Tilt
Tilt is the ugly monster of poker. Tilt has caused more lost bankrolls and dashed dreams than any other single factor. The definition of tilt is to make poor decisions based on emotion, not logic, while playing poker. It is an ugly thing indeed. Here are a few points:
Learn to not tilt. Period. Get tough! Poker is not your friend, but neither is it your enemy. Poker is just cold hard statistics and random cards. Shit happens, deal with it and move on.
Quit. Even when you’re trying to learn to not tilt, quit if you feel it coming. If you take a major bad beat, either take a break until you’re cool again or quit for the day.
Learn to recognize tilt. It’s not always a complete explosion. It comes in small doses for some people. Fear to continuation bet, become too tight, become too loose, or you call a raise with a weak ace and make a crying call on the river that you normally wouldn’t make.
The hardest time to keep playing is when you are down. You may not be tilting but your unwillingness to log a losing session makes it hard to quit when you planned on quitting and when you’ve obviously lost concentration.
It’s totally pointless to try to make a comeback under poor playing conditions. Don’t let pride take over and try to prove to the table that you really are good. Be cold hearted and remember that it all comes down to the final hourly win rate. If the opponents are too tough or too aggressive, it doesn’t mean you admit defeat or are worse than them when you quit. It means you’d rather have extra money in your bank where it really counts. Remember, there is no pride, there is no being the best or worst…there is only money or no money.
