When to tilt?

I'm serious, when is it acceptable to tilt?

You are allowed to tilt ONLY when you have become busto.


It's kind of a stupid statement but hey, we all know tilting is bad for your money. So seriously, don't tilt until after you've become busto. But you know, a lot of players struggle with tilt a lot. I've had one infamous tilt in my career and my own definition of tilt has become basically someone elses' definition of an itch. I just don't tilt in the conventional sense and I've been constantly trying to work out that "itch".

Maybe it's because I've worked with Jimmy over the summer and just repeated over and over at what I believe in. I actually absorbed it way more than he did. This sums up to how I think now:

"My bankroll is there and healthy, as long as it don't go to zero, I can still play. I just want to play and make good decisions on the table. I want to improve and my goal is to become a better player. Everything else is just artificial."

I'll also add this but I don't think about it. It'll surely help to remind others:

"I cannot control the results once my decision has been made. Good beats, bad beats, they are irrelevant and is not in my hands. Therefore I should not beat myself over it. Play for a long run, always make +ev decisions."

So who cares if I just go on 20, 30 BI downswing? I don't think about it, but I ask myself: have I been playing optimally? have I been making good decisions? If these satisfies my criteria, I'm all set. My emotions are not attached because again, I know my BR is healthy and will protect me. Hopefully in a long run more money will roll in, but I can't have any expectations other than the expectation of having the opportunity to play. And also, it's very refreshing and relieving when you are playing to improve, not for the money. I believe everyone should do that, because losing money due to bad beats or whatever you want to call it no longer bothers me. I look back at the hands, and say "hey I made the right decision!".

I still make mistakes in my sessions but it's becoming apparent that I have lots of room to improve. That's a good realization, and even if you are the best player in the world, there are still lots of room to improve. It's actually quite depressing when someone has reached the top and no one to look up to. Eventually one day, someone will just overtake your spot if you keep standing still. So play to play, don't play for the money or you'll crash and burn.