TILT AND WHY IT MATTERS
He asked how I could have Implied Tilt Odds when the person
would be out of the tournament. Well, just the fact that they would be
on tilt is reward enough.?
-- Perry Friedman
What is tilt?
And why is it so important to us?
Second question first: Tilt is how we keep score.
In 1987, the original Tiltboys started the first homegame. We were
in college, playing $1-$2. It was easy to lose $50 in a single
evening, and it stung.
A decade later, we were employed at high-tech companies in Silicon
Valley, just as dot-com fever was rising. And we still played $1-$2,
just as we had when we were starving students.
Conventional wisdom says it's only gambling if it hurts when you
lose, and the sentiment rings true with us. It's hard to stay
disciplined if the stakes aren.t interesting. We increased the limits
to $2-$4 in .98, but we never want to worry about one of us being
unable to pay the rent. That's not our idea of interesting.
There's plenty of legal poker in the Bay Area, and Vegas is a short
flight away. When we want to feel the exhilaration of the money -- and
the sting of its loss -- we can find action. Socially, the Tiltboys
have golf outings, ski trips, and, more recently, family
get-togethers. So how is it that Wednesday night is still the best
night of the week? Quite simply, nothing's changed. The money may not
matter, but we still revel in victory, and agonize over defeat. For
years, we.ve been gambling with a far more valuable currency:
Tilt.
Most people think of tilt in gambling terms, an emotional response
to a loss that defies probability. A player makes a bad call, hits his
long-shot draw, and beats you out of a huge pot? Tilt. It clouds
judgment and leads to irrational behavior. We try to remain sanguine
when it happens to us and exploit it when it happens to someone
else. But it's not especially gratifying. When the universe commits
tilt, it's manslaughter at best. Shit happens. We derive our deepest
satisfaction from First- Degree Tilt -- the premeditated kind that can
only result from a perfectly executed angle. Watch Rafe take a simple
game of Roshambo (Rock-Paper-Scissors) and turn it into an opportunity
for tilt:
Rafe: I'm going rock.
Victim: Okay, then I'm going paper.
Rafe: But you know that I wouldn't tell you the truth.
Victim: You might if you think I won't believe you.
Rafe: But I know you will compensate for that.
Victim (exasperated): Just go!
Rafe: 1-2-3
Rafe goes rock. Victim goes scissors.
Rafe (pocketing bet): You over-compensated.
Tilt -- its infliction and avoidance -- is at the core of Tiltboy
interaction. We speak of Relationship Tilt and Job Tilt, Hot Tub Tilt
and Missed Opportunity Tilt. There are varying degrees of tilt
including pseudo-tilt, full tilt, and mega-tilt. It creeps into our
vocabulary in all sorts of ways. One coinage has even leaked back into
the gambling vernacular: Implied Tilt Odds, or ITO.
"Implied Tilt Odds" states that the tilt you instigate now will pay
off handsomely later. For instance: You know that Phil is a favorite
to sink his putt in two strokes? Bet him that he can.t do it in
three. Give him odds if you want. Strictly speaking, it's a bad
bet. Until you factor in ITO.
If Phil makes his putt in three, so what? He's supposed to. You pay
him off, end of story. But what if Phil misses? Not only do you
collect your bet, Phil likely will shout a bunch of obscenities, break
his putter, and be on tilt for the rest of the day. You make extra
money on all the additional golf bets he'll insist on making, plus a
few hundred more in Roshambo.
We will give up a fair amount of short-term monetary expectation to
gain a little bit of tilt. Empirical evidence shows that someone
else's tilt usually translates into money in our pockets.
We also talk about Tilt Insurance. We will often make financially
unfavorable decisions just to avoid possible tilt. Everyone else is
buying a stock, and you think it's going nowhere but down? Who cares!
If everyone else gets rich off the stock, how on tilt will you be? Buy
a few shares for tilt insurance.
As you'll come to discover, these dynamics weigh heavily in almost
every Tiltboy decision. The possible angles are endless. How much
financial equity will Dave give up for ITO? How might Lennie's need
for tilt insurance affect his judgment? There is no easy formula for
calculating the true odds of any Tiltboy wager -- even the simplest
decision involves thinking several levels deep. Throw a deck of cards
into the mix, and you can see why Wednesday nights are anything but
boring.
Our love of tilt has kept us together through nearly two decades of
homegames, Vegas trips, and angles of every kind. Our mutual respect,
genuine affection, and pleasure in one another's company take care of
the rest. We hope you enjoy these tales of gambling, tilt, and
enduring friendship.
We wish you a table full of friends like ours -- and a lifetime of
Wednesday nights.
Best,
The Tiltboys
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-- Phil Hellmuth Jr Poker legend and author of Play Poker Like the Pros
" Getting near the Tiltboys is like falling into the orbit of a very bright, unstable star. Their cheerful message: quit your job, ignore the advice of your loved ones and go live forever on the Island of the Lost Boys. Read this book at your own peril. "
-- Ira Glass Host of public radio's award-winning This American Life
" Thank you, Tiltboys! You've changed my life! It drives my girlfriend wild when I spank her with your new book Tales from the Tiltboys. "
-- Chris "Jesus" Ferguson 2000 World Series of Poker Champion and Honorary Tiltboy
" If enough people buy this book, maybe I won't have to pay Perry to be quiet during tournaments anymore. "
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