## What is Tilt?
The term comes from poker: a player on "tilt" has let emotion override decision-making. In betting, tilt typically follows a losing run. The emotional response — frustration, urgency, the need to recoup — takes over from the analytical one.
## Signs You Are on Tilt
- Placing bets you would not normally place to "get back to even"
- Increasing stake sizes after losses without a strategy-based reason
- Betting on markets you do not normally bet
- Placing bets very quickly without your usual research process
- Feeling that you "deserve" a winner after a run of losses
## The Mechanics of a Downswing
Even a genuinely profitable bettor with a 5% edge will experience losing runs of 10, 15, or 20 bets. This is not a malfunction — it is the nature of probability. The bettor who survives a downswing intact is the one who has planned for it in advance.
## Pre-Commitment Rules
The most effective protection is pre-commitment: rules you set when you are calm that govern your behaviour when you are not.
Common examples:
- "If I lose more than X units in a week, I stop betting for the rest of the week"
- "I never increase my standard stake by more than 20% in response to a losing run"
- "I review my last 20 bets before placing any bet after 5 consecutive losses"
Write your rules down. The point is that future-you, under emotional pressure, cannot override the rule without explicitly acknowledging they are doing so.
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