Using Tilt
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Using Tilt to Your Advantage


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January 23, 2009
By Dr. Check Raise


Ask the Expert 
DrCheckRaise 

You have heard and read about it many times that being “On Tilt”  can be devastating to your game.  Well, if that is true then the opposite has to be true as well.  Putting others on tilt at your table can be very good for your game.  This issue will discuss how to help your opponent get on tilt and how to exploit him once he gets there.

Now I have watched as a player was rude and obnoxious to the entire table, making everyone at the table mad at him.  Personally I think that’s a bad idea.  It seems if you get the entire table to put a target on your back eventually someone will make a bull’s eye and you will end up broke.  A better idea is to either pick someone who is already close to the edge or someone whom you deem to be vulnerable to tilt and help them get there.  Here are some things to look for.  

We have all seen the player who has taken a bad beat and lost a great deal of his stack.  You see the muscles around his mouth tighten, and he looks like his head is about to explode.  You want to be in a hand with this guy.   He is about to make some mistakes and take extreme risks to try to get even.  Being in the right place at the right time, means you want to be in a hand with this guy when you have some premium cards, and you want to charge him a big price to play, because he will pay it.

Now, have you ever seen this?  There is the guy that sorts his chips and stacks them in a way that tells you exactly what he has bought into this game for.  Or maybe he has his chips separated into two different sections that help him to keep track of what he wants to make sure he takes home with him.  This is your target.  You can take him out of his game.   This is the guy that you want to raise his blind every time you have even close to the cards to come into the hand with.  Make him pay to be in a pot with you.  You want to play him differently than you do everyone else at the table.  Make it so you can get away from your hand if you must, but rest assured, that if you get him close to dipping into his ‘Safe Stack”  he will think hard and long before he dips very deep. Once he does, he will now be consumed with getting it back to where it once was.  He will begin to chase some bad hands and eventually get deeper and deeper until he starts to wish he had gone home an hour ago.  These guys almost always go broke.

One story comes to mind.  I was at my regular casino when I recognized a new player that sat down.  She was a dealer from another casino.  She was a good player, but like many dealers/good players, they attempt to out play everyone too often and can sometimes outplay themselves.  I knew her also as a hothead.  She could be put off her game if you knew how to do that.  The first hand she played she was all in at a NL cash table with pocket kings against aces and she eventually sucked out on the river and doubled up.  Now she has $400 in front of her and she is the one I want to take out of her game.  I entered a raised pot with her with deuce trey on purpose.  I knew she would keep the pressure on because she was the one that raised pre-flop.  She made a sizeable continuation bet on the flop with no cards on the board that looked anything like something you would raise pre-flop with.  The turn she bet again, but it seemed like a weaker bet.  I smelled weakness.  The river came making a very ugly board, she checked and I bet the river strong.  She disgustingly mucked her hand, and I showed my 2 3 off, no pair no draw stone cold bluff.   After I raked the chips I quietly got up and went to take about a 15 minute break.  That was the clincher to get her on tilt.  Later that night I was told that when I left to take a break after that hand she was steaming and vocal about it. You have to give them a chance to get vocal about it.  This reinforces the tilt process, and you being away from the table after a move like that will help that along. She continued to leak until all her money was spread among the table.  

Now I like to play poker and I like to have fun in the process.  So I don’t want you going in there to pick fights with people, but poker has a chess element to it, and you must get in your opponents head to have an advantage.  Keep your cool, keep your emotions to your self, and exploit those who can’t.

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