Tilt In Poker

When an opponent goes on tilt, your expected value (EV) could skyrocket. First, he will play so badly that he just gives his money away. Second, the wildly aggressive form of tilt is contagious; when the others see crazy plays and terrible hands winning huge pots, they will often play badly. Sometimes, almost everyone is on tilt, creating a wonderful "party." You will usually gain by creating tilt if you can maintain your own emotional balance.
However, the risks and costs are quite large. First, although your EV will go up, you may lose money tonight; the game may become so wild that anything can happen. Second, you can easily go on tilt; it's hard to keep your head when everyone else has lost theirs, especially since bad beats will become much bigger and more common. Third, if the game gets too wild, you may not have a large enough financial or psychological bankroll; you may play scared and get run over. Fourth, tensions may rise, making the game much less pleasant. Fifth, some of the ways to put people on tilt may violate your principles or your cardroom's rules.
The Ethical Question: How Far Can You Go?
All ethical questions are highly subjective. You might balk at some actions I regard acceptable, and vice versa. There are two ethical issues: Is it acceptable to try to put someone on tilt? If so, how far can you go?
You will have to find your own answer. Some people do very nasty things to upset others. They slow-roll, criticize people's play and intelligence, or call them nasty names, and a few even throw chips or cards at other people. I flatly refuse to be nasty or to tolerate nasty people.
Poker is a game, and the media is calling it a sport. I've always played primarily for pleasure, and we should always practice sportsmanship. We should not try to win at any price, nor should we commit or tolerate rude, humiliating, or threatening actions. But I draw my personal line at actions, not intentions: If I can preserve the "let's have fun" atmosphere but put someone on tilt, I will occasionally do it.
I'm willing to encourage vulnerable people to have an extra drink or to play a little longer. For example, I might order a drink from the waitress and offer to buy him one. Or, if someone is ready to leave, I might say, "It's a great game, and I'm going to play another half-hour. Why don't you stick around?"
Two types of plays can put people on tilt. I regard both as legitimate, but you may disagree. First, you can bluff successfully and show it. Some people just cannot handle being bluffed. Instead of saying, "Oh well," and moving on to the next hand, they get mad, plan for "revenge," think about "woulda, coulda, shoulda," or just lose their concentration. Being bluffed upsets many people, even top players.
Second, if you think someone will go on tilt, you can make plays with slightly negative pot odds but very high "implied odds." That term usually means you will make money on later streets if you catch your card. For example, the pot odds may not justify calling with a gutshot draw, but if you make it and collect some large bets on the turn and river, the call has a positive EV.
Let's broaden "implied odds" to include money you will win in later pots if someone goes on tilt. For example, if you see that someone is close to the brink, you might cold-call a raise with a pair of deuces. If you miss your hand and fold, you take a small loss. But, if you flop a set to crack his aces, or your tiny pair holds up against his A-K suited, he might go ballistic and lose lots of money. Your small "mistake" can pay huge dividends.
Are They Close to the Brink?
Whenever you include implied odds, you must estimate your chances of being paid off if you make your hand. If nobody will pay you off, you should not play without the right pot odds. The same logic applies here: Unless you are confident that a bad beat will put someone on tilt, don't make dubious calls, hoping to give him a bad beat.
For some people, there really is a brink, a sharp edge separating solid ground and a fall into a nearly bottomless pit. They are safe on one side of the brink, but push them a bit further and they are gone. You must therefore estimate how close this person is to that brink.
You need to know his triggers, the factors that will upset him. My last column said, "Triggers are individualistic, and yours may be quite different from mine. You might not even notice things that really bother me, and vice versa."
The same logic applies here. You have to know which triggers will put this person on tilt. Don't assume that everyone has the same triggers as you. Taking three drinks or losing three racks might put you on tilt, but will not bother this person that much.
You should therefore keep track of this person's triggers. Does alcohol seriously affect him? How much does it take, and how much has he had tonight? Does he get severely upset after losing a certain amount of money, and how much has he lost tonight? Do bad beats upset him, or does he shrug them off?
Many players give clear signals that they are close to the brink. They slam down their chips, curse, whine about bad beats, or tell everyone how much they have lost. You probably have heard people go on and on about their bad luck, or even say, "One more bad beat and I'm going to blow up." When people are showing signs of losing control, a little push can put them on tilt.
When in Doubt, Ask Questions
Most people do not give such clear signals. We have all been surprised when someone suddenly and inexplicably blows up. One minute, he is playing his usual, solid game; then, he takes a bad beat or misses a flush draw, or something trivial happens, and he starts throwing money away.
Since you can't tell what is going on in most people's minds, ask questions. Don't ask them in ways that reveal your purpose. If people think you are trying to take advantage of them, they will clam up. But many people want to talk about themselves, especially if they are unhappy. So, ask apparently innocuous questions in a sympathetic way, such as: "How are you doing tonight?" "How have you done recently?"
Many people are so hungry to talk that you don't even have to ask directly. If you express your questions indirectly, they might tell you lots of valuable information. For example, you say, "You seem to be having a tough time tonight." Someone might answer: "Tonight? This is the fifth night in a row I've gotten killed. I'm down three racks tonight and more than $1,000 this week. I'm really disgusted!"
If you have the nerve, you can even comment on how much someone seems to be drinking. "Tom, you don't usually drink that much." He might say, "It's my fifth or sixth, and I'm going to have a lot more."
You may think that people will not give away such valuable information, but many people are so eager to talk about their troubles and feelings that they don't think about how their words can be used against them. Once you know how people feel, it is often easy to put them on tilt. Then, you want to exploit their foolishness, which is the subject of my next column.