Discipline: Tilt Part II

In the last column, I began my discussion of discipline with a discussion of tilt. My definition of tilt is making inferior plays to those someone of your technical skill level should make because of some circumstances that shouldn’t affect your decision-making. Some of the most common sources of tilt are losing, losing a particularly unlucky hand, anger at one of your opponents, or boredom or outside distractions (like a fight with your girlfriend or watching your team lose a big game).

To repeat: Tilt occurs when you make a bad play that you wouldn’t make if you weren’t on tilt.

In this column I want to continue exploring the phenomenon of tilt. There are several topics to cover:

1. How can you tell if you have a tendency to tilt?

2. If so, how severe is it?

3. What can you do to eliminate or at least reduce the amount of time you spend on tilt?

If you occasionally tilt, you are probably aware of it. You may not be aware of how frequently this occurs, how severe your tilt is when it occurs, or the effect it has on your bottom line. In order to determine these things, it is necessary to have records. If you play brick and mortar games, you must keep records manually. If you play online, there is software that will keep records for you. Online, it is easy to look back at the hands you play after something disastrous happens. If you see a lot of bad plays, you know you were on tilt.

I prefer to look for tilt by looking at records for a series of sessions. After 30 sessions, your average session has been six hours long, and your average win has been two big blinds per hour in no-limit hold’em, look at your longest sessions. A player who doesn’t tend to tilt will often play his longest sessions when he is playing well and the game is very good. His three longest sessions might average 11 hours and show a result of plus four big blinds per hour. Someone who is subject to mild tilt might also have three sessions that averaged 11 hours, but his result will be minus two big blinds per hour.

(He probably didn’t want to quit when losing, and continued to play, although his play might be a little weaker than usual.) Someone who is subject to severe tilt will have three sessions that averaged 14 hours and his result will be minus five big blinds per hour. This means that on ordinary days, he plays really well and wins at high rate, but occasionally falls apart and blows most of his winnings. Note that all these profiles were for winning players. Three long, disastrous sessions on severe tilt might be enough to convert a winner into a loser.

Another approach that works well, is to record your result at the end of six hours (or less in the case of a short session.) Then track your result for the rest of the session, and the number of hours played. The player who doesn’t tend to tilt will often play his longest sessions when he is playing well and the game is very good and will show a higher win rate for the additional hours. The player with slight tilt will show a lower win rate or small losing rate for those extra hours. The player subject to severe tilt will show a huge losing rate.

If you are subject to severe or frequent tilt, you will not be able to survive as a poker player. Therefore you must find a way to eliminate or at least drastically reduce your tilt or you will go broke regularly. I know this sounds cruel, but my advice is to learn to eliminate nearly all tilt from your game or give up the idea of being a professional poker player. This is easier said than done. I now think of myself as semi-retired. I play for much smaller stakes than I used to. This leaves me subject to boredom. My boredom may lead me to play hands I shouldn’t play or try risky plays that probably have negative equity. I am fairly good at recognizing this, and then either quitting or at least taking a break.

Jared Tendler, who is a psychologist, but not a poker player has written books about “The Mental Game of Poker,” and worked as a poker (and golf) coach. Even though there are many things I disagree with in his book, he presents a lot important ideas, and some good techniques for controlling tilt. He feels tilt is primarily caused by anger, breaks down types of tilt, and most importantly, recommends a variety of ways to avoid tilt by writing down your feelings in various situations, learning to pause and inject some logical thoughts while playing, and using mistakes a tool for learning. This idea of focusing on the benefits you can derive from analyzing and learning from your mistakes can offset a tendency to get angry with yourself, and go on tilt. ♠

Steve ‘Zee’ Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful gamesplayer. He has been a full-time gambler for over 35 years. With two WSOP bracelets and few million in tournament cashes, he is easing into retirement. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at some major tournaments and playing in cash games in Vegas. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A in New York City -The Library near Houston and Doc Holliday’s on 9th St. are his favorites.