tilt explained (by neuroscience)

[svenson]

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.

[HP]

sweet!

ty

[The White Rabbit]

Good post.

More info is welcome!

[sh58]

i like it. how do you explain not tilting when you have more than 2 bad beats in a row. is that because of your experience making you see the loss of a couple of buyins as less of a threat?
sometimes i can tilt with 1 bad beat, and sometimes i won't after 5. is this just more threatening situations and less threatening situations?

[svenson]

Yeah, I'm not sure. I think there are a lot of factors as to how much it takes to tilt you. I don't tilt very much any more, but I used to tilt very hard, when I had little experience and wasn't used to the feeling and didn't know how to handle it.
I also think there are some emotions like a sense of "deservedness" that can make you tilt harder. Obviously when your bankroll is limited or if you need the money, the badbeat will effect you even more. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[Shizzle12345]

I usually tilt more if its a bad player making retarded calls. When i finally in the spot to get him after not getting any chance for a long time and i get stacked by some retarded 3 outer.

But when iv been playing like a maniac and get stacked off with AA when some regular hit TPTK with AK, i dont really care.

[kyzerjose]

Nice bit of "nut shell" physiology.

The interesting thing about the human body is its need for balance or maintaining the status quo. As in Physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
When your endocrine system dumps in response to one stimuli, a different brew of chemicals is released shortly thereafter to counteract the first event.
Basically, that's why you can feel like crap physically once the original "threat" has passed.
We can train our body (mind) to react in a different manner but it's not easy.
Dr. Al makes some interesting points in his PoP book. As I recall, he maintains that playing poker well requires the mind to make decisions that are counter-intuitive to our natural tendency to take the path of least resisitance.
I believe he mentions Law Enforcement & Military Pilot workers as two groups who are naturally wired to play poker effectively.

[paulcouto]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[/ QUOTE ]

feeling sorry for yurself. the need for self punishment due to some type of self guilt.

the movie "the hustler" with paul newman delves into this very thing. worth watching. very interesting.

i notice phil ivey online. when he takes a few bad beats, his avatar dissapears like a flash. he just quits before he slips into tilt land.

sbrugby says he drinks green tea to stay calm. is there calming effects of green tea? i thought tea was a stimulant.

[Splossy]

Green tea contains theanine which is an amino acid and has calming properties. The tea with the highest levels of it is Macha tea which is the tea used in japanese tea ceremonies. I don't think this is a coincidence since the ceremony is a very contemplative and calming procedure.

You can buy pure L-Theanine. Some japanese firm has the patent for the proper stuff and they call it Suntheanine. I have some. I can't honestly say it does much for me.

Green tea also contain caffeine which must counter the theanine I'd imagine.

[JayKon]

[ QUOTE ]
Green tea contains theanine which is an amino acid and has calming properties. The tea with the highest levels of it is Macha tea which is the tea used in japanese tea ceremonies. I don't think this is a coincidence since the ceremony is a very contemplative and calming procedure.

You can buy pure L-Theanine. Some japanese firm has the patent for the proper stuff and they call it Suntheanine. I have some. I can't honestly say it does much for me.

Green tea also contain caffeine which must counter the theanine I'd imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

The theanine doesn't so much counter the caffeine as it smooths out jitters that can accompany caffiene when you take it straight, or drink coffee.

It is easier to be in an alert, but calm state of mind.

(note I said "easier", it is by no means a magic bullet)