Tilt is playing worse because of emotion: frustration after a bad run, the urge to get even, anger over a bad beat. It's invisible and expensive — no amount of technique survives decisions made in the heat of the moment.
How to tell you're tilted
- •You play more hands than usual.
- •You call 'out of curiosity' or out of anger.
- •You tell yourself 'one more hand to get even'.
- •You move up in stakes to recover fast.
The rule that saves you money
Have a stop-loss: a loss limit (in money or in big pots lost in a row) that, once you hit it, takes you off the table no arguments. Set it cold, before you play, so you're not deciding in the heat of the moment.
💡 Judge your decisions, not your results. You can play perfectly and lose to luck; that's not playing badly. The money you don't lose while tilted is money earned.
🎓 Lesson: master tilt→