Colorado poker players: Beware the demon tilt

By Mark Lasser

Tilt. It’s the demon that lurks beneath the surface of even the best players. It’s about losing control and playing with raw emotion instead of brains as a result of getting beaten by a ridiculous long shot or a player that has no idea what he’s doing. Tilt is the opposite of a Zen state. It’s Elmer Fudd blowing steam out his ears as Bugs Bunny gets away again and again and again despite having laid the
perfect trap.

The problem with losing your cool is you’ll probably play badly. You’ll play cards you should be folding. You’ll lose even more. Even worse, the other players at the table will figure you to be playing poorly and will attack with a vengeance.

How do you know if you’re on tilt?
If you’re feeling red in the face and 10 degrees warmer after getting beat, you’re half way there. If you start thinking about jumping over the table and putting a death grip on the throat of the guy who beat you, well, you’re 100 percent there. If you decide to play the next hand regardless of what you’re dealt, you’re also on tilt. If you decide to play the next hand for no other reason than the guy who beat you with bupkis just raised, you’re on tilt as well.

I used to play an older guy at the Bellagio who sort of looked like an overweight version of Mr. Clean and had no mathematical sensibility at all. I called him Mr. Lucky, which usually got him angry enough to play even worse than his natural proclivity. I loved putting him on tilt because it was easy, and, more importantly, it was very profitable for me. Mr. Lucky usually made the rounds of 8-16 and sometimes 15-30 Texas Hold’em. He played loose and overestimated his chances of making his hands. He’d raise like mad with any pair and turn red if he didn’t make his set. “I’ve missed my set the last 10 times. I’m so unlucky.” I almost laughed. The odds of flopping a set with a pair are about 10.8 percent. Missing 10 times in a row is well within just one standard deviation. The madder he got, the worse he played.

For those interested, a standard deviation measures probability of distributions or results, like making a set on the flop with a pair. One standard deviation typically encompasses 68 percent of a bell curve. Can you miss 10 sets with a pair and be within 68 percent of all the possible outcomes? Sure. I’ve missed my sets sometimes 30 times in a row. Not fun, but it can happen. No one seems to think it’s crazy abnormal to make three sets in a row. That’s just fun. Of course, Mr. Lucky would stay in too long chasing two outs and would lose almost every night.

So, what should you do when you recognize you’re about to go on tilt? Well, the most sensible thing for most people to do is get up and take a break. Go get a hot dog or a cup of coffee. Get out of the poker room. Even get out of the casino for 10 minutes and breathe some of that great high country air. That’s a great way to reset. If you have enough control to just let it go, simply fold the losing hand quietly, don’t whine or bellyache, and make sure you check the next few hands to ensure you’re not playing rubbish. I know it’s easier said then done. But figure out how to stay in control and your wallet will
thank you.

~Mark B. Lasser is Denver writer and international poker player. He regularly plays in Colorado, Arizona, California and Nevada. Readers can send questions and comments to him at ColoradoPokerMark@comcast.net.