Confidence and Playing Well.

ISF had a thread a while ago about the beauty of realizing that you're bad. Obviously, there are good things that come from this realization: 1. you think harder about your game 2. you try to improve 3. you're more open to advice.

But there are also some bad things that come from it. I noticed a few days ago that my thinking of "i'm not that good" cause me to be lost while i was playing. Instead of thinking of the best way to play a hand, and executing, i felt lost and didn't know what to do.

What i realized is that i can only play to the best of my abilities in the present, and i should use those abilities to the fullest. I need to use those abilities every play to put an opponent on a range and determine the best play from my skills.

I think when a person has confidence when playing, he or she will find that they were better than they ever imagined.

Just a thought.

It's not just a thought, it's fact. Everybody, wether they are studying, writing creativly, teaching, playing, calculating, remembering, having sex...etc... are all affected by confidence levels.

When I'm really confident during a session, I kick ass! When I'm not feeling so hot, it's the exact opposite result. I'm starting to think that when I hear professionals say that they have been playing for 20 years and had a bad 2 or 3 year span in the middle of their career - it was in large part due to the level of confidence they had.

My confidence changes everytime I make a decision, thus, snowball effects come as a result. The most difficult thing for me regarding this issue is getting myself back on the path of high confidence. Actually, because of a few poorly played hands this week, I'm going through this process right now.

What I tend to do is take more time off than I normally would during any given week. I'm overrolled for the level below where I play now, but I'm strongly considering going back there for a week or so, just to get my confidence back up. This is not something I've never done before. When I had rough stretches during 50nl, I'd play a couple sessions @ 25nl and voila! - my confidence skyrocketed lol...

My only weaknesses are hungry and sleepy.

Oh, yeah, and bankroll and not being super good at poker.

Honestly, I see the confidence thing being an issue during play, howvever, for me it never has been. I am a very confident person, and I play each and every hand the best I know to. The problem is that I may not know what's best, and the variance that comes along really makes it difficult to figure out.

This sometimes affects my confidence away from tables because when I'm winning I'm afraid I could just be playing bad/running good, yet think I'm playing good/running normal; and if I"m running bad I think I'll be doomswitched for life.

confidence is huge in poker, most of the time I believe that the reason people have trouble moving up is they think the regs are so much better than them when they are not. They lose confidence that they are good poker players, and their play falters.

My article on realizing you suck was really for people who think there's nothing more to the game when there is.

what matters is to have confidence t o go with your reads and not your emotion to win every pot... biggest pots i lost when i knew i'm beat i still went all in (and its not like it woked sometimes....i knew i was beat and i was)... and biggest pots i won was when i knew i have a slightly better hand then him (or he is representing someting he dont have) and he is pushing me off and i called.... and ofcourse as someone up mentioned when u move up u fear the r egs much more that is where i burned all my bankrolls lol...they werent much beter than me but i tried to pushed them off of hands... so confidence to go with your reads even when it puts your whole stack in in marginal spot or u lost half without showdown.

it can be said that the only difference between a Nationwide tour golfer and one on the PGA tour is confidence...they all have the shots, just some handle the pressure differently...mentally, or confidently. look at what happened to Phil Mickleson once he got the "monkey off his back." he quickly bagged another major. coincidence? dont kid yourself.

same in AAA vs MLB. same in poker, etc. and i like drew's...same in sex. lol.

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