The other day I lost two big pots in a row that I think were due to me feeling a bit cocky because previous to that I was winning a lot of pots and maybe my ego got the better of me. It was subconscious, but that is the only reasoning I can think of that it was some sort of ego tilt.

Anyone else experience this and how can we stay level with each hand?

Sometimes I have barely even stacked my chips from the previous pot and then overplay JJ or something a boom - half my stack is gone!

winners tilt. Its a very real thing.

^ yep. If you're playing 15/12 normally then suddenly play 27/22 cause you won a few big pots it's you're just spewing it away.

I don't think it's entirely bad. One good thing that comes from it is that other players can get scared of your winning. They see you as the lucky guy of the day. I think it's actually easier to bluff when you have a lucky, winning image. So, in a way, you can profitably play a few more hands.

Of course, you can't go nuts with it and start triple-barreling JJ with two overcards against a station.

The point is, when you're on winner's tilt you start rationalizing just about everything. In your eyes, everything becomes a possible spot for more profit, when really you're just grasping at straws. An example is someone stacking 3 people very quickly, and then deciding to raise 54s UTG in order to "mix it up." Then they get 3 bet and decide to call just this once out of position, rationalizing it because "he can't put me on this hand" etc etc. Then maybe you lay some hopeless bomb on the river or make some stupid hero call and get absolutely killed. If this is the kind of play you make only when you're doing very well, then you suffer from winner's tilt.

the inverse could also be argued though. where people call you down lighter because they figure your luck cant last forever. both are illogical to base your strategy upon.

Both loser and winner tilt are the same, they make you play bad, too loose and spewy.
Absolutely the same ******ed plays.
It's just another type of tilt that you need to watch out for.
Tendler's book is a must for every single poker player, it explains all types of tilt and the causes of it.
It doesn't matter if you agree or not with his advices on how to battle it, worst case scenario is you'll learn how our brains work and the reasons we tilt, he explains it all and is spot on about everything.

Looking back at this brief moment of winner tilt, I realized it very quickly, got mad at myself, took a deep breathe and went on to have a great session.

But let's think about spectrum with neutral being optimal. Anytime we start to do something away from what we would do if we were at neutral we suffer. When we first sit down in a session, we are usually neutural. If we are winning or loosing and it effects what it our neutral play, that is considered a form of tilt.

So the question is, how can we keep as close to neutral as possible?
How can we make every decision at rational as possible?

We are not robots, but the best players are able to just play one hand at a time.

But it really gets tricky when you are literally distracted from stacking chips from the previous pot and on that high. It's hard just to stay neutral, to stay stable. Either way.

It's the same with investing. Don't be controlled by your emotions, and yet we are emotional beings. How is the right balance found?

Mindfulness.

Concentrate on the present moment. There is no other. The best players aren't bogged down in the storytelling of what happened in the past hand or what will happen later, because they know both of those stories distract themselves from making the best decisions in the present moment.