Emotional stress tends to take a toll on the thinking process of a poker player, as they end up using a different strategy that was opposite to their original strategy. An emotionally disturbed player tends to play below their skill levels and are characterized by a continuous loss of money in a game dictated by frustrated decisions. Players that do this are said to go into a ‘tilt’ mode. Certain players tend to behave in a particular manner when they are winning a few hands, with their strong positive emotions causing a ‘winner’s tilt’ which gives them away in the long run.
If a player is competent enough to bluff an opponent out of a better hand and show it off to maximize the tilting effect, they have mastered the art of tilting. Constant chattering, making weird sounds and motions at certain outcomes and drunken hustling are some forms of erratic behavior that puts opponents on tilt. Slow rolling is one such deliberate antic wherein a player takes their own sweet time to announce and show their card, which induces anxiety in the opponents.
A fairly experienced poker player has the discipline of realizing that they have gone on a tilt. The act of regaining composure after going into tilt is the most challenging part, as it requires exceptional self-control. This phase of recovering from the tilt is quite crucial as a player’s future in the game depends on his/her decision making from now on.
External factors that can cause you to go on tilt
The external factors that cause a player to go on a tilt are more commonly referred to as ‘pre-triggers’. The susceptibility of a player to these pre-triggers can be heightened by various external factors like inadequate sleep, financial distress, restlessness, trouble at home or issues with substance abuse.
Nothing could spell more disastrous than playing a poker game under the influence of drugs or alcohol as they tend to impair the judgment of an individual. A high stakes game requires an individual to be highly focused on the happenings at the table without getting carried away by an alcohol-induced tilt.
A tired and angry individual may not have the emotional endurance to get through with a poker game. As every player at the table is looking for a chink in their opponent’s armor, a tired and angry player is visibly a target for bluffers and shrewd tilting strategists.
Although these aforementioned factors are not to be blamed for a player to go into a tilt abruptly, they still feature in the pre-trigger list that causes the player to go into a tilt as soon as something unfavorable happens at the table.
In-game situations that could affect your gameplay
A comprehension of the opponent’s gameplay is as crucial as applying any mathematical formula to win a game. A deeper awareness of your own self and formulation of strategies to better your game is the key to avoid going into a tilt.
‘Bad beats’ have been credited with inducing a tilt in players. As the name suggests it is a bad hand that eventually betters the strong one unexpectedly when a turn or a river gets in their way of winning the pot. A genuine case of bad beat is when the opponent’s card is extremely weak to match up against a player’s clear odds-on favorite card and yet the opponent wins. The key to overcoming a bad beat is to maintain composure with the thoughts of making money off the opponent’s continued bad play exhibited in the bad beat.
Downswing is another short phase of a continuous string of bad hands that result in lost pots even when a player is doing everything right. This may affect a player’s confidence levels and bankroll if new tactics and strategies are not introduced into the gameplay. Changes in the style of playing to a tight aggressive style from a loose one could help a player get out of this rut.
An upswing is the reverse of a downswing, where a spate of good cards makes a player overestimate the potential of their hands by bluffing more than necessary. This could lead to a few winning hands but playing at a higher level with similar strategy will prove disastrous for the player’s bankroll as they will tend to play out of their depth. Any irrational change in the game plan will have an unwanted effect, which makes sticking to the basics and gradually improvising on the strategies a wise thing to do.
Dealing with tilt
For a beginner at the poker table, the acts of playing down the tilt or getting rid of it are a sign of improvement, brought about by constant playing. The thousands of hours logged in at an online poker table have that calming effect that makes a seasoned player stoic in the face of a tilt coming their way.
A fair knowledge of the right poker strategy coupled with the routine habits of reviewing hands, positions, pot odds, betting patterns and stack sizes are a good way of focusing on the game instead of going on a tilt.
Understanding the probability factor that routinely affects the game in spite of the strong cards held by a player is an effective way of being realistic in their expectations, even with a hand that looks like the odds-on favorite. The art of managing expectations can be mastered by focusing on the game as a whole and not just on a few hands that did not pan out well as expected.
The most common example of poker probability is that a starting hand of Hold’em with four players on the table is ultimately slated to lose two out of every five hands as the pocket Aces will win the pot 56 percent of the time. This is no reason for a player to go into a tilt as it will only worsen the situation with unnecessary monetary losses and outdrawing opponents winning off the free cards.
Players tend to blame a variety of factors for a bad day at the tables that range from the supposed hand that the opponent should have played, to blaming it on sheer bad luck. It takes character and discipline on the part of a player to admit that they lost because of a bad hand they played, This trait of being honest with themselves goes a long way in improvising their game as they realize when they go into a tilt and when they must pull out of a game.