To Tilt or Not to Tilt?

As you saw from my previous posts I tend to make a consistent profit on NL cash. However the biggest weakness in my game is when the tilt monster kicks in. When I started I tried to convince myself I was always in control of my emotions. However through analysing my game there are definitely certain situations where I loose control and play awful poker. This is always a period after I loose a pot where I cant believe the guy was in the pot to make the beat. For example a few nights ago I have KK on the button, I get 3 limpers, I raise to $6. The small blind calls me. Flop 4 8 J. Pretty good flop for me but there is 2 hearts and I don’t want o muck about. He bets $1 (weak bet) so I make a pot size bet of $15 as his $1 looks like a stopper bet to make the flush, He calls, the turn is 10 spades. He now bets $1 again, I bet $26 and he raises the minimum, no I’m a bit worried by trips but I have played this guy a lot and he’s a bit of a fish, I still put him on a weak pair or a draw and this is his effort to take the pot (weak min raise) so I put him all in for another $67. He calls in an instant and turns over A 8!!!!! Sweet. The river brings the obvious A and im sucked out. This is when my blood boils and for the next 40 mins play so aggressive and loose that I steam away more money. If a guy makes move and gets lucky or has a good hand and gets lucky then I generally can accept it, when a numpty just plays bad and hits I loose the plot. What I should do (as stated in previous post) is accept these guys will hit occasionally and be thankful they keep playing bad as its how we make the easy money.

However this post was not meant as a rant, I have realised something in the last few weeks that part of my tilt play is actually quite good!!. When I go on tilt certain parts of my game improve. T he extra aggression I show especailly pre flop and on the flop often means I can at times dominate a table. The only problem being on tilt I do this from any position and also don’t back off if I meet resistance and my hand is weak. If I can add the discipline of position and laying down hands in my 'A' game to the the aggression part of tilting, my game definitely goes up a level. You can develop an image to get paid off when you have a hand and pick up lots of small pots when in position.

For example during my last ‘tilt’ I built up a aggressive image but was on a passive table and met little resistance. Slowly I came out of the tilt but kept my aggression up as I was dominating the table. A few new players came to the table and I kept the same aggression but without the recklessness of not folding as in my tilt play. Suddenly my game felt more complete, I was taking lots of pots in position and getting paid of when I had a hand. One example being me dealt QJ, my normal raise pre flop, flop comes JQQ, I bet again as I had been ($8). A guy re-raises me so I move all in, he calls me with 10 10! He typed in the chat box that he figured I had nothing and called me a maniac. I am generally a tight aggressive player but at times my normal game lacks some aggression especially pre flop, through looking at my game when tilting I have seen how I can move my game up a level and found I’m controlling more pots as a result

Tilting is definitely bad and I haven’t mastered the art of avoiding it yet, the main reason I loose when I tilt is the recklessness of not folding or playing out of position too often letting people trap me. On tilt I will call when I know I’m behind I the hop I bust someone and feel better, that’s just BAD poker. I will post next time I tilt in an effort to control this bad habit I need to eliminate