Some Thoughts on Tilt

One thing I have discovered about Tilt is that there are ways to prepare for it in advance (as opposed to trying to react to it when it happens).

Absolutely the best way (and I know this probably seems obvious, but I think many people are guilty of this) is to never play for more money than you are comfortable losing. Again, sounds simple, but lets face it...if you were comfortable losing the money in the pot - then you wont be upset when you do. Now this does not make up for the frustration of losing THE HAND, which I know for many of us is even more important that the money. But it is a start.

Music absolutely helps me. When I played the WSOP this year, I took a tip from Bluff magazine and actually made a "tilt mix" on my iPod. THey suggested soothing music...I actually went the opposite direction and put together a nice brutal mix of hardcore, metalcore and other "aggro" genres. That works for me...maybe it'll be Enya for you.

I have a friend/mentor who took 3rd place in a WSOP event this year, and he had a great suggestion that I have used many times. This obviously only works on line. I tend to mostly play $10 and $24 buy in tournaments on Full Tilt. He suggested that when I take a bad beat in one of these online tournaments to just go ahead and open up a $1 tournament or a $2 Heads Up Tournament...and go crazy! Bluff. Make loose calls. Donk off as many chips as you want. By playing this way in a $1 tourney it really seems to help me NOT do that in the one I am actually taking seriously. One night I did this by entering a $1 rebuy on FTP. An hour later I was the chipleader and was simply running people over with aggression. A handy bi-product of being on tilt from a game these guys did not even know I was playing. I ended up final tabling that tournament and making a nice return on my $1! And burning off some tilt.