‘The Tilt’ used to be a highly successful strategy back in the Wild West, when cautious gamblers were wise enough to fold a strong hand against an angry cowboy with a gun. But times have changes and in the modern game, the tilt is an unswerving loser. Professionals as well as fairly good players are finely in the swing of things to its signs and will not waver in walking away with chips that are simply being thrown away.

Why do we tilt?

The roots of tilt lie in our genes and as such it is an abstract problem, simply put, a physical gesture or reaction to it. Human beings react to an attack in either of the two ways, either counter the attack by defending themselves or simply running away or choosing to hide. But this is not a voluntary or planned reaction.

Glands secrete adrenalin and other neurotransmitters into your bloodstream that can take over your thought process when you let them and cause your behavior to become automatic. While this instinct came in handy for our forefathers, acting as a shield in times of distress like a raid of their caves by preys by helping them make a decision automatically, it most definitely serves the opposite purpose, that of making sure you fail when you are trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a game of poker. Yes that is poker for you my dear friends!

Avoiding tilt has more to do with experience than anything else. The more you play, the more you are bound to understand that bad beats and tough breaks are just part of the game. Gradually and with patience, you will notice that these even out. If you keep an honest count, you are likely to find that you have ended up winning a lot of hands that most definitely were not your best.

If, on the other hand, you are just a beginner with experience next to nothing, then you can make up for it by recognizing the signs that precede the onset of tilt in your game with you and work towards getting rid of them by training yourself to relax and get a hold on the situation and avoid putting yourself into auto-pilot mode.

Take a chill pill. Good poker is all about the application of pressure. Put enough pressure on a player and the old evolutionary processes will start pushing them towards tilt. If you are feeling unusually high, prolonged periods of pressure in a cash game and losing, you are half way to tilt already. Your best bet in this situation is to cut your losses and look for greener pastures. But, if you hang in there and make sure to take a bad beat, it is definitely time to get off that table before your brain goes the early man way!