As much as possible, it is easier to prevent poker tilt than curing it. The waste of time, money, and the unnecessary grief can be avoided by spotting the warning signs ahead of time. Those things that upset or offend you for whatever reason, these have the power to throw you into a tilt. It could be external or internal tilt triggers; internal triggers happen as you play the game while the external could be other factors, which would make you more vulnerable to tilt.
And how do you deal with such?
You must muster the triggers
External triggers: these can be categorized as pre-triggers, they influence tilt from outside. It could be that wrangle with your spouse, financial worries, alcohol, drugs and such. All these have the potential to trigger tilt. When you come to the poker table and you’ve all that baggage, then you could easily go on tilt. They create a perfect storm for tilt to occur.
The actual triggers
You are playing the poker game well, the beer beside you seems to take over your emotions slowly, and thus your rational part of the mind takes a powder. The next thing would be emotion taking over the play and pride overrules decision-making- a tilt would be obvious in this case.
A bad beat
You could be the lowliest fish or the loftiest pro; poker beats can crush your soul and therefore trigger tilt. Poker beats are inescapable and therefore the most important thing is to manage the emotions.
Bad cards
Another major tilt trigger is being card-dead; you start off the game with a series of lousy hands, missed flops and draws that don’t seem to come in, even the most experienced would be tempted to snap, as the pressure keeps piling up fold after fold, it becomes too much to bear. This is very common in online poker where the game moves at the speed of light.
How then do you prevent tilt?
Avoid the poker game in totality
The best way to combat this rather bad experience is to not try at all. However, that statement is easier said than done, when you are used to the game, it’s unavoidable.
Acquire knowledge
The old axiom puts it more succinctly, that ‘knowledge is power’; you must learn yourself and the game and this will help you avoid circumstances that could lead to such. Read more online sources on the game and how to avoid tilt triggers. Again, get to know your personality and keep off any triggers.
Tilt does not discriminate, whether you are a newbie or a veteran poker player, chances are that you could suffer from it. Therefore, it’s critical to master it and deal with the predisposing factors before the attack.
