No Tilt, No Cry, Just Poker
Winning in poker is a combination of many things. Often, it is not so much as having the best hand. Winning is knowing bet control. Winning is knowing play control. Winning is having emotional control.
Playing poker can be intense. You'll experience all sorts of emotions. You may lose control of those emotions. When you lose control of your emotions and it's starting to impact the way you play, you are, in the poker sense of the term, "on a tilt" or "tilting."
Several things may cause you tilt. Having bad or weak hand, for one. Or having lost a very good hand in a previous game. Or someone else in the group is provoking you, or is irritating you whether deliberately or unintentionally. Or you had three series of losses.
All these sudden emotional unrest is not uncommon, but letting them influence the way you play can be self-defeating. If you allow yourself to tilt, your opponents may surely use it to throw you off the poker game.
As much as poker is a game of cards, it is also very much a psychological play. Emotion can be used as a weapon of offense and of defense.
When you tilt, your opponents will give a reading of your situation and give you a good beating. And you may respond by making more unwise bets.
This is why you need keep your emotions in check. Focus on the game, instead. If you can't, fold sooner than you can. Leave the game a while. Take a walk, smoke cigar---- anything to calm you down so you could start afresh with a clear and focused mind.
If you do have a weak hand, don't show it. Don't tilt. Again, focus on your strategy. Mask your emotions. Keep a poker face, as popular expression goes. This advice goes whether you're feeling high or your feeling low. Leave your opponents no clues about how you are faring with your cards. To be a good poker player, you need to have a knack not only with betting strategies but also with masking your true emotions.
In the same manner, be on a lookout for players "on a tilt." You may strike while the player is on the low. At the same time, be wary. Poker pros might pretend to be on a tilt for strategic ends of their own.
When you are, however, experiencing real tilt or emotional balance, and its starting to affect the way you make betting and play decisions, do try to control yourself. Give your strategies a focus instead. If it can't be helped, leave the table and don't come back until your head's clear and ready for new poker battles. Clearly, there's a strong relation between emotional stability, game control, and good gambling.