I spent a few days in Las Vegas and was able to play some poker in between meeting with friends and clients. The poker included a session at Bellagio playing in their $2 - $5 blinds no-limit game with my good friend Adam.

I need to set the stage for this story. We've all seen instances of lusus exiliter parvus. I managed to avoid that condition-common tilt-when I was all in before the flop with pocket queens and lost to pocket jacks. It's poker, and bad beats will occur. That's the attitude you need to have to avoid this condition.

Ralph, though, didn't. About three hours before Adam and I sat in his game, his pocket queens lost to pocket jacks, costing him a $1,000 pot. He then pounded the table, yelled expletives at no one in particular, and angrily reached into his pocket and slammed $500 onto the table. Ralph was definitely suffering from lusus exiliter parvus.

Ralph's careful, patient play began to deteriorate. Instead of seeing just two hands out of each ten-handed orbit he began to raise with almost anything. He built a big stack again, only to lose it all when his pocket kings ran into pocket aces.

Once more he re-bought for $500. On the first hand he played after re-buying he got his money all-in pre-flop with As-Ks. It turned out he was facing 7h-7d. Neither hand improved and Ralph had to re-buy again.

Ralph was angry as he made his third re-buy. He decided that he would no longer make raises to $20; he'd raise to at least $35 and sometimes to $100. He was no longer in possession of his faculties. He was suffering from lusus exiliter pergrandis, or major tilt.

Players with lusus exiliter pergrandis are a sight to see. Forget second-level thinking; these players can barely handle reasoning with their own cards. And that was the scenario when Adam and I sat down.

Lisa raised to $35 under-the-gun. It was folded to Ralph who re-raised to $110 from middle position. Ed, on the button, and Lisa both called. The flop was Qd-Jc-3c. Lisa checked, Ralph bet $250, Ed called, but Lisa folded. The turn was the 2s. Ralph moved all-in for about $300 and Ed called. The river was the 2d, and Ralph proudly turned over Ad-Qs only to watch the pot being pushed to Ed. Ed had Ks-Kc. Once again Ralph reached into his pocket for a re-buy.

An orbit later, Adam was under-the-gun and limped. Ralph raised to $45, and Ed, Lisa, and Joe called. The flop was Js-7c-4c. Adam checked, Ralph bet $100, Ed and Lisa folded, and Joe raised to $200. Adam just called the raise, and I immediately put him on a set. Ralph re-raised all-in for about $300 more. Joe folded, but Adam insta-called. Ralph made his re-raise with Ad-Jd and Adam did have his set, 4d-4s. Ralph didn't hit his miracle cards and stormed away from the table at hand's end.

Ralph came back a few minutes later and made his final re-buy. He had no luck, quickly busting out when he moved all-in with a straight flush draw and missed his outs.
Unfortunately, the only cure for lusus exiliter parvus is time. If you feel you're being impacted by this insidious condition I strongly recommend you take a few minutes away from the table. Take a walk and try to relax. If you can, great; if the game is still good go back and make some money. But if you can't shake this condition it's time to stop playing for the day or you may find yourself with the far more expensive lusus exiliter pergrandis.

Russell Fox is the co-author of "Mastering No-Limit Hold'em," "Why You Lose at Poker," and "Winning Strategies for No-Limit Hold'em." He's a federally licensed tax preparer specializing in gambling, with a blog at taxabletalk.com.