Tilt

Tilt is a major issue which affects virtually every player who has ever got involved in a game of poker. Everyone has at some point got emotionally attached in the game feeling that they must beat a certain player or retrieve their previous losses. There is nothing quite so detrimental to a bankroll than letting emotions get on top of you whilst at the table, tiredness has a similar impact as you begin calling bets which you wouldn’t generally as you are due to ‘get lucky’ and hit a flop.

For me I even register the fact that this is an abnormal play for me before doing it and still cannot prevent myself from clicking that raise or call button. It may seem inconsequential at the time as another $100 or 10 Blinds get sucked away but over the course of a week, month or year these amounts really add up and have a massive effect on your profitability. I had a fantastic month in June winning nearly $17,000 but I must have cost myself an equivalent amount through some ropey play. Being able to fold when you know you are behind and avoiding marginal situations where you are unsure of you position will leave you feeling better about your game and ensuring that you are as profitable as possible.

When I’m playing well I don’t make any mistakes (for my way of playing) I lay down hands like AQ suited in early position as I know that I don’t really want to call a big raise and rely on the flop, I can drop my set on the river when I know the other player has just hit his flush. However towards the ends of a session or if I’ve had a bad run suddenly I can’t do this and call regardless hoping to see a bluff or a lucky flop. For me it’s almost always tiredness which has this effect and this is the curse of still being in full time employment – It’s difficult to play you’re a game all the time especially when you have to play late at night without sufficient sleep.

At the moment I feel completely wiped out again as I’m concentrating on things all day and all night and finding little or no time to unwind and take a break. It must seem easy to you reading this to say ‘just take a week off’ the fact is I don’t want too, I enjoy playing and feel that I should win whatever my mental and physical state – this obviously is not the case and I really need to force myself to stop for a while as it will hugely benefit me in the long run. Luckily I’m off to Thailand in 2 weeks so that will be a beautiful enforced holiday which will allow me to recover and come back refreshed and ready to destroy all comers again.

I cannot wait until I am doing this full time as I’ll be able to play only when refreshed and alert as I won’t have the commitments of work and will be able to sleep when I need to and play when I genuinely feel like it. I may impose a schedule on myself but I’ll have to see how that works as part of the beauty of leaving work to do this is that I’m free to spend my time how I see fit. I intend to work in a fitness regime so that I exercise every day and that should help keep me alert and active and most importantly of all able to avoid the perils of tilt.

Steve