The #1 Secret to Winning at Texas Holdem

  • Discipline (Controlling/Eliminating Tilt)

From this parent comes its children:

  • Bankroll management
  • Patience
  • Knowing what games to play in
  • Knowing when to get up

Are a few that come to mind. I will cover those in great detail, but not now. Now you'll learn what tilt is and how you can identify it. Sound good? :)

 

A Definition of Tilt

Tilt is anything you do that is not your best. It is anything that deviates from the best I could possibly play.

Examples:

  • Playing and getting involved with trashy starting hands
  • Taking a shot at $2,000 No-Limit when you are a $200 No-Limit player but you decide that you will win back the chips you lost even if it goes against your bankroll requirements.
  • Using betting tactics like bluffing too much
  • Staying in a bad game
  • Not taking a break often enough
  • And the list could go on forever...

 

The Signs of Tilt

How can you identify this beast before it starts giving your chips away to your fellow poker players?

Obvious signs of tilt are:

  • Anger
  • Frustration
  • Breaking a sweat and getting really hot
  • Making weird new moves (raising, calling, folding)
  • New thoughts popping up (i.e. I am going to get this guy!)
  • New thoughts #2: "I'll just play until I get even"
  • Your friend/spouse/etc comes into the room while you're playing and you tell him/her to piss off and get out (assuming you don't normally do this ;)

 

Identify Your Tilt

Now you know what tilt is and how it might appear in you.

What now you might wonder?

My recommendation would be to identify your own tilt signs.

Take a pen and paper or do this mentally if you don't want to look weird playing live.

Hint: It is easier with pen and paper!

Okay, are you ready?

Think about the last time you went on a tilt rampage, what happened just before?

Was someone playing a trash hand and put a bad beat on you? Or did you play a hand badly? What was the trigger that let this horrible monster ouf of its cage?

When you know this you are already ahead of most poker players out there.

If you remember what you felt, how you thought and what happened the last time tilt overcame you that's excellent! Write it down.

If you're like me and can't remember those things so well then this is where the pen and paper comes in handy.

Next time you play poker make your objective to identify HOW you tilt.

Write down everything odd that goes on inside you, become aware of your emotions and thoughts.

 

What Now?

After you've done this you will know how you tilt and this enables you to quit the game when the signs appear or take a short breather to calm yourself down!

Congratulations!

You have substantially minimized the money you lose while tilting!

This is the beginning of the journey to becoming an expert poker player.

 

Summary

  • Discipline is synonymous to Minimizing Tilt
  • Tilting = Playing bad when you are capable of much more
  • Write down how you tilt
  • Use your discipline muscle to stop playing when tilt rears its ugly head!

 

The #2 Secret? Keep Reading And Find Out

Read the Next Article: The 9 Most Common Mistakes