5 Ways To Conquer Poker Tilt

The river card peels off, it is harmless, until your opponent flips over his hand. You've just lost the huge pot on the river to a runner runner straight. You feel yourself getting warmer and the frustration builds up until you just don't care about what happens.

The next hour you play horribly and throw away money because you just don't care. It is all so unfair, how could he win? He was under 1% to win it when the money went in on the flop. Ridiculous!

Does this sound familiar? I know it happened to me in the beginning and still does, but not on such a large scale. Most are in denial and say that they never act like this, but I can guarantee that in some way or another money is being thrown away when it could be kept in your pocket. You know what I am talking about don't you? You wouldn't be reading this otherwise.

There are simple steps to eliminate and minimize this kind of behavior. I call this poker tilt or simply tilt.

In simple words, it is when you lose control that bad things happen. It often looks like you have control when you do not.

Here are 5 secrets to getting closer to your black belt in tiltlessness:

1. Fear - There is fear in everyone of us. Some have more, some have less. It doesn't make you any better or worse than anyone else. It does sound new-agey, but trust me. After over 3 years of playing poker and battling with my inner demons, I know there is truth to this. I am one of those people who try stuff out before telling others about it. And this time I am telling you that you have to identify why you are tilting. You cannot banish something before you have identified it.

2. Priorities - What kind of priorities do you have when you play poker? Is your #1 priority to have fun? Is it to throw money away being raging mad and yelling at people? I'd prefer the former, I think :) Learn what is standing in your way of having fun, or keeping it fun. Sometimes you can begin a poker session at the best of moods, but after a few hours you stop playing and tell everyone to bugger off. You have to know what you want to get out of it before you go in. Of course we all want tons of money but realistically. Do you want to have fun? Improve as a poker player? It is not really realistic to expect thousands of dollars to come to you instantly. It will come to you if you study the game and improve every day. Be patient and in the long-run it will come. Poker is not a short-term game.

3. Observation - When I started observing myself, everything changed. Progress became quicker and everything became clearer. I know many players who have reached a plateau in their game, because they deny their weaknesses. You have to observe yourself and find what it is you are doing wrong. What are you bad at? It is not meant for you to be hard on yourself. It is meant for you to be able to improve. You can also more easily avoid your weaknesses at the poker table if you know what they are.

4. Quitting A Game - The best players in the world know exactly what I am talking about. Quitting a game when you start playing bad is something you too have to learn. This will be useful for you even if you are playing for the fun of it. If you start playing bad that means something is affecting you. What is it? The bad beat or something else? Has it affected your amount of fun? If no then keep on playing! If you are an aspiring professional poker player then you have to quit whenever your game is slipping. This is absolutely crucial to your long-term success. If you just take one poker tip out of this article then let it be this one.

5. Just Having Fun - It is easy for our minds to make everything complex. Wanting more and more. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy what we have. This is exactly you must remind yourself what your purpose for playing poker is. If it is having fun then have fun. Otherwise you could be doing something else that is fun. When I focus on keeping the game fun I win more and feel a lot better. I prefer it that way :)

If you desire to take your poker game to the next level then go to texas holdem poker 101 where you will discover an immense resource of free poker tips written by a professional gambler.

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