Got Tilt?

In response to ftp_pirate, I couldn’t agree more with your last statement. Half the reason I blog is because I learn more from writing about a hand or situation than I do from just thinking about it. I find it interesting that many times I’ll end the blog thinking differently about a hand than when I started. An example of this was a hand I posted a couple weeks ago, where all four players would have had boats (mine being the winner). At first I was bummed that I didn’t win a larger pot because I bet a couple others out too early. After some writing and analyzing, I realized that if I hadn’t bet them out pre-flop, they probably bet me out on the flop, and I don’t get to stick around to hit my free two-outer on the turn.

I think tilt is a great topic for discussion, as it’s something that almost all of us struggle with at one time or another. I tilt on occasion like most others, but when I do, it’s usually because I’m upset at myself more than the play of an opponent. I’m very much a perfectionist (believe me, it’s more of a fault than a strength), and this normally happens when I make mistakes like not charging an opponent enough to chase his draw, misreading the strength of someone’s hand, or paying someone off when I know they hit their card.

As far as “bad beats” go, I think the term is way overused. True bad beats don’t really happen very often, and if they do, you should consider yourself lucky! That means you’ve found a juicy game, where your opponents call your bets getting (presumably) improper odds. Of course, unless they’re drawing dead, simple math dictates that they will suckout on occasion. Although it’s sometimes easier said than done, you have to try and look at the big picture (love the call, hate the card).

Say, for example, an opponent always calls your bet as a 5:1 underdog, while always getting 3:1 on his money. Now (other than not paying him off if he hits) your job is done. Through some combination of good play on your part and bad play on their part, you’ve got them to put their money into the pot in a horrible situation. If you just take a small sample (say one night), those odds may not even out. Maybe on this night your opponent gets into this situation four times, and draws out on you three times. He won the battle, and you should not just congratulate him, you should encourage him! Over time, you will win the war. Think of a coin flip. If you flip a coin 10 times, it might come up heads 8-9 times. If you flip it 100,000 times, the odds will even out and (give or take a tenth of a point or two) it will be heads 50% of the time.

We all have some form of “poker memory,” in that we seem to remember all the times we get sucked out on, but we rarely remember the times we won when we were “supposed to,” or when we suckout ourselves. I believe if most of us kept track of all the hands, we would find the numbers even out over time. If you still fee like you’re getting drawn out more times than you should, it may be that you’re not charging enough, and/or you’re paying off a river bet once your opponent hits their card.

Say you have a set, and bet $75 into a $150 pot, giving your opponent 3:1 odds to draw to his up and down straight draw. He’s not getting proper pot odds, as he has 8 outs, and is getting 4.5:1 odds to hit his straight. However, if your opponent puts you on a strong hand like a set, and knows you’re the type of player who will pay off, say, a $150 bet on the river, then the implied odds make it correct to call your $75 bet. If it’s your goal, then I believe you can train even a bad player to stop chasing draws once they realize they’re not getting paid if their card comes. Then again, why would you want to…? :-)

If you do find yourself in a situation where you can feel the hot vapor creep up your neck, into your brain, and start to escape through your ears, then you should probably walk away from the table for a few minutes. Even if it costs you a blind or two, that’s nothing compared to the cost of one bad decision in a large pot. Go get a drink of water or some fresh air, and try to step back and analyze the hand from a subjective point of view (big picture, big picture…). If you did something wrong, you simply try to learn from it and not make the same mistake again. If you were the victim of a true bad beat, then smile and pat yourself on the back, because that probably means you played the hand perfectly!

And if none of these techniques work, there’s always alcohol…

See ya at the tables…
Rick