Your heart is racing; thoughts of riches flow through your mind like tourists through Times Square. Then it happens. The ace sends a sharp coldness through your body as it lands on the river, and you are forced to muck your pocket kings. You feel like a tired and withered boxer, using your last ounce of strength to keep your knees from buckling while being pummeled in the chest by Joe Frazier’s nasty left hook. You take the most painful swallow of your life and realize that you have lost. <READMORE>

How could this happen? How could my opponent get so lucky against me? These are common questions that we ask ourselves when someone sucks out on us. It’s frustrating, yes, but the first step to becoming a successful poker player is to grow to accept these shortcomings; you will not win every time.

Failure to accept this will result in succumbing to our ultimate enemy - tilt. Tilt is a rush of negative emotion caused by bad luck or failure. It strongly clouds our judgement, and it must be avoided. Playing on tilt is like trying to beat Michael Jordan in a one on one basketball match. At first, you play your usual game, but then Mike starts to overpower you. You can’t score; nothing works. Eventually, you just start hurling half court shots, hoping to get lucky. Now Jordan has the complete advantage, and he runs away with the game. If we allow ourselves to tilt in poker, we will fail.

Unfortunately, tilt is unlike many other sicknesses of today. The reality is that no matter how hard you try, it cannot be cured. It’s not as simple as going to the doctor for a flu shot. The key to overcoming tilt is, strangely enough, not to rid yourself of the disease, but instead to destroy the side effects. Nobody will ever stop tilting in their lifetime. Our only goal is to realize what is happening and prevent ourselves from taking half court shots.

As I previously stated, we must understand that we won’t win every time. Our mission is to simply get all of our money in as the favorite. If you are an 80% favorite to win the hand, then expect to lose 20% of the time. The sooner you can accept this and take these bad beats in stride, the quicker you will become a force at the tables.

It’s not so easy, though. Everybody struggles with coming to terms with this concept. Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a very long time to get comfortable with losing. Only a few months ago, it was I that would erupt in a burst of anger when getting unlucky in a home game. Looking back, it is very reassuring to see how far I have progressed, and you can do it too.

The final piece of advice that I can give you is to simply quit if things aren’t going your way. A game of poker lasts a life time. There will always be tomorrow, and quite frankly, quitting early today won’t really affect you in the long run. Playing bad and chasing losses, however, will.

Good luck at the tables.

- Ryan Colombo </READMORE>