Replacements: "Like Quicksand"

Recently I was watching one of my favorite football movies, the Replacements. While I am not a football fan, at all, this is a movie that I can never get enough of. What does all this have to do with Poker?

In one of the scenes the team was having a meeting discussing "fears". After a comical barage of fears that included spiders and bees; Shane Falco, played by Keanu Reeves, talks about "Quicksand". When I listed to him speak what "quicksand" ment it seemed to resemble a common poker fear known as "tilt". We all know the semi-common definition of tilt. Usually it's something in the lines of "after a player loses a large pot he plays recklessly making bad raises and calls and eventually costing him a lot of chips". A shorter definition, "when a player is heated they make bad plays that they normally wouldn't and lose a lot of money". These two, plus many others can describe what tilt is, but I think Shane Falco describes it best when he talks about "quicksand":

You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand.

If you look at it in the point of view of the tilter; you just lost a big pot... maybe by a suckout. The next hand you play aggressive, and lose. Then you play even more aggressive, and lose. Eventually you look down and you realize that you just gave away most of your chips and your down to the felt. You have a sick feeling in your stomach and you feel like everyone at the table has luck on their side but you. Even if you know you tilted, you sit there... steamed... thinking "why can't I catch at least one freaking hand".

As a poker player, I know I've been there and I am sure you have too. We all tilt from time to time, and even the best players in the world will go on tilt. It's part of the game. The best in the business tell you to just walk away, get up and leave the table. Cool off, then come back. They tell you this because it keeps you from getting too deep, losing all your money and putting yourself down to the felt. It's very important to remember to just walk away, and doing so can save you tons of money in the long run.

The point of this post? See Replacements, it's a great movie. But also remember the words of Clifford Franklin, "Quicksand, it's a scary mother man".

Lastly, Good luck to all the WSOP players out there!