Playing too many hands, trying wild bluffs, raising with bad hands, steaming, losing composure, there wouldn’t be enough terms to describe it but your playing a really, really bad poker.
If your emotions get in the way of logical thinking then you are steaming. Making the right decision depends on your level of mental stability. If you are angry, frustrated and pissed off then go home, you are not in the right state of being to play poker. A discipline poker player controls himself, calm exudes him and he is cool and stable. Check out this example of a player on tilt play.
He was kicked out on his job a few days ago, his wife had filed divorce papers and his finances are dwindling. Can he make good decisions or not?
All poker players are vulnerable to steaming. Our problems even on our personal lives really affects our decision making process. So its really best to avoid playing poker when you are depressed.
Once you start steaming, there is no way to stop you. It will only get worst. So the best thing to do is to go home and sleep. Do not waste time on a poker table if you are steaming. Here is an example on what will happen if you let your emotions control your decisions.
Matt started playing with a very superior hand. However, with a stroke of luck the other player beat his card with an underdog hand. Matt is pissed and keeps on asking himself why. During the next hand, Matt got a lose-lose set of cards but make a big bet because his leaning on luck just like the other player. Matt ends up losing and frustrated, blaming the other player and angry to himself for playing a poor hand.
But that’s not where it ended. Matt played well after a number of hands. He thought that the other player had a streak of luck and that’s it. But then, another bad beat made Matt lose thousands of his chips. With this he started remember the first dead beat and the poor hand he played. The he doses of to think about his problems at home and at work… and it never stops..
With this kind of play, Matt will eventually lose his first stake, then his second one, then he will be going to withdraw from his account, then loan from the casino without thinking that lady luck is not on his side tonight.