Tilt Breaker is the latest HM App and we had the opportunity to ask Adam a few questions:
1. What is Tilt Breaker?
TB is primarily a Stop Loss tool with additional features for Performance Analysis, Focus, and Bankroll Management.
HM users know the importance of playing based on stats and data. So why not apply the same concept to managing your sessions? Everyone has a point where they are no longer playing profitable poker; maybe it's after losing 1000bbs or playing a few thousand hands. The question is, do you know what that point is and are you ending your session right then?
Tilt Breaker's goal is to help you answer those questions, backed by data, and to give you the tools to create boundaries around your sessions.
2. What inspired the concept?
I was having a particularly frustrating HUSNG session and was tilt accepting rematches. At some point I made a terrible play and wished I had an actual button on my desk that I could slam, and it would block me from registering for more games. The concept has evolved from there.
3. When did you first start development of Tilt Breaker?
I started on TB in 2010 when the idea was just a desktop tilt button. 2011 was pretty much a beta year for all the different feature additions and now 2012 is where we are finally coming into our own.
4. What challenges did you face in developing Tilt Breaker?
Finding the balance between protection and over-protection was difficult. Our goal is to make TB as customizable as possible so it can meet anyone's needs.
Also, designing the interface to help our non-native English users is a challenge. Notice the graphical buttons we added to Auto Break helping non-native English users. This will be released soon.
5. Is Tilt Breaker development done, or are you working on new projects?
We still have more than a few cards to play. For starters Tournament support is right around the corner. I also want to build in a Bankroll Management feature that dynamically moves you up and down stakes by # of bbs won/lost per stake level. I think the concept of being dropped down a stake level and having to earn it back, before moving back up, will be super useful for a lot of players.
Additionally, I'd like to expand the Auto Break rule offerings into HM stats as well. For example, setting a rule if your VPIP gets too high, or your All-in EV is terrible.
We should have one of those in place before 2013 and the other shortly after.
6. Are there any misconceptions about what Tilt Breaker does?
Using Tilt Breaker does not mean you have a Tilt problem!!! There are several top tier pros that use TB to just flat out manage their sessions. Why? Because we humans are not that great at determining when our mental state changes for the worse. It is only in retrospect that we realize we shouldn't have done something; e.g. all of your best (or worst) drinking stories.
7. What got you started playing poker?
Playing 7 Card Stud with my two best friends after class in High School. That lead to our nightly, yes nightly, home games that we hosted in our freshman year of university. I still play with some of the same guys 8 years later.
By the way, my two best friends. One of them plays professionally live, Justin Zaki, and has final tabled at the WPT and in his first WSOP. The other friend, Rob Shortway, got 3rd + a few cashes in his first WSOP . My big “shot” is TB; besides these guys stacked the odds against me. What are the odds all 3 of us make a FT in our 1st WSOPs? One day we'll see…
8. How often do you play poker?
I still get in a few hours a week.
9. Do you have any general tips for online poker players?
You aren't a robot! As a human being you will be affected by fatigue and big downswings; it is ok to use something like TB to help manage these things. As you progress in stakes, it becomes less about your ability to make super sicko plays and more about how you manage yourself and your bankroll.
10. Anything else that you would like to add?
I'm always just an email away if you have any questions or feature suggestions for TB; drop me a line at Adam@tiltbreaker.com : )
Thanks for your time Adam and we look forward to what you have next in Tilt Breaker.
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