Being on a tilt is a poker term used to imply the condition of a player when he is frustrated and on an aggressive losing spree. Sounds like a scary situation but do not be surprised if you find yourself on a tilt every once in a while.



Coming to a tilt situation is not hard but avoiding it is harder. Most players reach a tilt after they have suffered a bad beat. For instance, you had a great set of cards in a game; the flop was a set of reasonably good cards.









Assuming that these are great cards to play with and you decide to do some aggressive betting. Follow this up with a few more good cards. You end up betting a lot of money and finally your one of your opponent has a straight of a flush or something. You end up with potentially good cards but no-win and end up losing a lot of money. In poker, this would be a bad beat.



If you are someone who thinks really positive or just plain lose sight of ground reality, you may tend to bet in a very similar manner in the subsequent games. Since you are playing with opponents, a smart adversary will recognize your vulnerable situation and put you on the defensive.



A player, who in on a beat is quite a lonely and frustrated soul. Most likely, such players are likely to lose perspective of the game and end up playing on cards that would have otherwise been discarded. Any decent opponent will play the bluff at this and the beat player will lose more money. This is when he hits a tilt situation, where the losses far outnumber the wins.



If you are new to Texas Hold ’em bad beats, do not worry. To avoid bad beats, you can do some very basic things, by following tilt situation. Bad beats in Hold 'em are very common. This is especially so because the game is quite dependent on chance and there is no question of chance favoring one player and not the other but it sure seems like that sometimes.



The first rule when playing poker is to play calmly and never bet too aggressively, in the crazy sense. This is also a great way to avoid a bad beat. If you do not bet like crazy, you will not feel frustrated even losing a few dollars. Getting your hopes up and wagering money without substantial results can be quite a bad experience even for very experienced players.



The next situation to tackle if you do end up with a bad beat is to avoid a tilt. A single beat cannot do as much damage as a tilt. The moment you realize you suffered a beat, take break to calm yourself.



If you can leave the table altogether, do so just to unwind and take a break. If you are at home, go dig into the cooler for a cola or a beer. Take the break time to focus on other things. If you are in a casino, try to check out the games at other tables.



Anther smart thing to do to avoid a tilt is to fold your cards after a beat unless you are dealt a formidable hand. Most players should avoid playing unless they are dead sure it is a great textbook "monster" hand.

By: P Drew Laughlin

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PD Laughlin is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Learn-Texas-Holdem-Strategies.com. He provides free information on Poker Skills, Strategies and Systems on his website Learn-Texas-Holdem-Strategies.com.