HUSTLER - required watching for all gamblers).

2) I made a card that presents my starting hands, ordered in EV. I never play hands that are not on this card, unless I'm tilting. Occasionally I refer to it, and if I notice I'm playing off the card, I assume I am tilting, and either stop playing all but the hight EV hands, or I take a break as above.

3) When I've been running hot, and I just take down a very large pot, and especially if I stack a big stacked villain that I've been after, I take a break.

4) If I am tired, I take a break and think about how I feel. Even if the game is good. If I am tired, I'm not going to be able to exploit any but the worst opponents, and I'll be ineffective. I cut myself off at certain times now, to keep for losing it to tilt.

SUMMARY:

TAKE REGULAR BREAKS AWAY FROM THE TABLE.

Determine the things that make you tilt, and when those events occur, stop playing.

AB