There’s a lot of jargon in online poker — fold, flop, call, raise, and position, just to name a few. However, there’s a term that you will need to make sure that you’re very familiar with, especially if you really want to play poker online successfully: tilt. In the world of online poker, tilt is definitely a real subject, and it’s something that can cost you a lot of winnings if you don’t learn what it is and why you must avoid it at all costs.
In a nutshell, tilt is all about emotions. As you might imagine, poker is all about the skill that you possess and your ability to think logically. When you’re not feeling well or you’re upset from something that has nothing to do with the game, you’re not going to be able to give all of your focus and concentration to the cards. This will cause you to make bad decisions, such as keeping a set of hole cards that would be better folded, or jumping into a pot without paying attention to players that may have stronger cards than you.
When you try to play poker based on your emotions, you will usually always end up making bad decisions. While it’s true that poker is a great way to get away from the stress of everyday life, it doesn’t do you any good if you happen to take that stress with you. It’s better to play poker when you’re truly in the right mindset.
However, what does that really mean? Now that you know what tilt really means, you might wonder how you can actually avoid titling in online poker games. The biggest thing that you can do to avoid the whole subject of tilt entirely is to take good care of yourself. For example, you don’t want to play poker while you’re trying to ward off hunger — it’s better to make sure that you eat and have time for your food to digest properly. Stress is another issue that can cause you to go on tilt instead of being logical. If you’re hurting, then it’s better to take time to figure out how to stop the emotional pain that’s throwing your life off balance.
This doesn’t mean that you will have to stop playing forever. However, until you get back in the proper balance, you might want to let other players enjoy the tables — you’ll keep a lot more of your money this way!