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Online poker can be a stressful business. Anyone who has ever had their aces cracked by 7-2 all-in on the bubble of a tournament will tell you that when things go wrong and bad luck strikes, it can be extremely difficult to keep your cool. In a nutshell, tilt can be defined as anytime our emotions become so heightened that they prevent the logical part of our brain from controlling our actions.
In this state we're forced to rely on impulsive behaviours which, on the whole, are harmful to our bankrolls. While tilt is often brought on in the middle of a session (usually after a bad beat), it's important to note that it's something that never really goes away if you don't tackle the issue. In fact there are seven types of tilt, according to Jared Tendler. Indeed, if you leave a session on tilt, you're much more likely to re-enter this state once you start playing again if you don't calm yourself down.
Reset Your Tilt Meter
Think of it like this, your tilt meter gradually fills up as you experience bouts of bad luck and once it reaches the top you blow up. Unless you reset your meter each time you play, the time it takes for it to fill will gradually decrease. Therefore, when it comes to tackling tilt, you need to address both the things that trigger it (i.e. what sets you off during a session) and how you deal with things after a session. Now, we know that stepping away from the action, especially when you're thinking "I need to get my money back", isn't easy.
Fortunately, there is a way to stay in the action and relieve your stress and that's bingo.
While you may scoff at the idea of bingo being a way to relieve stress, research has shown that the game actually has a number of health benefits.
Bingo is a Healthy Alternative
Many will already be aware of bingo's role in helping sufferers of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. According to a study in the Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition journal, bingo is great way to keep the mind active and, importantly, engage visual perception (a decline in perceiving visual contrasts is a key factor in cognitive decline). While this is great news if you're planning on playing poker into your old age, the other health benefit of playing bingo according to Winkly is its stress relieving properties.
Essentially, because of the relatively low skill level in the game (you simply have to follow the numbers called), bingo can have a slight hypnotic effect that can give you the mental break you need to get over an emotional stress. The other great thing about online bingo is that you can win some cash as you play. Therefore, the game essentially allows us to kill two birds with one stone as we can get over our bad beats and quell the desire to "get our money back" in a single game. Of course, playing bingo isn't the cure for all your tilt issues, however, it's certainly a great way to reset your mind after a tough session and, therefore, reduce the risk of blowing your bankroll in future sessions.
