The term “on tilt” came from a pinball machine, which describes a scenario wherein the machine is lifted and tilted, resulting in your loss as the machine shuts down. This also occurs in poker and when it happens, the brains of some players gets “tilted” too much to a point that they lose the game and continuously shuts down unable to go back to his momentum.

Tilt occurs when a physical reaction to a problem arises. Whenever a person is attacked, he responds by running away or returning fire without thinking or being conscious about his actions. This happens when adrenaline is released into your blood, which then affects your thinking processes and behaviors. As such, your instincts take over your cognitive thinking. Fortunately, as you become a more experienced poker player, going on tilt will be much less. If you wish to avoid tilt at all costs, you need to be aware of the warnings signs so you can calm your nerves down before it’s too late. These warnings signs may include:

1) Pressure – Advanced poker players can also face pressure in a game, but learns to control their emotions. Beginners and inexperienced players often reach their breaking point within a game. To counter this, you should take a break occasionally, walk away from the computer or table, sit out several hands and have at least a 15-minute break too get some air. Taking a break can make a huge difference on how you play; you’ll be amazed of the results.

2) Anger – Poker games can sometimes be intense and getting angry at the table is quite normal. However, make sure to control your anger by keeping calm. Most of your opponents will try to wind you up to get you distracted; do not raise to it as you’ll only be playing right into their traps.

3) Frustration – Whenever you get frustrated with your game, it can be a sign that you’re doing something wrong consistently. To avoid this, you need to step aside and think about your game and the things you may be doing wrong, so you can change it once you go back to the action. Be aware that when your opponents see a sign of frustration, they may use it against you, so be very cautious about your emotions.

Be aware that you will lose more games in poker than those you’ll win. As such, it is important to know how to control your emotions to avoid going on tilt.

Tags: Online poker, poker, poker tilt, tilt

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 8:35 am and is filed under Poker Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.