Avoid Going On Tilt

We've all been there. You've been very patient, looking for your spot. Then it happens.

You're sitting with pocket eights and a very loose aggressive player has just raised the pot in front of you. You call, and the flop comes A83. He fires out a pot-sized bet, so you just call.

The turn is a 5. He bets the pot again. You re-raise, and put him all in. He calls instantly and turns over A4. When a 2 hits the river, you are left pulling your hair out.

These moments test our resolve. Can we keep playing good poker, making sound decisions? Can we stick with our strategies? Or, do we start making wild plays to try to catch up.

After a bad beat, like this one, players often find themselves raising, getting re-raised, and going all in with a hand like pocket sevens. Our opponent has QQ and we are giving our money away. Sound familiar?

When lady luck slaps you in the face like this, you need to avoid tilting off chips. The classic instinct is to gamble wildly at the next reasonable chance. You want to get those chips back. This is a big time tilt.

If you find yourself steaming after a bad beat, be smart. Stop playing for a bit. Get away from the table for a few minutes. Then come back stronger than ever.

Remind yourself that you had played great in that losing hand. You can't control the fact that he got super lucky. There is almost always some chance you will get hit with a bad beat. It's rare that your opponent is drawing dead. Therefore, you need to get used to having this happen.

If this is happening a lot, in a short period of time, you are "running bad". This makes tilting even harder to avoid. You outplay your opponents and keep losing.

Your priced in draws don't hit. You push with KK only to meet AA. Then, your AA gets cracked by some maniac who goes all in with J10 suited.

You haven't made one single mistake, and you're getting killed. Poker is a tough way to make an easy living. In the long run, this will come back to you. It never feels like it, but you must believe and understand this.

It's the chips you lose making mistakes, when you're tilting, that don't come back. Done too much, this can make a winning player a loser, maybe even a big loser. Avoid tilting, and keep yourself profitable. Good luck at the tables.