In this age of reductionism, we oversimplify everything. We concluded that we can break poker down into related hands and analyze such isolated sequences. But we all know that a real poker match is not so cut and dry. In reality, most bluff situations affect each other, even if those situations are completely different. A 4-bet is directly related to whether someone just lost a huge all-in.
All this is influenced by emotional dynamics – how emotions and the perception of them affect game tactics. Understanding emotions is just as important as the emotions themselves.
For example, let's say you got married today, so you can't be angry if you lost in poker – you're in too good a mood. You lost a big pot. The fact that you don't feel anger doesn't mean you don't have to adapt to the situation – your opponent expects you to be quite angry, so you have to respond to his expectations. The opponent in the next hand thinks you'll be off balance. Emotional dynamics speak as much about the perception of emotions and stereotypes as they do about reality.
As human beings, we are very sensitive to setbacks and the flow of emotions. So, the best way to understand what's happening at the table, even at the highest levels of play, is to decipher the emotional dynamics occurring in poker.
We can't talk about emotions without first mentioning tilt. However, tilt is a very broad poker topic, so now we'll discuss a small part of it – the tilt of other players. Tilting can be defined as allowing negative emotions to affect your game. In short, you'll find that tilt can be triggered by five main reasons: a lost pot, a failed play maneuver, an insult or disrespect, a disturbed mental state (fatigue, hunger, hangover), and life events (job loss, bad day). These are obvious reasons you've encountered if you have any experience at the poker table. But there are a few more aspects of tilt worth examining.
Tilting can be compared to a pot of boiling water. There is an emotional threshold that a player can handle and maintain inner peace, but once the pot gets enough heat, the water inside starts to bubble. As it approaches boiling point, a visible reaction begins – the closer you push the opponent to the “boiling point,” the more turbulent he plays. That's how tilt works. Each opponent will be able to withstand a certain number of beats before reaching the tilt threshold and starting to act accordingly. The further you push him past this threshold, the stronger he will react. However, not all players tilt the same way.
There are many ways to tilt, but there are two most common: hot tilt and cold tilt. The hot tilt is more familiar when the player succumbs to anger. He will desperately try to get even, so he will play more aggressively, make more calls, and the game will be a bit crazy. The main feature of hot tilting is the preflop open shove. Of course, these days at higher limits, you rarely see an open shove.
The second way of tilting is cold. Cold tilt is more passive, more yielding. Such a player will start to play more passively, take fewer actions in pots, fold more often against big bets, and act as if he is unable to fight for pots. You'll notice that a player has experienced cold tilt when he starts to play poorly, it seems like he can't catch any cards, and he feels helpless. He will think that all his actions are being crushed, but he won't feel completely defeated, so he won't be convinced that he should leave the table. Such an opponent's aggression will be completely calmed, and sophisticated moves will disappear, and you could say you're playing only with the “skeleton” of his game. While the hot tilt tries to take control of the situation and demonstrate his power to recover, the cold tilt player will wait for good cards to fall.
As mentioned, not all players tilt the same way, and each opponent and his way of tilting should be reacted to differently. Against the one experiencing cold tilt, the key to the game will be aggression. Once the opponent lays down all his weapons, you should pull out your entire arsenal and grab every dollar he doesn't fight for. Against a player who tilts hotly, it's enough to play solidly and simply adapt to his wider postflop ranges, calling more often. Also, include more heavy aggression to attack the weakened and overly wide opponent's range. Just by playing reasonably, a hotly tilting player will be well exploited, the main thing is not to succumb to his aggression.
