Table on Tilt

I love the concept of "tilt". As a boy I spent a lot of time playing the pinball machines at the drugstore, bowling alley and bus station. At the bus station I learned about tilt from the hoodlums that hung out there. They often would use cheaters, usually packs of matches, to prop the front legs up a little bit which slows down the action and allows higher scores which award free games. By doing this they extended their play time dramatically for the nickel invested. They really needed to do this as their usual winning strategy was to shake and jiggle th machine to extract maximum points which often caused the pendulum tilt mechanism to activate.

This brings me to poker tilt. Yesterday and the day before I witnessed some major tilt going on. An older player who always always remains very quiet and calm was definitely on tilt. He was bluffing, calling light and generally not playing his usual winning game. The next day another older player was so badly on tilt he raised every hand, big, trying to either prove he had more money than the other players (he did), or larger cajones, which he did not. And no, I am not the players described, though I was definitely stuck and venturing into tilt territory.

Personally, I believe that more money is lost on tilt than at any other time. This usually happens when you get hit by some major suckouts or by a loose player calling big preflop raises with garbage hands then connecting solidly. Pocket queens yesterday were dealt 7 times in about a 20 minute span with 5 coming back-to-back-to-back-to back-to back. Yes, 5 people had pocket queens in a row. Only one stood up. The rest took nasty, nasty beats. Mine were done in by pocket 10's who caught the two outer on the river, despite at $20 preflop raise, a $20 flop bet, and a $20 turn bet. Stubborn lady!!! One guy even had the back luck to get them twice and lose both (runner flush, ace on river). Anyway, there were multiple players on tilt at the table and the pots were humongous. I was in to the game $420 and felt fortunate to escape with a $240 loss. I saw people stuck $400 plus.

My advice to guard against tilt? Number one, take a short break after a nasty one, get up, walk around until your head clears. Never, ever play the next hand. Second, do not target the bad beater. When you plot revenge, dig two graves is the saying. Third, let the game come to you and do not force it. Don't try to "beat them at their own game" by playing garbage, no matter how many times you see it win. Tighten up, quit playing speculative hands under the gun. Play tight aggressive, if someone raises, fold unless you can re-raise. An last, but not least, recognize when you are entering the tilt zone and acknowledge it to yourself.