Tilting in poker

If you have played poker, than you have bluffed, that is just the way it is. Well, there is the small chance of you having played strictly by the book at every hour, but then you haven’t had your heart in it, and the times should be about to change. Poker has a large psychological element to it. Whether that be reading your opponent’s reaction and approach or whether that being what you telegraph to other players, psychologically is an important part of the game.

Learning to not give away information about your hand and position is vital to being able to bluff and win. Without being able to bluff, you can not win all the hands you could. Some call it tipping their hand but in poker lingo it is known as a tilt. Keeping your emotions in check is job number one in playing poker. If you are emotionally driven and shows you are tilting and giving away a lot of information that your opponents will use against you. (And really, they will.)

We have all experienced the situation where we had a killer hand that could not be beat just to find out that someone else got that one in a million card and took the pot. Letting that get to you is a problem. It happens, it happens to everyone in poker online. If you start to make bad decisions because you become emotionally tied to the game you need to step away from the game. If you are tilting you are far more likely to bet on a hand that would normally result in a fold. That can cost you a lot of hands. While it is good to know when another player is tilting, you can benefit from it, it is vital to know when you are tilting and take the appropriate action. In these situations letting your emotions get the best of you will cost you money.
It can be hard to realize you are tilting and some people just have a hard time realizing they are doing it. Watch how you are betting: If you start losing a couple of hands go back and think about the hands, did you maybe bet a hand that you would normally have dropped? If you can answer yes to that or even think that it might be the case you are tilting. Be very conservative when thinking about whether you are tilting or not. There is no reason to give away more than you have to, and the sooner you make that your main rule, the more will you gain from it.

On a more general note, you will always benefit from getting all the practice you can. It is dangerously to consider your game polished to be enough, and hanging out at the same spots, playing the same strategies. This won’t advance your game remotely, and you will learn pretty much nothing. It is much better to try different ways of playing on, whether it’d be the people you play against, the platforms or poker rooms you use, the strategies you choose…

So basically, in order not to tilt – play a straight face, be aware of yourself, try on different strategies, be innovative and basically pay attention like there is no tomorrow.

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