While there are many reasons for this, the two things that I think would help most players make the transition to winning players, is how to handle a losing streak, and how not to tilt during a bad session, or after suffering a bad beat. There is no magic formula that will lead to being able to overcome tilt, in fact it is something that in my opinion, is never completely overcome. There certainly are things you can do that will help you stay in control, and know when its the right time to quit.

Early in my career I developed a destructive tendency that I observe in a high percentage of players. When I was winning I played until I felt like quitting, and when I was losing I played until I got even or was truly exhausted. Talk about a recipe for disaster. We may not want to believe it but almost everyone plays better when they are winning, and even more importantly, plays worse when they are losing. In this day of 24 hour casinos and round the clock internet action there is no longer any reason to ever put in hours at less than your best.

Recently, while reading Ace on the River, Barry Greenstein's book, there were a few things that struck me about his play and the big game in general. Barry is known for his self control and analytical approach to poker, and is among the best in the world, but guess what... HE TILTS too. And when he finds himself playing badly he can not always change what he is doing. When he can't, he quits. Sure sounds simple. He talks about going to the bathroom after making a bad play, washing his face, and setting an ultimatum for himself. Play better or quit. I used to think there was great shame in not being able to have complete control over my emotions. I did not believe in quitting good games and thought that I was strong enough not to tilt when I was losing. In theory that's fine, but for the vast majority of players it is not the case. Save the marathons for when you are winning, your confidence is high, and your opponents fear and respect you.

Another thing that often led to me thinking I was still playing well, when in reality I was not, was not accurately understanding when I was on tilt. I thought of tilt in an out of control locomotive, barreling towards disaster sense. That almost never happened to me so I concluded that I didn't tilt. In fact, there were many times that my game had slightly deteriorated. You don't have to be playing terrible to have your emotions negatively impact your game. Any time you are making mistakes, you otherwise would not have made, no matter how slight the mistakes are, you need to think carefully about if you should continue in the game.

Another widely understood concept, that still negatively affects many players, is what Caro dubbed being "past the point of pain." To those who are unfamiliar with this it is the idea that at a certain point additional losses do not seem important in light of the already substantial loss. When your losing 4k it is easy to drop another 3k without really feeling any worse or realizing what has happened. You have reached terminal velocity, as far as pain is concerned. When your thinking rational this concept is easy to understand, but in the heat of battle it is easy to ignore rational thinking if you let yourself. Do not turn a bad session into a catastrophic one, just because your numb to the pain of losing.

For me, the single thing that helps me avoid tilt the most is to constantly focus on "staying in the moment." I think this is so important that it can not be overemphasized. Thinking about the past (how much you have lost) or the future (how am I going to win it back) is futile. These things are not under your control. The only way you can start to rebuild and recover is to make good decisions now. If I feel like my emotions may be starting to impact my play I start to look at each hand as a string of proposition bets, and focus on taking the action that I think is best. By focusing only on the decision I need to make right now and what the best action is I find my self less susceptible to making bad plays with the ulterior motive of getting even.

Over the years I have picked up a lot of tips that help me stay on an even keel when i am playing. Alas, I am still not perfect, and I think very, few people are in terms of tilt and letting our emotions get the best of us. In fact, a terrible session where I turned a 4k loss into a 7k loss (recognize those figures from the past the point of pain paragraph). That prompted me to start thinking about the things I did wrong in that session and why I did not utilize some of the tools I developed to keep from tilting. Hopefully, this may help some of you avoid some of the mistakes I have made (and to a lesser degree continue to make). If we can realize when we are not playing our best, make one good decision at a time, and when that fails know when its time to quit, I think our bankrolls will thank us for it.