The more hands you play, the more painful moves and hurtful lost coin flips you have. You find yourself in the shoes of a winner, then in the shoes of a loser, and these fluctuations cause strong emotional changes that must be dealt with in order not to become their slave.
Therefore, today we will look at 9 tips that can prevent the occurrence of tilt. A player can control tilt only when he understands what it is and how to adapt his play and environment in such a way as to prepare himself for the inevitable emotional swing.
What is tilt?
Tilt - Any change in your emotional state that negatively affects the decisions you make at the poker table.
While playing poker on the site https://play.slot-onlinus.com/online-kazino/, a person is not able to completely suppress emotions. However, he can control them to one degree or another.
9 tips for avoiding tilt pertain to your pre-session preparation.
Diet and nutrition
The feeling of hunger activates the instincts for survival, and we begin to focus on finding food, which is why the attention needed for other activities drops dramatically. And if a person has low blood sugar, then it is easier to piss off him than a person with normal or high sugar levels.
For optimal emotional control, make sure you have refreshed before starting a play session or prepared healthy foods that you can eat while you play.
Eating heavy carbohydrates makes a person sluggish: he feels burdened by something, he does not want to do things that require physical or mental stress. This can lead to “don’t want” to play or to completely abandon the game, which can lead to feelings of guilt and frustration. Therefore, prepare healthy and dietary food that will give you a feeling of vigor and freshness.
In doing so, try to drink more water and reduce (ideally, reduce to zero) alcohol consumption. Everyone knows what a drunken game threatens: a person cannot think logically and make optimal decisions, and these are the main signs of tilt. Drinking water prevents dehydration, which leads to cognitive decline.
Fitness
Playing poker is a test of our physical and mental fitness. When we feel tired, we become more irritable and easily tilt. And poker sessions can be extremely exhausting, especially if you play tournaments.
In order to not get tired so quickly, we must be healthy. So, before starting the session, you can go for a walk or a short run. This will release endorphins like serotonin, the hormone of happiness. Exercise can improve your mood and increase your mental resilience to bad beats or distractions.
Exercising outdoors will increase your exposure to the sun, which often contributes to a good mood and mental clarity.
Stress and distractions
If you have problems in your personal life or are struggling financially, it can become a distraction that keeps you from performing your best game. In addition to the game itself, there can be many stressors that you need to address. Start working on this now, as stress tends to get worse.
Before starting a session, think about potential distractions. A phone call at the wrong moment can be the moment that triggers tilt. So consider turning off your cell phone and try not to read your email.
The best way to always show your A-game is to fully focus on the game.
Recognition of different types of tilt
There are 3 types of tilt you should be aware of.
Tilt caused by anger. Most likely, you saw hyperbolic pictures of an angry person: steam from the ears, bulging eyes, a red face. Anger is a very intense feeling that is difficult to deal with quickly. If you cannot get it under control, then take a short break and "cool down." Or count to ten and try to answer yes. It may take a while, but the very fact that you have a goal of conquering your anger gives you a good opportunity to sort out your feelings and bring them into harmony.
Tilt caused by disappointment or a desire for revenge. The "cure" is the same: take a break, drink some water, or do something that distracts you from the subject of disappointment. The desire for revenge can be a big problem. Usually it occurs against a specific player who, in your opinion, plays poorly or just ran over you. If you cannot mentally overcome the desire to take revenge, then all you have to do is “withdraw yourself”: leave the table at which the “offender” is sitting. In poker, victory in general is important, not local victories in a war with some kind of opponent.
Tilt caused by feelings of depression. This species is dangerous because it is more difficult to identify. It usually manifests itself in the fear of losing money, which causes the player to play too carefully and fold where it is necessary to call. The most difficult stage is a complete loss of faith in yourself. Even 90% faith is already a path to failure, because you will only believe in winning the hand until you lose a big pot. After that, your faith will become zero.
Refusal to play
Sometimes the streak of bad luck drags on, and you realize that it is difficult for you to control your emotions, even though you know how to act. As a result, the game turns into a routine and does not bring joy. In severe cases, the only solution is to stop playing until the end of the day or for a short period of time.
However, be careful not to use this "escape from reality" tactic as an excuse every time you encounter a bad beat. You must understand that moving is an integral part of poker, and one of the important qualities of a good player is the ability to meet them with dignity. If you play well 80% of the time and tilt the remaining 20% of the time, then you will never reach your poker potential.
Quitting poker temporarily has another advantage: you have additional motivation to come back and take your game to the next level.
Game scheduling
Fatigue is a direct route to tilt, so be sure to schedule the game that works best for you. Are you one of those players who can skate for 12 hours and not lose concentration? Or are you running out of steam after just three hours of playing? Only you can know about the characteristics of your body, so be honest with yourself and make a schedule in such a way that you are in good shape throughout the session.
Constantly revise and optimize your schedule based on how you feel on a particular day and how you are performing in general. Having different emotional states during the day is not such a terrible thing, but the inability or unwillingness to adjust your plans based on knowledge of your feelings and abilities is a mistake.
Setting realistic goals
Playing poker only makes sense if you set realistic goals for the short, medium and long term. When you start playing bad starting hands for no apparent purpose, ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" And if you are not able to answer this question, then you can become depressed - one of the hardest types of tilt.
Purposefulness will give you confidence and self-esteem. Poker is a zero sum game: here someone loses and someone wins, and in addition to wanting to make money, you also need to have a specific and healthy reason for being at the poker tables.
Working on the game and accepting variance
Emotional control is only one part of the game. You have to work on the technical aspects as well. To do this, you need to study the history of your hands, find and eliminate leaks, and constantly strive to be ahead of your competitors-regs. The best way to achieve tilt is to play like a fish. The best way to avoid tilt is to be a winner. The choice is yours.
Any player who is serious about poker needs to accept variance and its inevitability, but losses caused by poor play are a completely different matter entirely related to poker prowess, experience and dedication.
Celebrating success
Tilt shifts attention to the negative sides of our psyche, so you need to make an effort to be positive when success comes. If for you victory is just a “tick box” event, then you risk falling into an emotional trap, when any success is perceived as a temporary respite and relief in a series of failures.
If you are successful, then celebrate it! After all, you deserve it. Happiness is the antidote to tilt. So reward yourself when you hit your target or win big.
Conclusion
The ideal is to put all 9 methods together and keep the game at a high level at all times. Proper nutrition, goal setting, and preparation before each game session will give you the best chance of success, and success will keep tilt at a safe distance for your bankroll. And even when the tilt does appear, you can react quickly.
When you are in control of your environment, find balance and maintain a high level of your game throughout the day, you can control your emotions.
