Clear Thinking I: Tilt and the Three Brains - Adam Stemple

In fighting any sort of emotional problems, understanding the mechanisms behind the destructive patterns that emerge is invaluable in stopping the downward spiral and recovering your senses. As poker players, we are of course only concerned with one emotional problem: tilt.

Tilt occurs for many different reasons, and takes many different forms. But at its core, it is always making decisions based on emotions rather than facts and critical analysis.

Making Decisions You Know Are Wrong

I often make the self-deprecating comment, "I'm a far better poker teacher than I am a player." While "far" may be overstating it, there's certainly been times when my play at the tables has not reflected my years of experience and study of the game. I'm sure the same can be said of all of us at one time another. Why is that? Why do we call when we know the right play is to fold? Why can't we pull the trigger when we know we should move in? Is it a loss of nerve? Temporary insanity?

The answer lies in the function of the brain.

The brain controls every function of the body. Whether you are moving your arm, feeling an emotion, doing math, eating food, making your heart beat, or any of the thousands of things you do every second, your brain is the organ that makes the decisions about what happens and how you perceive it. As you perform these functions (or don't), blood flows in larger quantities to the different portions of the brain that are controlling that thought or function. Scientists studying the brain have thus tracked where people generally process certain aspects of their life.

The brain stem, also called "the lizard brain" controls the automatic functions: heart beating, stomach lining, production of hormones, etc.; the limbic system, "old mammalian brain," controls emotions and memory; and the cerebrum, "new mammalian," processes the higher functions of language, intelligence, and abstract thought. In studying the same process in animals, scientists have come up with a theory known as, "The Three Brain Theory."

The Three Brain Theory

Creatures lower on the evolutionary ladder have only a brain stem to work with. They operate solely on instinct, their entire existence machinelike in their effort to survive and reproduce. This is the first brain.

The limbic system begins to appear lower mammals, like many domesticated animals, as they acquire the ability to remember things and experience some emotions. This is the second brain.

The third brain appears in humans mostly, but also in limited fashion in many of the higher mammals. It allows for abstract thought. Without the third brain we couldn't use tools or language. Without the third brain we couldn't do math or figure out what someone is thinking by subtle signals. Without the third brain, we couldn't play poker.

Now, for those of us who embrace the Theory of Evolution (if you don't, I can't help you. God hates you. Go pray harder or something) we know that evolutionary advances are not tidy. We adapt or die in haphazard fashion, with changes coming slowly over thousands of generations. Sometimes you get an eye, sometimes an appendix. So it should come as no surprise that as the three brains developed over time, the system did not turn out perfectly. In trying to communicate to each other. there occasionally are miscommunications and miscalculations and sometimes the wrong information gets passed to the wrong area. A problem of this type that concerned me for a number of years was the fact that joyous excitement and terror cause the same reaction from the first brain: the release of adrenaline into the system. The only difference between the two is how the higher brain interprets the signals it is being given by the lower. Screw that up, and any strong emotion quickly becomes anxiety, fear, and panic.

Now, the quirk in the three brains that concerns us the most is the hierarchy of command. The first brain is the oldest, and controls the most vital of functions: keeping the organism—and itself--alive. Understandably, it has the ability to nearly shut off any function of the other two brains if it needs to use all the body's resources to stay alive. If you can't breathe, you literally can't think about anything else but getting your next breath. You certainly aren't going to be doing complex calculations or appreciating a particularly fine sunset. And have you ever heard of people in life or death situations talk about not being scared at the time, or "going on autopilot", or saying, "I didn't feel anything till after it was all over." The the cerebrum and limbic system's functionings are reduced as the lizard brain and it's "fight or flight" reflex takes over the body.

The same thing happens when the limbic system experiences an overload. Consumed by grief, it is difficult to think of anything else. Giddiness and joy causes you to do things you would never consider if you were using all your faculties. When you take a bad beat, you raise up the next pot with crap cards because you are actually physically processing your decisions in a different part of your brain.

Remember that. The brain, though it controls all you do and all you perceive, and in fact gives you your entire sense of self, is an organ. When you think, there are physical and trackable reactions in your brain. And when you are consumed with emotion, you think with a different part of your brain. Not the section that does math, and calculates odds, and thinks critically and dispassionately about situations; but the part of the brain that cries at sad movies, and laughs at stupid jokes, or is still angry over hurts done in childhood.

Obviously, if you use this brain solely to make your decisions, you're in big trouble.

So, how do you get your thoughts back to the correct portion of your brain? First of all, just understanding how the brain works and thinking about that at the moment of tilt will help. Thinking back to this article, and thinking about how the emotions and decisions are being processed in your brain, will start to bring you back into the third brain. You will be using your cerebrum to think critically about the process your brain is going through, rather than using your limbic system to feel the emotional hurt you suffered.

You can use mantras like this:

I am not processing my decisions in the third brain. I must leave the limbic system and force my thoughts back into the cerebrum. Only then will I make the correct critical decisions that make me a good player.

Winning can put you on tilt, as well. "How can that be?" you say. "I thought tilt only occurred when you took a bad beat from a donkey." Most strong emotions trigger the same physiological reactions from the body. The brain interprets these functions. Get too happy, adrenaline is once again released into the body by the brain stem, the limbic system kicks into high gear, and your cerebrum takes a vacation and just rides the wave. Before you know it, you've blown half your stack, and your pissed at yourself. Now your anger kicks in, and your cerebrum once again is left out in the cold.

Being hungry can make you tilt. With less fuel for the body, the lizard brain will start to take over. Though you aren't starving, your brain will be concentrating more on getting you your next meal. Tertiary functions like abstract thought take a back seat to survival. Tiredness is a problem as well, for the same reason. The body needs rest. And whenever the body needs something, the lizard brain starts taking over. Also remember that healthy organs function better than unhealthy ones. If you are out of shape, your brain is out of shape, too.

So keep your self well rested, well fed, and in shape. Keep yourself dispassionate at the table. Separate yourself from the lower animals and always process your decisions in the most advanced of your three brains.