One of the things that can present quite a challenge to the average poker player is fatigue. This not only means that you’ll be tired, but it means that you can become emotionally and mentally drained. You make poor decisions when you get in this state, and it’s really no fault of your own. Fatigue goes hand and hand with the idea of tilting, which is something that you most certainly want to avoid at all costs. So how do you keep control of your emotional state and stay on top of the game?
Almost every online poker real money player has, at one point or another, gone on tilt. Losing a hand that was nearly unbeatable can make you steam. So can watching an inexperienced player shove all in with garbage, only to suck out on the turn or river. And let’s not even try to talk about how much it hurts to bubble out in a big tournament.
Letting your emotions take control of your game leads to bad decisions. That might not hurt your bankroll much in the short term, but going on tilt too many times, or staying on tilt for too long, will deplete your cash faster than you can put it back. And, to be honest, not many of us really enjoy listening to people who are tilting. Pros who sit and whine for the next five or six hands about how much that bad beat hurt them aren’t impressive.
When you notice that you’re tilting or you feel yourself getting tired, you should immediately do something to take control of the situation. Here are a few tips that will help you preserve your bankroll and your table image. These apply whether you’re playing a live game (casino or at home) or playing online poker games for real money on the Internet. Breathe deeply a few times and think about the situation. Tell yourself that, even though you just took a hit, you’re still fine. Put yourself in the present: this is a new hand, so what just happened has no bearing on the outcome. This is the time where you need to show ultimate focus, as it will save you from a big disaster.
Sometimes it can be best just to take a step back for a little while. You can move back from the hand and try to see it in a new light. If you need to quit playing and get some rest, then do that. Some players feel that they have to keep playing if they are a big stack or they are in dominant position. This isn’t true, though. You will end up hurting yourself in the long run if you play this way.
If you’re tilting because you’ve taken several bad beats or hard hits, you might want to collect your chips and find another table. This is easy to do in cash game at casinos and card rooms: just pick up your stack, bid everybody at the table good-bye, and look for a better place to play. If you’re playing a home game with your friends, they’ll probably understand if you tell them that you need to sit out for a few hands. Many players have “tilt triggers.” Certain situations will put them on tilt even before they start playing the game.
You should learn your triggers and avoid them as much as possible. That way, you won’t doom yourself to failure before the first orbit. Most of these triggers have to do with you being tired or just worn out emotionally. If you can keep control of that situation, then you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with a solid plan for battling tilt. Make sure that you drink plenty of water, get some food into your body, and don’t sit around sipping on a beer while you play. This can tire you out and make you more likely to go on tilt.