Day 70

Day 70

Tilt happens. You can be playing well and doing just fine, and then you get 5 back to back bad beats, killing all the profit you made for the day. Hopefully, you can stay calm and just ride out the storm, but lets face it; we're human, and we make mistakes. So for that one time when it really gets to you, and you start spewing chips, just remember: if you play badly, your opponents WILL notice, and they will try their darndest to abuse you for every penny you're worth. It's not good or bad, it's just poker, and advantage is the name of the game.

When you start playing badly, it's easy to say to yourself that you've made a bad call, tried to pull a donkish bluff, or whatever flavor you're spewing at the time. But poker isn't just about knowing what's right or wrong, it's about acting on that knowledge. When you're on tilt, you may be able to recall certain strategies or odds, but the real harm is that you've lost the feel of the game you're sitting at. What was once your felt worktable now becomes a foreign place to sit, where all eyes are on you. It itches like wool on bare skin, and when you're distracted to that extent, it's impossible to focus on the warzone in front of you.

But Rome wasn't built in a day, and it can't fall in one day either. Sure it may burn pretty fast, but more often than not, fate gives you the option to get your bucket of water, and put out the fires before they spread. When you start playing badly, people WILL notice, but they won't notice immediately. Even if they're the sort to catch on quick, they still need to wait for the right cards. So the trick is, in the little time you have, you need to beat your opponents to the punch, and notice yourself playing badly. Like I said, it's easy to look at a decision you made and see that it was wrong, but to really succeed, you need to have the feel for it; you need to truly understand that you're playing badly.

So my advice? Figure out some way to test yourself mid-game. You can try thinking of your tilted self as another opponent at the table. Observe what kinds of hands he plays, what his leaks are, things that differentiate the way he plays from the way your profitable self plays. Take notes. Then, when he rears his ugly face at your poker table, you'll be ready. You may end up having to play some hands with him before you can pick up on his reads, but once you've got them, you can bring them to the next table, and the next, and the next.

So remember, if you can notice yourself playing badly before your opponents, you'll be able to save yourself a looooot of money. Trust me, I've seen both sides of it.


Good luck at the tables,
Z