A small guide to tilting

How do i handle different forms of tilt?

There are 2 forms of tilt;
- The positive tilt also known as the ‘uptilt’.
- The negative tilt, otherwise known as the downtilt.

The ‘uptilt’
You are on uptilt when you have won a couple of big handes and you feel unbeatable. In other words you have positive variance. This can for example happen when you play on multiple tables and win a couple of KK’s against Aces, you river a player with an all in and you make the nut flush in a short time period. Because of this short period of positive variance it could be that you are chasing more flushes, and you will push all in with hands you would normally not. When you are on uptilt you will not recognize it as fast as you are on downtilt. It can cost you quite a bit of money when you are not playing the top of your game. Uptilt is less negative then a downtilt because of your positive mindset at the moment, after a while you will recognize the gaps in your play because of the uptilt. For example you will not be calling on your gutshots after a hefty raise of your opponent any more. You would do that if you where in uptilt.

What you can do to not go into uptilt is quite simple, have a look at the bigger pots you play (hand history). Because of this you will see the gaps in your play and play better. Analyse the hands and see what you did wrong to not go into uptilt (or stay in uptilt). You will see you are in a period of positive variance and adjust your play accordingly.

The "downtilt"
The negative form of tilting is off course the downtilt., with this form of tilting you generally lose a lot more money then the uptilt. You will suffer of downtilt if you take a couple of suckouts and runner runners in a short time span. Being in downtilt cannot only cost you a lot of money it can also cost you a keyboard, mouse, monitor or a hole in the wall. When you are a high roller you do not care about a keyboard here and there destroyed by your own aggression, but if you play low stakes it could be quite costly.

Some players play higher limits after a couple of bad beats when they are on downtilt to make up for losses. This can be deadly for your bankroll, because it is not big enough to take on these limits. Otherwise you would be playing these limits on a standard basis. Furthermore you are not playing you’re A game at the moment against players that are probably better then the players on the lower limits you normally play.

Its quite hard to not go into downtilt, and it can depend on a lot of different factors. A couple of bad beats or coolers can be the reason why you go on downtilt. But you can go on downtilt even when you don’t get badbeats or coolers but just feel bad because of personal circumstances. The most important thing in this case is that you recognize when you are on downtilt, and do something about it.

Its important when you recognize you are down tilting that you either stop with playing or go and sit out at the table. In the meantime go and read a book or play a game on your console. You can also buy a punching bag and kick and punch the shit out of it for a while (which works for me). When you have the feeling you have cooled down enough analyze the hands when you where coolered or bad beat. Did you really have a lot of bad luck? Or was it your own play that made you loose the hands? After you feel that you have analyzed enough, go and play like you would normally.

A couple of things that can help you not tilt

You can better laugh about a bad beat then swear and bang on your desk. If you laugh about a bad beat or cooler, you stay in a positive emotion. Swearing and banging your desk are negative emotions and will influence your play in a negative way. If you laugh it away (most of the time) you will have better self discipline.

Do not play when you are very tired or you have used drugs or alcohol (a couple of beers is allright tho). This will influence your play in a negative way, and you will make mistakes you would normally not. For some players it can be good to take a little break now and then to let some steam off or analyze hands.


Try and assess how much tables you can play at the same time. Do not play to many or not enough. When you play to many tables you cannot focus enough on your game and you will make more mistakes. Because of this you will go in tilt mode earlier. When you do not play enough tables you will get the feeling you are not taking enough money from your opponents and you could try and make up for it. If you play more tables it will result in less variance (most of the time).

excellent post!

Few comments:

Although generally you could say there are the two types of tilts you descirbed, there's actually a lot more kinds of tilt, to name a few: passive tilt, tight tilt, aggressive tilt, FPS tilt, etc.

I think the two you mentioned are possible causes of tilt, not really tilt in themselves. That is, both running really well and really badly can cause you to tilt.

Tilt is any deviation from your A-game. If you're not playing the absolute best that you can, for whatever reason, you are on tilt.

Also I don't really agree with your everything in your last paragraph. I do agree that if you play too many tables you are not going to focus as much on each play. But there really is no such thing as playing too few tables. It's about balance. The more hands you play per hour (i.e. the more tables you play) the more your hourly rate can be. But your win rate will go down the more tables you play because as we said earlier you have less time to focus on each individual hand, take notes on opponents, analyze situations, etc.

