Poker Emotions
Increasing emotional control is one of the best things you can do to increase the probability of making it as a poker player. Fully commit yourself to doing whatever it takes to improve in this. Although the universality of basic human emotions has been recognized i, the role, function, and importance of emotional intelligence are often undermined. Emotional Intelligence is a social skill. If you play on a Merge network poker site like Carbon Poker, RPM Poker or Lock Poker, try typing one of the words below into to the chat box for animated emoticons or smilies to appear. Note: This list was compiled in 2010 and some smilies are not working at the time of writing. Check here for the updated list for 2011.
Hi guys. Its about time we got this list updated. I have added a few of your finds and marked a couple as no longer working (dead).
These will work on US friendly poker sites like Carbon Poker or any other site on the Merge poker network. Simply type one of the words below into the chat box at the poker table, hit enter and watch an animated emoticon or smiley appear.
Let me know about any new emoticons you find. Some of the new ones are pretty cool and there are many more left undiscovered, apparently.
all in
angry
applaud
bling (new)
blush
bye
card dead
cigar
clap (dead)
cluck (dead or seasonal)
come at me bro (new)
cooler
crash (dead)
crazy
crushed (dead)
cupid
dance
devil
diet (dead)
doh
donk
donkey
drunk
eek
evil
fart
fuuu
fish
flutter
friend
gangsta (new)
hater
heater
hello
hi
hypnocall
hypnofold
its a trap
kiss
knockout
laugh
lets go (dead)
lol
loser
luckbox (dead)
mad
nudie run (dead)
oops
ouch
phew
popcorn
punch
rockon
rofl
roll
save my daddy (dead)
save the panda (dead)
shark
shocked
shrug
sick
staying alive
streaker
teehee
thanks for the money (dead)
this is poker
thumbsup
tilt
turkey (seasonal)
turkeyshoot (seasonal)
umad
unsubscribe
valentine (seasonal)
violin
watcher (dead)
whosyourdaddy
zzz
đ
đ
So, whatâs your favourite Carbon Poker emoticon?
Thanks for your contributions so far.
If you are interested to get the best rakeback deals and private promotions on poker sites head on to PokerPro website (PS: there are plenty of options to choose from also for the USA players).
Many things can affect your gameâs outcome, such as your skills, luck, and emotions. However, there is one pitfall that many professionals always warn beginners never to fall intoâtilt. Itâs the single, most significant factor contributing to many poker playersâ downfall, even professionals and heavy grinders.
Tilt in poker refers to a state of mind where the player loses control of logical reasoning. It happens when a player lets his emotions control his actions, blocking any observation and knowledge about poker. A player in tilt plays too aggressively, which often leads to a drastic loss of chips.
Tilt is a crucial part of poker, and understanding it is one of the first things that every poker player should do. Weâll cover everything about it in great detail and share some tips to avoid or, at least, minimize your tendency to tilt while in the game. So, read on!
If you have enough of tilting and want to get rid of it forever, then books from Jared Tendler are a must-read for you. You can get the books on Amazon here.
Understanding Tilt in Poker
Players tend to blame too many things when they lose a game, but one of the most common reasons is tilt. Itâs normal for anyone to bleed chips when playing because most players will lose most of the hands they play. Itâs okay; it means youâre playing sound poker, and youâll be fine as long as you offset your losses with big wins.
However, when a player tilts, every strategy that he worked hard to master becomes useless.
Thatâs because a sound poker is no longer an option for a player who tilts, and his emotions will be the basis of all his actions. Instead of gradually losing chips and waiting for a win to offset his losses, he wonât see small opportunities to save his entire game.
Poker is a very emotional game, and when thereâs money involved, you can expect that itâll amplify the tendency of a player to tilt. This state of mind happens in any game format, from casual games to MTTs and micro-stakes to high-stakes. More importantly, it can happen to anyone and is the most common reason why many players lose their games.
How Can Tilt Be So Devastating?
Winning in poker requires the right combination of skills and luck. However, in more competitive games, it always favors a more skilled player. It requires a keen observation, sound reasoning, and continuous calculation of poker maths and probabilities to make the most profitable plays possible.
When a player tilts, he loses everything that has helped him build or protect his stack. Heâll play too aggressively without considering anything that happens at the table. Itâs even possible for him to bet all of his chips in one round, despite having a relatively weak hand. Without the intent to protect his chips, anyone can lose a lot from a single round.
Itâs one of the most important things that a poker player should understand when playing. Tilt can happen to anyone, and it wonât warn you when it hits (although with the help of the books I linked to above, you can recognize when you are about to go into tilt).
