Poker Tilt

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All of these things will impact your emotional level when you are ready to play. You might not even realize it, but you may have advanced up the tilt spectrum before you even buy in.

This means your ability to think clearly and make rational decisions is compromised before you even see a card. As a result, it is important to check your emotional state before you begin to play.

If you are not in a good mood, take some time to try to find a happy place. Watch some amusing videos on YouTube, check your social media to see what your friends are up to, or take a brisk walk around your neighborhood to clear your mind.

Exercise has been shown to release endorphins, a natural drug that elevates your mood, into your blood. The walk will not only burn calories, which will make you feel better about yourself, but it will also improve your play by helping you get into the proper mindset.

Getting in the proper emotional state before you start playing is critical to controlling tilt, which is always lurks in the background just waiting for an excuse to come flying out.

Oh, are we talking about poker tilt? And not regular-life tilt? Aren't they caused by the same thing? I think they are.

Or the other way around. I have tried the latter approach many times over my poker career and can confirm that there is a vast difference between these options.

The same could be said about food. So, tilt prevention starts long before you sit down to play. There are many great guides out there that can help with that.

Either that or have a dinner scheduled at some point and make sure not to skip it. One thing that helped me the most was devoting some time to prepare before every session you sit down to play.

It can be as little as minutes to review some hands, read strategy articles, or discuss poker theory with a friend to warm up your brains and get into the state of playing poker.

There are countless triggers some bigger than others, most commonly:. Next time you sit down at the poker table, try to be mindful of your emotions throughout the session to work out what the triggers of your tilt are.

Also note that lack of sleep, being hungry or being stressed outside of poker will definitely make you more susceptible to tilt.

Try to avoid playing in such conditions. When you're just starting out playing poker, you want to play poker , and that means staying in hands that aren't very good just to be part of the action.

But playing more doesn't mean winning more, it usually means losing more. If you find you're staying in on half or more of the hands you're dealt, you need to upgrade your starting hand requirements.

There are nights where you're just playing with friends for low stakes and it's more about the fun than the poker.

But if you're in a casino, watch the alcohol. The truth is, while you may be more relaxed after two drinks, it may lead to you playing looser and less sharply, even if you're not fully drunk.

You may notice that few other players at the table are imbibing at all.