The series title refers to being "on tilt", which is poker jargon for letting frustration or other emotional stress interfere with one's poker-playing judgment. While that term is applicable to any form of poker, only one form of the game—no-limit Texas hold'em—is featured in the series. This was presumably meant to capitalize on the growing popularity of no-limit hold'em in the mid-2000s (decade), which was due in part to ESPN's own coverage of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), the event upon which the "World Championship of Poker" (WCOP) depicted in "Tilt" is presumably based.