Time-Zone Tilt

Tilt. We all do it. If someone tells you that they never tilt, they're either lying, or they're delusional. Maybe both. For some people, tilt means turning into a spew monster after a bad beat or two. For others, the process can be more subtle-- just a slight increase in VPIP, or a lapse in playing perfect positional poker, opening ATo from UTG, for example. Or maybe just trying to force situations, like getting stubborn with a steal attempt gone bad. For yet others, tilt can take the form of  Success Syndrome, with Fancy Play Syndrome thrown in for good measure. It doesn't matter what form it takes, tilt gets all of us on a frequent basis. Tommy Angelo calls any poker played that is not your A-game the equivalent of a type of tilt. I think he's right.

For this bug, tilt usually comes in one of two forms: 1) playing when I'm not mentally prepared and/or just trying to squeeze in some hands when I really don't have the time to play; and 2) playing at levels too high for my bankroll. The worst scenario is when I do both. Take this morning for example. I'm on a week-long business trip to Hawaii that came on the heels of another week-long business trip in Minneapolis. All told, in the span of an altogether too short weekend in between, I've been put through a five-hour time difference from the dark, frozen hinterlands of Minnesota one week, to the balmy up-country rural life style of Maui where I'm currently residing. I've never been super adept at adapting to different hotel beds and time zones, so usually what happens in this type of situation is that I lose a lot of sleep the first few nights. Said another way, I often find myself wide awake in the middle of the night with nothing to do. For a poker player, this is a dangerous time to get onto a computer. Trust me, playing no-limit poker at 2am in a sleep-deprived state is not usually a recipe for success.. And yet I do it over and over again anyway. It's called tilt.

Which brings us to this morning at 2am local time. My eyes blink open in the dark and I lay there for a few minutes, willing myself back to sleep. No dice, so I turn on the light and open a book. Sigh. I just can't get into it, so I turn on the computer and do a little web surfing, catch up on work email, prep a little for the next day's meetings. And then it's 2:30am, and I'm out of things to do, and I'm bored... and the Rush tables call to me. Sigh again. I know I shouldn't play poker, but I tell myself I'll play a super tight, nitty game. Just get a hundred hands or so in and play cautious ABC poker. Don't run any big bluffs. Don't get tricky with 3bets OOP from the blinds. I know I'm tired and not capable of playing perfect poker, but I also know that I can still keep myself out of trouble. Just steal a little and wait for some good cards. If I drop a few bucks, so be it. If I pick up a big hand, great, but if not, no big deal. Just kill an hour or so and then see if I can get back to sleep.

So I jump into a $50NL game. I make a few bucks, and then lose a few bucks back. I'm sitting right at $50 in my stack when this happens:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com CO ($50) Button ($36.35) SB ($61.35) Hero (BB) ($50) UTG ($13.25) UTG+1 ($73.30) MP1 ($36) MP2 ($32.30) MP3 ($53.60)  

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, A 4 folds, MP3 bets $1.25, 3 folds, Hero raises to $4, MP3 calls $2.75  

Flop: ($8.25) 4, 9, A (2 players) Hero bets $5, MP3 raises to $13, Hero raises to $46 (All-In), MP3 calls $33  

The villain was a 35/25 LAGgy player, and my notes on him said he likes to get it in PF light, and he likes to 3bet bluff on the flop and turn. In other words, he had a pretty wide range on the flop, including a bunch of different aces, big broadway hands, and the like. Even if I narrow his range to say the top 10% of hands (excluding AA-JJ, because he would have gotten it all-in PF with those hands), I'm a huge favorite in the hand. Something like 75:25 on the flop. But then of course, this happens:

Turn: ($100.25) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)  

River: ($100.25) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)  

Total pot: $100.25 | Rake: $3 

Results: Hero had Q, A (flush, Ace high). MP3 had K, A (flush, Ace high). 

Outcome: MP3 won $97.25 

Grrrrr! That sucks. No, I think to myself. That SUCKS. GRRRRR!

But then after further reflection I think, "settle down. It's not the results that matter. You did everything right in the hand. TPGK with the second nut flush draw against a loose aggro player. Do this a hundred times, and I'll make money."

So I take a breath and get back on the horse. I"m feeling pretty good, actually. I'm bobbing and weaving and making mini-moves and generally outplaying the opp. Woo hoo. Before you know it, I'm actually up nearly $30. I'm more than halfway to winning back the $50 lost earlier..... but then this mini crash and burn occurs:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com Button ($20.65) SB ($50) BB ($26.70) Hero (UTG) ($79.15) UTG+1 ($19) MP1 ($34.25) MP2 ($68.20) MP3 ($52.10) CO ($81.20)  

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K Hero bets $1.50, 2 folds, MP2 calls $1.50, 1 fold, CO calls $1.50, 1 fold, SB raises to $8.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $29, 1 fold, CO calls $27.50, SB raises to $50 (All-In), Hero raises to $79.15 (All-In), CO calls $50.15  

Flop: ($210.30) 6, K, 4 (3 players, 2 all-in) 

Turn: ($210.30) Q (3 players, 2 all-in) 

River: ($210.30) A (3 players, 2 all-in)  

Total pot: $210.30 | Rake: $3 

Results: SB had A, A (three of a kind, Aces). Hero had K, K (three of a kind, Kings). CO had J, J (one pair, Jacks). 

Outcome: SB won $149, Hero won $58.30

Yes, I did everything right again. I got the money in PF. And then I spiked that beautiful K on the flop! WHOOOO HOOOOO...... and then a flush draw comes on the flop and the opp has picked up a bunch of outs. Doesn't matter, however, and he spikes his set on the river and I'm toast. Yes, I won the side pot, and yes, I was still above my original buy-in, but something in me snaps. And I knew it, but I couldn't stop myself. Blame it on tilt.

The next thing you know I'm in a $100NL game, way outside my bankroll abilities, and forcing action and making dubious calls left and right. Here's the wake-up hand I had that got me to finally shut the computer down:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($70.50) UTG ($49.50) Hero (UTG+1) ($105.40) MP1 ($40.50) MP2 ($104.65) MP3 ($195.15) CO ($185.75) Button ($42.90) SB ($67.95)  

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 10, 10 1 fold, Hero bets $2.85, 4 folds, Button calls $2.85, 2 folds  

Flop: ($7.20) 9, 6, 7 (2 players) Hero bets $4.55, Button calls $4.55  

Turn: ($16.30) 5 (2 players) Hero bets $10, Button raises to $35.50 (All-In), Hero calls $25.50  

River: ($87.30) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in) Total pot: $87.30 | Rake: $3 

Results: Button had Q, Q (straight, nine high). Hero had 10, 10 (straight, ten high). 

Outcome: Hero won $84.30

Wow, did I make a horrendous call on the turn. Beluga theorem says I was beat six ways to Sunday. What the hell was I thinking? Yes, I got lucky and sucked out, but the win felt like a slap in the face. In the aforementioned $50NL hands, I played correctly and lost. I'm supposed to embrace those situations. In this $100NL hand, I played terribly and got rewarded. Not good. Worse, I could/should have lost the hand. Worse, the villain could have had a full stack and I could have been felted. Yikes.

I ended up in the black about $15 for the hour long 3am session, but it could just have easily been a trip into the red for well over a hundred. 

Blame it on sleep deprivation? Blame it on time zones? Nope. Blame it on bad judgment to play when I'm tired. Blame it on playing on stakes that are too high for my 'roll. In other words, blame it on tilt.

All-in for now...

-Bug