What’s tilt?
Poker is supposed to be a game of controlled patience and aggression but when a player has a series of bad beats suddenly all their natural reasoning goes. A good poker player should get involved in maybe a quarter of their hands; but when a player goes on tilt they play far more, with a lot more aggression, and it’s not controlled.

What’s the worst case of tilt that you’ve ever witnessed?
Back in 1988 there was a £10,000 sit-down where I watched this excitable Italian fellow get badly outdrawn on a couple of hands, which cost him about £7,000. He just lost it and went ballistic shouting ‘I raise, I raise, I raise!’ Everyone was thinking his head’s gone and started calling him, raising him and re-raising him. In the next hour he lost £180,000. That’s the worst case.

How can you spot tilt in others?
You can drop me in any cardroom and I’ll be able to tell if a player is up or down without talking to them. You can tell by body language but with the very best players I would never know, even if I sat with them for two hours.

Take advantage of it?
Some people will try to wind people up when they’re on tilt. You’ll be very polite to them but on the inside you’ll be thinking, ‘Oh, shut the f up.’ Players on tilt often start firing away at every pot and players should be more tempted to call. By the law of averages you can’t have that many good starting hands.

What’s your advice to stop tilting?
If you know you’re going on tilt get up, leave the game and have a coffee. Your concentration levels will be restored just a few minutes later.