Tilt: what finally helped you control it?

Kasztor007 · Jan 5, 2026

I’m curious how others learned to deal with tilt.
For me, it has been (and still partly is) one of my biggest enemies in poker.

To be honest, I’ve burned through profits– sometimes even weeks of solid play because of tilt. Not because I didn’t know the correct decisions, but because I stayed emotionally stuck in the game.

I’m actively working on it now and it happens less often, but it’s still not perfect. Sometimes I manage to quit in time, sometimes the “I need to win it back” mindset still kicks in.

I’d love to hear:
– was there a specific turning point for you?
– any rules, routines, or did it just take a lot of painful lessons?
– is tilt gone for you, or do you just recognize it earlier?

Interested in real experiences, not theory.

LuTsu · Tuesday at 6:28 AM

For me there wasn’t a magic moment, more a routine shift.
What helped the most was increasing volume and structuring my sessions better.

Playing more tables (around 8) actually reduced tilt, because you don’t get stuck replaying one hand in your head. There are always new decisions coming, so the mind stays forward looking instead of emotional.

Also zooming out to the bigger picture helped a lot. One session or one buy in just became a tiny dot inside a long grind. Tilt isn’t gone, but I recognize it earlier and quit before it snowballs.

joango123456789 · Tuesday at 10:31 AM

My method is simple - I don't let the tilt to occur. I just make an hour or two break when facing a bad beat. If I play multi tables I look at the whole results and quit when I feel things are not going my way.

steve01991 · Tuesday at 10:34 AM

age and wisdom has helped

dannystanks · Tuesday at 12:50 PM

There are a few really good books on preventing tilt and why we tilt. It’s definitely a skill that you can and must get control of it you want to level up your game. It takes work but when you do get there you’ll find that playing this game is much more enjoyable because you will be totally in the moment and ready for the next hand, not letting anything or anybody get to you. There is a lot of things in poker that we cannot control, but our emotions and our positive outlook we can control. It takes work but you can do it!

martDdart · Tuesday at 1:43 PM

When I notice I am tilted I take a break for 10 minutes in complete silence,works for me to end the tilt.

TheniT · Wednesday at 12:37 AM

I used to be much more prone to mental instability, but over time I learned to control it and I know it's normal to go through a really bad period; we just have to persevere with discipline and everything will return to normal.

Mantinhoo · Wednesday at 12:54 AM

Tilt never fully went away for me, what changed was that I learned to recognize it much earlier and quit before it did serious damage, and the biggest improvement came not from mindset tricks but from strict stop-loss rules and accepting that leaving the game is sometimes the most profitable decision.

OnyxD · Wednesday at 1:33 AM

For me, tilt hasn't been a hug issue. Losing causes it and losing doesn't feel good, so why continue something that doesn't feel good? Pain aversion, I guess. When it comes to deliberate strategies, bankroll management and understanding variance.

RocknRoll6356 · Wednesday at 1:50 AM

Tilt never really disappears—at least it didn’t for me. The turning point was realizing tilt isn’t about bad beats, it’s about staying in the game when decision quality drops.
What helped most:
Hard stop rules (X buy-ins or one clear emotional trigger = quit).
Short breaks after big pots, win or lose.
Reviewing hands later, not while emotional.
Accepting that quitting early is a skill, not a weakness.
Now I don’t “beat” tilt—I recognize it earlier and protect my bankroll from myself. Curious what early-warning signs others watch for. ♠️

Happy Bobi · Wednesday at 2:12 AM

The only thing that helped me was setting a spending limit for one session. I set this limit for myself at $5 and whatever the results, such spending is quite acceptable for me. In this way, I simply stopped risking amounts that I could not risk and my game acquired a certain consistent constructivism.

OnyxD · Wednesday at 3:21 PM

OnyxD said:
For me, tilt hasn't been a hug issue. Losing causes it and losing doesn't feel good, so why continue something that doesn't feel good? Pain aversion, I guess. When it comes to deliberate strategies, bankroll management and understanding variance.

Well, just as I wrote this I experienced a (slight) tilt episode on cash tables. It started because my set and then top two pairs got run over with one-card straights even though the opponents made extremely -EV moves. I lost like 60BB on these two hands. And as I was waiting for my last hand I got AA and a preflop push of 60BB, which I obviously called. The guy flopped a straight... You can relate to the feeling I am sure. But what helps me in situations like this is a hard stop loss. You decide where to set it, but a good rule of thumb is how much you're ok with losing in a session without it feeling awful. That is the point where I definitely call it a day if I get there, preferably even earlier as I that the day is not my day.

EarnDAStack · Wednesday at 3:28 PM

One of the things that helped me the most was the quote:

No one had defines your poker career.

I don't always think of it all the time and I still tilt more than I care to admit but I think overall this is very true and thus has allowed me to de-tilt on a few occasions when it's popped into my head.

It's also probably a little more relevant to me as a cash game player because a few hands generally DO define your career as an MTT player, King Fedor comes to mind.

Hope this helps.

GL

EDS

Mig32 · Thursday at 9:07 PM

What helped me was accepting that bad beats are part of the game, not a personal injustice. Once I stopped expecting fairness in the short term, the emotional reactions became weaker.
I also learned to recognize early warning signs—playing faster, forcing spots, calling when I know I shouldn’t. When that happens, I take a short break or quit the session. Protecting my mindset turned out to be just as important as protecting my bankroll.

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Tilt: what finally helped you control it?

Kasztor007

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LuTsu

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joango123456789

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steve01991

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dannystanks

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martDdart

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TheniT

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Mantinhoo

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OnyxD

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Happy Bobi

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OnyxD

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EarnDAStack

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Mig32

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