Tilt and Your State of Mind

Have you ever gone on tilt ? I don’t think there is a person I’ve talked to that hasn’t at one time or another. There are a number of things that may happen that make you go on tilt, and some even have to do with poker ! Let me explain.

I hate getting sucked out on. I hate hitting trips after a rainbow flop, I bet and there is a raise all in. I call and a weak player hits runner runner for a flush. I HATE it but it is something you just have to take because it happens from time to time. That’s poker and that’s what makes it such an interesting game to play. You can make all the correct plays and still loose! What I try to do to combat going on tilt is train myself to think about the suck out and believe that I made a correct call and more often then not I will win given the same circumstances. That’s why there are percentages for any given hand to win. Even a hand that’s favored 90% of the time will loose 10% of the time. So you must hang on to that belief that you made the correct move and just got unlucky. Then you have to put it behind you and move on.

I know what your thinking, easier said than done. Your right, it is, but you must find a way to do this otherwise you could loose a lot of money. When you do this you might even discover you made an incorrect play so you can change your thinking the next time a similar situation comes your way. You also have to look at your long term results and not just this one hand. Thinking about your long term results will put this one suck out into perspective. If your long term results are not good then perhaps other areas of your game need some analysis. The point I am trying to make is that you have to be able to take an unlucky hand and move on.

Some other things that have nothing to do with poker can affect your game and even put you on tilt before the game has started. These factors you have direct control over and can eliminate so as to not affect your game. If you’ve had a fight with your wife/husband, if you’ve had a bad day at work, if you have a headache or are feeling under the weather you should not be looking to start playing a poker tournament online. These are just a few of the many non poker factors that can have an influence on how you play. I think to play consistently well over a period of time you have to play with what I call a good ‘poker mindset’ going in. I think this gives you a better opportunity to win.

Your state of mind is very important when sitting down to play a mtt. As said above many things in the world around you can effect your mindset before playing a tournament. To me the trick is if those factors affect you to much perhaps a break from poker for that evening is in order. Maybe a longer brake is in order, only you know for sure. Something else I try to do is to sit in front of the computer 10 minutes before the tournament I signed up for starts and close my eyes and just think of how I’m going to start this tournament, what strategy will I use, making good decisions and so forth. Just get into a ‘poker’ mindset. Its like a little quiet time before the tournament gets going. This is the mental part of the game. Look at any sports stars. I’ve seen interview after interview where the athlete says “much of what I do is mental, if I believe I can win I’m half way there”.

Anything you can do to increase your chances of making good decisions at the poker table is worth while doing. Different players do different things to prepare for a tournament. Figure out what your ‘thing’ is and do it. Having a good poker mindset going into a tournament gives you a better opportunity to make those good decisions therefore increasing your chances to win. If you can come up with a good way to avoid going on tilt and eliminate outside distractions then you have achieved a good ‘poker state of mind’!