To 'Tilt' or 'Tilting' in Poker

Tilt is a phenomenon that is common in most activities in life, especially sport. If you have ever watched a sportsman play a bad shot or make a mistake and watch a simple mistake badly affect the way the player plays and the decisions they make next.

An example of this outside of poker is Andy Murray (the tennis player). He certainly, at least in his early days had a small issue with temper. Ever since i started watching him i knew he had real talent and whilst some matches he would play beautiful flowing tennis, other games he would play a couple of really bad shots and beat himself up to the point he lost the match. The frustration would build and things would go from bad to worse. This would be referred to as being on tilt.

Tilting at the Poker Table

This frustration is very often seen at the table, probably even more so. Often you have played the perfect hand and an opponent gets lucky. This will always be the case for as long as poker has an element of luck. Accepting this is i guess easier to put into practice than words. A player can be put on tilt over anything that detracts them from playing their best game. This includes playing a hand badly, wind up talk, busting on the bubble or simply losing a hand that you should have won.

Often when a player experiences these frustrations, they will start playing their B game. This means they will be playing more hands than they should trying to make up for things, call bets when they would usually fold, and raise outside of their natural playing range.

Tilt causes players to start playing irrationally in an attempt to win back money and it can be very dangerous, especially in no limit poker where you can kill your bankroll quicker than in other limit games.

Players do not play their best game when they are in a bad frame of mind. In poker, one bad decision can lead to a second and so on. This is part of the winning players mentality. They know they will make mistakes and that no matter how well they play a hand - they could still lose.