As long as another player hits your triggers, youâll tilt. What makes it even worse is that it can be difficult for a player to detect because it disguises itself as âbalancing outâ your game.
For example, if youâve been successfully playing tight throughout the game, and a player hits your triggers, youâll lose emotional control and start playing loose. Betting without careful consideration about your odds can be detrimental to all the strategies youâve worked hard to master.
How Can You Avoid Tilt?
Tilt can happen to anyone at any time. The sooner you understand it, the easier itâll be for you to avoid tilting. However, it requires a lot of practice to be successful, and even that wonât guarantee that you wonât tilt in-game.
The best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with the following to minimize your tendency to be too emotional when playing:
Understanding Your Tilt Triggers
Different players have different triggers. It can be losing a big pot, having a cooler or a bad beat, or, sometimes, even winning a considerable amount.
Knowing what your triggers are will make it easier for you to play more games without tilting. Even if, for some reason, you get too emotional, itâll still be easier to control because you know if an event triggers it or just because youâre running bad.
Thereâs a huge difference in running bad and tilt, but many players misunderstand the two. When youâre running bad, youâre either getting bad cards in a good table or good cards in a bad table for a certain period. Itâs one of the most common tilt triggers, but it doesnât mean that a player only tilts for running bad. If you know that itâll have a massive impact on how you play games, itâll be easier to control yourself and not fall prey to tilts.
Knowing your triggers may sound simple, but itâll require you to play more games. Like mastering any skill in poker, the more hands you play, the better you get. You may even lose a lot of chips in the process, but itâs one of the first things that you need to determine if you want to be a more competitive poker player.
Tilt triggers depend on a player, but what separates a professional from beginners is the ability to determine and control these triggers.
Bad Beats and Coolers Are Okay
Bad beats and coolers can happen to anyone, but donât be affected by it. In fact, we suggest not to focus too much on it because itâs irrelevant when studying poker. Any player with a strong hand will do anything to try and extract value from it. However, there are times when your opponent gets an even better hand, which is another common tilt trigger.
What you need to understand, though, is that coolers and bad beats are irrelevant and donât have an EV that makes your moves wrong. One of the most crucial things you need to understand in poker is that when you have a strong hand that loses to an even stronger hand, it doesnât necessarily mean that your play is bad.
It takes the right combination of skills, foresight, and intuition to get away from a cooler. Even professionals experience bad beats and coolers, but what makes them excellent players is they donât let it affect their emotions. Emotions make you a weak player, and thinking about an irrelevant hand wonât bring anything to the table other than being a burden throughout your game.
No One Can Play the Perfect Poker
The biggest misconception that many players make when theyâre starting to learn poker is that they need to play the perfect poker to win in tournaments. Itâs definitely not the case, and in fact, professionals do the opposite when theyâre playing poker.
When youâre at the poker table, youâll lose a lot of games. In a professional game, the only thing that separates winners from losers is the ability to protect their stack. They seize the opportunity to offset their losses by extracting value when possible.
Professionals know that playing the perfect poker is impossible. Instead, they try to commit fewer mistakes than the other players and ensure that they take advantage of premium hands.
If youâre sitting at a table, always trying to play the perfect poker, youâll tilt in almost every game you play. Always remember that even though winning in poker heavily relies on your skills, luck will still play a role in whether you win a game or not. When luck is in play, itâs impossible for anyone to win every hand or never lose many chips.
Be Ready Physically and Mentally
Poker may be a game where the players sit at the table for hours, but it requires massive physical and mental preparedness.
Itâs okay to play casual games when youâre tired, but never play money games when you donât feel prepared physically and mentally.
Itâs easier to fall prey to your emotions if youâre tired. Since your mind is constantly analyzing everything that happens at the table, itâll be easier for you to lose control of your strategies. So before you start a game, be sure that you have enough rest and leave all the problems you have off the table.
These are simple factors that can affect how you play games, ultimately influencing how easy you tilt. Remember, every player at the table is playing against you, and they will do everything to take you down. The player who can keep focused longer wins more games and takes home the pot.
Stay Cool Even if Youâre Winning
Tilts arenât always related to the negative things that happened while playing. Sometimes, players can tilt right after winning a massive pot or when theyâre running good. You know how that feels, right? It feels like itâs your lucky night, and you can never lose a game. The more hands you win, the more invincible you feel.
Unfortunately, as you let this feeling surface and take control of your game, the closer you get to tilting. The more you feel unbeatable, the more aggressive you get. Even if you think you canât lose a single hand, one wrong table could make you lose all of your chips.
