Why do we tilt, and what can we do to fix it? Tilt is obviously a highly incongruous phenomenon, so while this works for me, it may not work for everyone's kind of tilt. Additionally, there are several books out there on this topic, and I've never read any of them, so I may just be repeating something that's already been said elsewhere. Let me know if this is the case.
First, we have to examine WHY we tilt. For me, I'm much more likely to tilt playing the same person many times than playing several different people. This is because, I think, tilt tends to develop because of rivalries - the idea that your opponent has run hotter than jesus and he probably doesn't even realize it. Also, the pace of the hands and how many of them you play have an influence, because a lot of decisions will be marginal or high variance and simply go in your opponents favor.
What are our options for fixing tilt? Well, you could stop playing, but this tends to cost you money. You could keep playing, but who wants to play their A-game when they're tilted? My preferred option would reduce your tilt as quickly as possible so that you can get back into the games.
Who would have thought there's a kind of poker that's practically engineered to reduce tilt? Full Ring No Limit has slower paced hands, with lower VPIPs. It's also nearly impossible to get in a rivalry with a person at a Full Ring table, because you just won't play that many hands together. I like to go to 1/2 Full Ring and play one table until I don't feel tilted anymore, then jump right back into the HU action. It's important that you play a higher limit table than you're really comfortable with. A mastery of poker plus a little bit of a challenge from the stakes will lead you to the direct opposite of tilt: flow. If you set goals to achieve a number of hours per week, this is a good way to achieve them even if you normally tilt and stop playing early.
[[ Roll The Dice ]]
