tilt explained (by neuroscience)

[Quanah Parker]

Great post and analysis.
While I endorse your advice to take a break after bad beats, it's not always possible. I play many tournaments and taking a break isn't an option. So, using the info you provided, I think what I should focus on is acknowledging the "tilt" feeling as a possible plus. If I follow your analysis, our bodies are giving us a chemical fight-or-flight boost, and if I can learn to consistently harness this energy into a controllable form, then my tilt could actually serve to provide me with additional stamina.

Or am I way off here?

[flipdeadshot22]

[ QUOTE ]
a very rough explanation of the neuroscience of tilt goes something like this:
You get a bad beat. Your mind takes this as a threat (to your livlihood aka bankroll). First flow of adrenaline comes in. This flow is small, but prepares your mind and body for an encounter.
You hit another badbeat. (Usually your tilt after 2) Now the major flow of adrenaline and other chemicals comes.
Now here comes the intricate info, so pay attention.
You're brain is made up of many parts, but the two that are related to poker are the amygdala and the lymbic system.

The amygdala controls your basic emotions, sex,food,and when to fight or flight. Basically think of a dog's brain.

The lymbic system is what separates us from the dog. Its an extra layer of tissue that we evolved on top of the amygdala. It controls a lot of what we think of as "concious thought". It is attributed to calculations, logic, and rationality.

The amygdala is much more neccessary for us to live than the limbic system. It controls all of the basic needs for life, and its also the core part of the brain, the limbic system is an extension of it.

Now back to poker. When we hit that second bad beat, and the large flow of chemicals starts, the amygdala takes over. We've been threatened and if we were cavemen, we need to decide on fight or flight. The amygdala is much faster than the limbic system to make decisions, but the decisions are very crude and far from very accurate.

As the limbic system is no longer guiding our actions, we lose a lot of our control over solid logical decision making.

What do you do to fix this? Take a break, get some excersize, and do not ruminate on the bad beat, you will just make the flow of chemicals even stronger and you will lose even more control.

I hope everyone enjoyed this, I might make a small book with this stuff, I really enjoy it.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I may ask, what are your credentials/studies within the field of neuroscience? Your post implies that you have "explained" tilt within the context of this field, so I would think at least some linked studies within your post supporting your claims would be of benefit to prevent any sort of misinformation. Thanks in advance.

[paulcouto]

[ QUOTE ]
Great post and analysis.
While I endorse your advice to take a break after bad beats, it's not always possible. I play many tournaments and taking a break isn't an option. So, using the info you provided, I think what I should focus on is acknowledging the "tilt" feeling as a possible plus. If I follow your analysis, our bodies are giving us a chemical fight-or-flight boost, and if I can learn to consistently harness this energy into a controllable form, then my tilt could actually serve to provide me with additional stamina.

Or am I way off here?

[/ QUOTE ]

to me, from what the post says, yur way off. if something occurs in the brain that over rides control, then how do u control that?.........if we go by the original post of course.

[JayKon]

[ QUOTE ]
to me, from what the post says, yur way off. if something occurs in the brain that over rides control, then how do u control that?.........if we go by the original post of course.

[/ QUOTE ]

The mind does have the ability to override the body, but when something is happening in the brain, be it adrenalin, or lack of oxygen and you don't know what is happening, you might think it's just you. If, however, you "know" something physical is happening, it is easier to step back and let it pass - without blowing off your stack.

[Shaman]

This entire explanation is fully explained in the first chapter of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I highly recommend this book.

What basically happens when people are faced with a stressfull situation THAT THEY CANNOT COPE WITH is that the information that is supposed to go thru the cortex take a shortcut into the amygdala, the seat of emotions. In the book it is called an "EMOTIONAL HIJACKING". In one of his videotapes Goleman actually uses Mike Tyson's biting of Holyfield's ears as an example of this kind of snapping.

"Amygdala Hijacking" is a very cool buzzword that originated in the book Emotional Intelligence. It's an awesome book. An even better book about emotions is Emotional Hostage by Leslie Cameron-Bandler. It teaches how to train your mind to not not have amygdala hijackings. It predates Emotional Intelligence by ten years and should probably be considered the true first emotional intelligence book ever.

[svenson]

yep, this is a great starter book -- the first book I read to introduce me to neuroscience and I recommend it to everyone.

[svenson]

dude, I'm a 24 year old poker player. I've read a lot of neuroscience stuff, this information is very very basic within the field -- lets not get self righteous here.

[paulcouto]

[ QUOTE ]
yep, this is a great starter book -- the first book I read to introduce me to neuroscience and I recommend it to everyone.

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks, i saved it to my favorites and i'm going to check it out.

[flipdeadshot22]

[ QUOTE ]
dude, I'm a 24 year old poker player. I've read a lot of neuroscience stuff, this information is very very basic within the field -- lets not get self righteous here.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're referring to my post, i'm by no means trying to be self rightous. I guess being in graduate school has kind of conditioned me to browse to the bottom of any technical material and search for references i can look into for more information. Thanks for the book recommendation though whoever posted it, i'll definately check it out.

[svenson]

yeah, read all of Goleman's stuff, its very good sampler introduction to the field.