Basic Tilt Prevention Tactics

But what if it’s too late? Obviously during the heat of battle it will be impossible to consider underlying factors before you turn into a raging tornado of cards and chips.

To become fully tilt free you need to learn to understand the nature of your anger, accept it and manifest it in a different way.

At the table though you are going to need some quick fixes to cool the burning fires in your mind, so here are five tips to help snap you back into reality:

1) Don’t play above your bankroll – By putting your bankroll in vulnerable positions it is much more likely that any losses you incur will have a much greater chance of making you angry.

If the reason why we get angry is based on others exposing our internal vulnerability it makes sense that risking too much of our bankroll in one session is going to open us up to whole barrage of attacks on our emotions.

Learn to walk before you run and you will find your play follows a much more even keel.

2) Feng Shui is the way - Make sure your playing environment is comfortable.

For live players, that’s going to mean not sitting on an uncomfortable chair sandwiched between two players who’ve not been properly introduced to Mr Soap and Mrs Water.

The online recluses amongst you need to keep your desk area tidy and the amount of surrounding distractions to a minimum. Ensuring that you’re focused on the action at your tables and that you’re worrying only about the opponents at your table is essential if you want to remain calm.

3) Be Like Water - As the great Bruce Lee once said: “empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water my friends.” Water flows freely and can’t be crushed; it reforms itself to its surroundings.

Have this quote stuck on your monitor or written on the back of your hand. Read it whenever you feel like you’re starting to tilt and remember to accept it and roll with the punches. Failing that, throw a large glass of water over your face to cool you off.

4) Have a break – Have a Kit-Kat. While having some form of confectionary isn’t strictly necessary it is important to take some time away from the table anytime you’ve reached the red zone.

For some people the best thing to do is open up a table way below your regular stakes and shovel chips in pre-flop until the anger subsides. For others who prefer not to lose any more money the best thing to do is physically leave the theatre of conflict.

Get up and walk away even if you’re in the middle of a hand. The act of removing yourself from the game needs to be instantaneous because, even if you tell yourself “one more hand, then I’ll stop,” you inevitably end up losing more money and going even more insane.

5) Push the button - If all else fails, none of the above techniques work and you can’t seem to reconcile your negative emotions then you have no option but to vent your anger.

A stress ball, a punch bag, a cat; anything you can find to release your frustration. Bottling up the emotion will only work against you so if it all becomes too much it is much more productive to take a minute away from the game.

Go hell for leather on an inanimate object then return to the table slightly out of breath and hopefully a lot calmer.

Tilt can strike at any moment and while it may only last a short while, its long-term effects can be devastating. Learning to understand your emotions and deal with their root cause is the best way to prevent any crushing blows to your bankroll.

This takes time though so hopefully the five techniques listed in this article will help keep the demons at bay long enough for you to regain your composure and go back to moving chips in the right direction.