And lastly, the amount of tables in itself really has nothing to do with variance. Variance is a reality of poker, you'll have it regardless of whether you're playing one table or one hundred. If as a result of playing more tables you play tighter and therefore only come up with top tier hands vs your opponents then you might have lower variance but that's a result of playing tighter, not playing more tables.

My $0.2.

Originally Posted by Gobbatino

Few comments:

Although generally you could say there are the two types of tilts you descirbed, there's actually a lot more kinds of tilt, to name a few: passive tilt, tight tilt, aggressive tilt, FPS tilt, etc.

I think the two you mentioned are possible causes of tilt, not really tilt in themselves. That is, both running really well and really badly can cause you to tilt.

Tilt is any deviation from your A-game. If you're not playing the absolute best that you can, for whatever reason, you are on tilt.

Also I don't really agree with your everything in your last paragraph. I do agree that if you play too many tables you are not going to focus as much on each play. But there really is no such thing as playing too few tables. It's about balance. The more hands you play per hour (i.e. the more tables you play) the more your hourly rate can be. But your win rate will go down the more tables you play because as we said earlier you have less time to focus on each individual hand, take notes on opponents, analyze situations, etc.

And lastly, the amount of tables in itself really has nothing to do with variance. Variance is a reality of poker, you'll have it regardless of whether you're playing one table or one hundred. If as a result of playing more tables you play tighter and therefore only come up with top tier hands vs your opponents then you might have lower variance but that's a result of playing tighter, not playing more tables.

My $0.2.

I think the tilt forms you described i would categorize as non optimal playing styles not necessarily as tilt. I do not think if you do not play optimal thats tilt. I think tilt has a bigger impact on your game then not playing an A game.

great post....its nothing new to some people, but it was well put/well thought out and it is always good to refresh and remind yourself the dangers of tilting....

i have found laughing at bad beats to be the best way for me to deal with them also so it was cool seeing that point in there

Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics

great post....its nothing new to some people, but it was well put/well thought out and it is always good to refresh and remind yourself the dangers of tilting....

i have found laughing at bad beats to be the best way for me to deal with them also so it was cool seeing that point in there

Thnx for the positive feedback . I agree with you its nothing new, thats why i posted it in the beginners section cos a lot of advanced players already know this kind of stuff.

Another useful thing to keep you from tilting is playing within your bankroll. If you are playing above your comfort level, any losses are going to make it harder to stay even keel.

Good posts!

Thanks for the info! Something to think about!

You also have the advanced "fake tilt".

Fake tilt is something I'm trying to master...

Had some idiot defend his blind with 10-2 when I raised it up with AKs, managed to get away at the turn when he hit 2pr and raised my 2nd cont bet, he showed me his brilliant pre flop call and I went on a rant, telling him I was pushing with any two on his BB for the next few orbits. Anyway, his BB comes round, I have AQo, and I chance it and put my chips in. He folds, but UTG calls AJs after limping. My hand holds up and I double up thanks to my rant.

Of course, I was looking for a premium hand, and I know only too well AQo is NOT a premium hand, so perhaps this is not fake tilt, but genuine tilt. But at low levels, I was willing to risk it was ahead pf, and figured I was more likely to get called by a weaker ace or jacks-lower than a hand that had me in real trouble. I'd have played AT/99 and weaker as normal. AJ/TT might have tempted me if there were no raises.

Also, genuine tilt is not always a bad thing. Sometimes, after taking a bad hit, I've played like a moron and found myself back in contention. A good example is a recent game where I was card dead for the first hour, then had QQ cracked by ace rag to leave me with less than a quarter-stack. I decided to play as badly as everyone else at the table, and within 10 hands was back above my starting stack, whilst having two or three arguments in the chat about my bad calls and hand selection. Of course, at this stage I tighten up, and soon take out a fish who thinks I'm still on tilt.

I know playing like this will mean I bust out more often than not, but on the occasions it does work, it gives you a table image that promises you action when you DO have a hand.

nice post thanks!

Originally Posted by tugger

Also, genuine tilt is not always a bad thing.

Yes, it is.

Originally Posted by Sir Pawnalot

You also have the advanced "fake tilt".

For sure, ive seen it in action a lot times. Works especially well in HU. Seen guys reload who wanted to leave staying thinking they could make me or my friend reload again and again . You can also make people reload/tilt with these statements:

"JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!"
"I can read you like a comic book (clownfish)"
"I am going to go out and have me a couple of beers now with your money "