Remember, tilts can happen to anyone, and itâs not always related to negativity. Be wary of anything you feel while youâre at the table because these can cause uncontrollable emotion. Whether youâre running good or bad, keep yourself in check and never let anything, other than sound reasoning and keen observation, dictate how you play your games.
Accept That Tilt Is a Part of Poker
Even professionals experience tilt when theyâre at the table, especially when theyâre at tournaments. However, what separates professionals from beginners is understanding that itâs only a part of poker and doesnât really determine their overall skills.
Knowing that tilt is a part of poker will make it easier for you to avoid being too emotional. Although itâs a skill that anyone can learn, no one can guarantee 100% control when at the table. Not knowing about tilt or denying it when you start to play using your emotions is very risky.
If youâre playing poker and not expecting tilt to happen in your games, itâll be easier for you to get carried away by your emotions. Being the best player at the table is the most significant factor that affects your chances of winning. However, anyone who tilts, regardless of how good they are, will always be the sucker.
Poker Game Emotions
Ignore What Others Say or Do at the Table
One of the biggest tilt triggers is allowing words and actions to affect you.
Poker Player Emotions
When playing poker, everyone at the table intends to take your chips away from you. They will do everything they can to make this task easier, including any attempts to tilt you. Itâs not against the rules to talk to other players, and trash talk wonât cost them anything.
Expect that the other players will tell you anything that can be an emotional trigger to distract and make your strategies less effective. Letting these things get through you will only be detrimental to your game. When youâre at the poker table, none of the players in front of you is your friend; they wonât play nice, and they wonât do anything to help you defend your chips.
Whatever they say or do when at the table stays at the table. Although poker shouldnât be personal, some players will take too seriously. If youâve been watching televised tournaments, weâre sure that youâve seen countless players who are using these techniques to tilt their opponents. Allowing other players to let it surface speaks more about your skills than your opponentâs personality.
Follow Your Guts When It Tells You to Fold
Another massive tilt trigger is regret. Poker may be a game of skill, but there are times when intuition plays a significant role. Many players claim, after losing a massive pot, that they knew they shouldâve folded. Of course, thereâs no way to verify these claims, but weâve been through similar situations. Losing a massive pot because we didnât follow our guts is a powerful tilt trigger.
When you have doubts, or thereâs something that makes you want to fold your cards, it would be best to follow it. Itâll save you from the frustration of losing chips and from a potentially devastating tilt trigger.
Remember, you donât have to play all the hands you draw. You only need a handful of big wins to offset your losses and win the game. Folding one hand, even if it has playable odds, wonât affect your chances of winning, but making one huge call on the river, when you should have clearly make a fold, will have a great impact on your end result.
Learning how to control your emotions is one of the skills you need to be a competitive player. However, putting yourself in a position that prevents you from being in an emotional situation is the epitome of professionalism. Itâs the skill that separates the best players from those who lose more chips than they earn.
Poker Emoticons
Knowing When to Quit the Game
Now that you have a deeper understanding of tilt, how it happens, and how it can affect your games, the last time that you need to understand is knowing when to quit your games.
Leaving a poker game was never a sign of weakness. In fact, it displays self-awareness and self-control, which are two of the best traits that an excellent player has.
Itâs not easy to quit games, especially when youâre at the extremesâwinning or losing too many games. It forces you to keep playing, always going for that one final game where you can get back everything you lost or to win more chips. Remember, each round you stay at the table could be the game where you tilt and potentially lose everything you have.
Of course, you canât just leave any game whenever you want. So if youâre still trying to master how you can control your emotions, it would be best to practice at casual games and SNGs. This game format will allow you to leave tables whenever you want, which comes in handy whenever you feel that youâre closing to tilt. But you canât just simply leave a poker tournament.
Tilt happens to anyone, and you can never escape it when youâre at the table. But if you want to be a competitive player or a heavy grinder trying to build your bankroll, controlling tilt is one of the best skills you can develop.
Conclusion
Tilt is the most dangerous state of mind that a poker player can get into because it makes them play too aggressively. It eliminates most forms of logical reasoning and observation, making it possible to lose most of his chips in one game. Aside from that, players who tilt make their decisions emotion-based, making them the weakest player on the table.
Poker Emotions
These are the reasons why most professionals consider tilt as the single most destructive factor in poker. Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to eliminate or, at least, minimize your tendency to tilt. Doing so can increase your chances of performing better than most of your opponents.