This is Your Brain on Tilt

As we humans have developed through time, our brains have developed better problem solving abilities, but our old brain is still present and active and information still gets there first.  So knowing it is in our nature to react first and think second, we should always remember that although we may view ourselves as thinking creatures that have feelings, we are in fact biologically emotional creatures that think.

My biggest ongoing problem with poker I believe has been tilt.  I have searched high and low and worked long and hard on this problem.  In my search I have found there to be many reasons we go on tilt.  The following article is my attempt at helping our community to understand one of the biological reasons behind this condition and what you might be able to do to adjust for it.  So put on your thinking caps and read on.  

When you look at a picture of the brain, it resembles a giant chunk of wadded up bubble gum.  That outer portion of your brain is called the cerebral cortex.  Your cerebral cortex is actually made up of six separate layers, each of these layers being about the width of a standard Bicycle playing card, the ace of clubs to be specific. Your cerebral cortex contains billions of neurons.  Many of today’s scientists believe these neurons are where your life’s information is stored.  For more information on this topic you, might want to read the excellent book by Jeff Hawkins titled ‘On Intelligence’.  This type of brain memory system of each human’s individual life seems to be acceptable for those who want to believe in an internal dualistic mindset.  But we won’t get into quantum mechanics, quantum memory, energy fields or any of that, as it’s another topic altogether.  So lets get back to your internal brain.

I won’t go into the separate hemisphere’s of the brain, but deep within  the layers of your cerebral cortex is where you will find the cortical cells of your limbic system.  These are cells we, as humans, share with other mammals.  As information stimulation flows into your brain, it goes through the limbic system (the reactionary part of your brain) before reaching the outer most layers of your cortex (the problem solving part of your brain).  Although I’ve listened to many audio books on the brain, and its inner workings, much of the information in this writing was garnered from the tremendous audio book titled ‘My Stroke of Insight’ written and read  by ph.D. Jill Bolte.  (I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been affected by stroke, whether self, friend, family, or anyone like myself who is simply interested in the brain, the universe and life itself).  

I would also like to note that I am not a trained expert on the brain, the universe, religion, poker or anything else. I, in fact, barely made it through high school and what education I do have has been self taught over these many wonderful years I’ve been blessed with life.    I am but a simple collector of information and this writing is my attempt at regurgitating a small portion of what I’ve collected that may or may not be relevant to my friends in the poker community.  So, once again let me get back on track. 

The limbic system works by placing an effect or emotion onto the information streaming in through your senses.  In our world of poker, this is sometimes referred to as the tilt system.  Because we share these cells with other mammals, these cells are often referred to as the reptilian brain, or the emotional brain.  But in our poker world these cells may sometimes be referred to as the donkey brain.  When we are newborns these cells become wired together in response to sensory stimulation.  Although our limbic system functions throughout our lifetime, it does not mature.  As a result, when our emotional buttons get pushed, we sometimes react to the arriving stimulus in a childish, or donkish manner, when we in fact are adult humans with the ability to think problems through.

Now that we’ve gone over what happens within your brain to put you on tilt or cause you to react rather than to come up with a measured and reasonable response to a problem or situation, we need a solution to correct or suppress our tilting ways. 

Remembering that although the information stimulation reaches your limbic system first, it will continue on and reach your higher cortical cells, but with and emotion or effect attached to the stimuli.  So, the simple solution is when you’re faced with a decision, you should always give yourself a couple of seconds before you make that decision final and think about what’s actually happening in your brain.  But, we’ve all been told that before, so lets dig a little deeper.

As our higher cortical cells develop and become incorporated in complex networks with other neurons, we add the ability to take new pictures of the present moment.  When we compare the new information of our thinking mind with the automatic reactivity of our limbic mind.  We can re-evaluate the current situation and purposely choose a more mature response.

Today’s brain based learning techniques used in elementary through high school capitalize on what neuroscientists understand about the function of the limbic system.  With these learning techniques we try to transform our classrooms into environments that feel safe and familiar to the students.

How can this help us as poker players?  Well, maybe we should create an environment where our brains fear/rage response (amygdala) is not triggered, when we are playing or studying the game.  The principal job of the amygdala is to search all incoming stimulations in this direct moment, and determine the level of safety. 

One of the jobs of the Cingulate Gyrus  (a part of the limbic system) is to focus the brain’s attention.  When the incoming stimulation is perceived as familiar, the amygdala is calm and the adjacently positioned hippocampus is capable of learning and memorizing new information.  However, as soon as the amygdala is triggered by unknown or perhaps menacing stimulation, it raises the brain’s level of anxiety and focuses the minds attention on the immediate situation at hand.  Under these circumstances, our attention is shifted away from the hippocampus and focused toward self-preserving behavior about the present moment (also known as fight or flight).  Sensory information streams in through our sensory system and is instantly processed though our limbic system.  By the time a message reaches our cerebral cortex, for higher thinking, we’ve already placed a feeling or emotion upon how we view that stimulation.

With this information, it is clear that playing online poker in a calm, clean, quiet, and pleasurable environment may be one key in concentrating and making correct decisions.  This is also the kind of environment we should be in while watching training videos, reading forums, books and other techniques we use to become better players in order to help the information stick.  I guess I’ll spend next weekend cleaning my computer room and breaking out the Feng Shui book to make things a little more tranquil, and relaxing. 

By Mark McCann, AKA on PS as OlDustyAces, AKA on FT as Ol_Dusty