Poker strategy – avoiding the tilt

A poker player goes on "tilt" when he is playing in a different way from normal - a way driven by emotion because of what's just happened in the game.

Rather than stick to his normal game plan, the player on tilt does things that he wouldn't do under normal circumstances. He starts to make over-aggressive bets, stays in the betting for too long when he should be getting out and totally loses his discipline and self-control.

So how does it happen? Why does a poker player go on tilt?

The main reason, in fact the reason in the overwhelming amount of times a poker player goes on tilt, is that he has just suffered a bad loss when he had expected to win the hand, in other words a "bad beat".

This causes a massive surge in emotion in the poker player which cannot be controlled by the average person. Emotions are far more powerful than our powers of reasoning and logic, they will always win the battle of thought processes.

In his mind the player sees all his patient poker stategy that he's used to build up his chip stack being blown away in an instant, and the natural response is to try and recover the deficit just as quickly. The brain is trying to win back all that lost money as fast as possible resulting in the poker player playing hands he would not normally play and calling bets he would fold nine times out of ten.


8 Tips for a Successful Poker All-in Strategy

All-in is a betting strategy used in today's most popular poker game, No limit Texas Holdem. When you declare that you're going "All-in", you are putting all your chips into the pot on that hand. This could be a do or die move by you, depending on whether you have more or less chips than an opponent who calls your bet. If you have less starting chips and lose the all-in, you are out of the game.

This is what makes all-in such a powerful strategy in Texas Holdem poker, but also what makes it such a dangerous one. Go all-in and you can be finished on one turn of a card.

Some poker players however miss the point a bit with their all in bets and lose out on opportunities to take advantage of a strategically placed bet.

Here are 08 tips that should help you to decide when the right time is to go all-in.

1. Don't just wait until you've got the "nuts". If you do this you will be very predictable and opponents will simply fold to your all-in.

2. Remember that it is much easier to make an all-in bet than to call one. All you need to do to win the hand is bet when you're sure your opponent will fold.

3. If you are a strong chip leader you can bully your opponents into folding. You will lose some of your chips if you lose an all-in, they will lose them all and be out of the game.

4. Don't go all-in on a stone cold bluff. Always make sure that even though you might not have the best hand, you have a chance of making it with the cards that are still to be dealt. Put another way, leave yourself with "outs".

5. Beware of going all-in with a short stack of chips. You are far more likely to get called by a big stack because if you lose, you will be out of the tournament. You need to have an almost unbeatable hand in these circumstances.

6. If you are low on chips, use the all-in to your advantage if you get a monster hand. You will almost certainly get called and you might even get more than one caller so instead of doubling your money you can triple it or even better.

7. If you're short stacked, don't let your chips drain away with the blinds. Make a stand with an all-in while you still have a chance to steal the blinds. If you get called you can still win the pot and be back in the game.

8. If somebody goes all in against you, use the previous tips above to decide why he did. Does he only go all-in with the nuts? Is short stacked? Is he trying to bully you to get you to fold? Weigh up the situation very carefully before deciding whether to call.

Use these tips and you’ll soon be cleaning up at the poker tables.
 
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