The river card peels off, it is harmless, until your opponent flips
over his hand. You've just lost the huge pot on the river to a runner
runner straight. You feel yourself getting warmer and the frustration
builds up until you just don't care about what happens.
The next hour you play horribly and throw away money because you just
don't care. It is all so unfair, how could he win? He was under 1% to
win it when the money went in on the flop. Ridiculous!
Does this sound familiar? I know it happened to me in the beginning and
still does, but not on such a large scale. Most are in denial and say
that they never act like this, but I can guarantee that in some way or
another money is being thrown away when it could be kept in your
pocket. You know what I am talking about don't you? You wouldn't be
reading this otherwise.
It isn't hard to minimize poker tilt, it is quite simple actually. The catch is that it takes time and persistence.
When I lose control and get hot is when bad things start to happen. I
often get tricked by my mind that I have control when I do not.
Here are 5 simple steps on how to minimize tilt:
1. What Are You Afraid Of? - I'll begin. I am afraid of losing money
and not having enough. You see, I am a professional poker player and I
make my living off of playing poker and if I lose I can't live (harshly
put). What are you afraid of? Why are you acting like a lunatic when
you get bad beat a few times at the poker tables?
2. Identify Your Goal(s) - What is the reason you are playing poker?
Most non-professionals get mad because they lose to bad beats. Why do
they play poker? I would assume it is to have fun. My #1 goal is to
have fun and making money comes second. I started playing poker because
I enjoyed it and I intend to keep it that way. What is your goal when
you are playing? What is the need to feel like crap while you're
playing? So what if you lose some money. Play the limits where the
money doesn't hurt and have some fun!
3. Being Aware - Awareness is crucial to any good poker player. You
have to observe yourself. Otherwise you just do not know how you can
improve. You might get hot and become frustrated after a few bad beats.
Once you know this you can stop playing before it starts. There are
always signs before the signs, did you know that? If you learn more and
more how you work then you can start changing that to more useful ways.
4. Quitting A Game - The best players in the world know exactly what I
am talking about. Quitting a game when you start playing bad is
something you too have to learn. This will be useful for you even if
you are playing for the fun of it. If you start playing bad that means
something is affecting you. What is it? The bad beat or something else?
Has it affected your amount of fun? If no then keep on playing! If you
are an aspiring professional poker player then you have to quit
whenever your game is slipping. This is absolutely crucial to your
long-term success. If you just take one poker tip out of this article
then let it be this one.
5. Just Having Fun - It is easy for our minds to make everything
complex. Wanting more and more. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy what we
have. This is exactly you must remind yourself what your purpose for
playing poker is. If it is having fun then have fun. Otherwise you
could be doing something else that is fun. When I focus on keeping the
game fun I win more and feel a lot better. I prefer it that way :)
