Tilt Mantras

Read an interesting article by Jon Vorhous the other day on the subject of Tilt. In it, he writes about some of the things he tries to tell himself when getting tilty at the tables. While I'm not sure how useful these really are, I did find them entertaining, if not a little thought-provoking:

• We're born broke; we die broke; everything else is just variance.
• If it won't matter in 20 years, it doesn't matter now.
• A bad beat is just a temporary setback; [it will correct itself].
• [Shit] happens.

He also embraces the concept of a stop loss; i.e., walking away when "you've lost more than you can reasonably expect to win in the next session."

And finally, when you need something to break the mental logjam/anger/tilt of a bad beat or session, Vorhous recommends forcing yourself to think about something else in your life that gives you a feeling of success and/or pleasure. He gave the example of once tilting on a golf course. After a bad shot, his playing partner asked him, "So, how's that screenplay gig coming along." This took Vorhous' mind away from the game, and supplanted something positive in its place. His game immediately improved.

The mind truely is a bizarre and fascinating place.

All-in for now...
-Bug