Friday, July 19, 2013

How do you tilt?

In The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver quotes from Tommy Angelo's 'Elements of Poker' about when a player overplays and overbets their hand due to a loss of perspective, termed tilting.  It got me thinking a bit about myself, and also about fictional characters, and the ways in which I, and they, tilt in encounters.  Here's the various ways that Angelo tilted when he played.

"I knew all the different kinds.  I could do steaming tilt, simmering tilt, too loose tilt, too tight tilt, too aggressive tilt, too passive tilt, playing too high tilt, playing too long tilt, entitlement tilt, annoyed tilt, injustice tilt, frustration tilt, sloppy tilt, revenge tilt, underfunded tilt, overfunded tilt, shame tilt, distracted tilt, scared tilt, envy tilt, this-is-the-worst-pizza-I've-ever-had tilt, I-just-got-showed-a-bluff tilt, and of course, the classics: I-gotta-get-even tilt, and I-only-have-so-much-time-to-lose-this-money tilt, also known as the demolition tilt."

I know I've tilted in most, if not all of these ways, and also witnessed them in others, in meetings.  In fact, I'm sure colleagues would tell you I'm permanently tilting one way or another, tic-tacing between them seeking an even keel. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, interesting question, Rob! I have to say though that I probably couldn't answer that objectively about myself. I'd have to have someone watch me at a meeting and then tell me.