Tilting

  Tilting can mean a lot of things. Back in the dark ages, tilting was when two guys dressed like a Delmonte cans, charged at each other with pointy sticks and tried to shish kabob each other for fun and profit. In more contemporary days a tilt was when somebody gave a pinball game the type of pelvic thrust that was usually reserved for clumsy first dates.  In poker terms though, tilting is when you do things you normally would not do because you are upset, frustrated, flustered, or possibly inebriated. In short, this is the poker version of road rage.   When we play poker we must go into the Mr. Spock zone and separate ourselves from our emotions. Tilting will cost you in both the short and long run. Intellectually we all know how important emotional control is during a game, but like anything else this control takes practice. We must suppress our natural instincts to react when things dont go our way. The short term damage from tilting is that you are going to lose money. The more control you lose the worse you are going to play. There is a long term and much more damaging effect though.  Your opponents will no doubt take note of your behavior. They will remember exactly what got you upset and try to repeat the conditions every time they play you. If they can get you flustered again, they will beat you.   This idea cuts both ways though, look for things that upset your opponent and do them just to get under that persons skin. In serious poker you are not at the table to win friends, you are there to win money. Be mindful of proper etiquette though. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Even when trying to fluster somebody, do it with taste and style. Dont do it in any way that will violate the unwritten rules of poker behavior. Nobody will welcome you into their games if these offenses stack up.