Confidence is Golden

Whenever the time comes for you to sit down and play poker it’s important that you bring one key ingredient; confidence. If you do not have confidence in yourself to accomplish your goals whether it’s going to school, obtaining a job, talking to girls (or guys for all the female readers), or playing a game of poker; then you are already destined to fail. Yes poker can be about the cards you receive and how you play said cards. Poker is so much more than that. Poker is a mental game that will challenge you every time you sit down to play. If you don’t have confidence in your ability to win then why even show up at the poker table? I can say this from experience, because there has been times where I will play poker with little to no confidence. After I lose 90% of those sessions I ask myself, why did you even sit down to play? Confidence can go a long way for a person and it starts from within.

I often read poker pros write about feeling comfortable with the limits you are playing at. If you are not comfortable with the levels you are playing at then I am guessing you are lacking the confidence it takes to play at those levels. Like I mentioned earlier playing poker is a mental game. If you are already distracted by the buy-in level you are playing at, then there is no way you will be able to fully concentrate on the table and players at hand. You just will not be able to do this effectively. Drop down a level or two until you are comfortable and confident in your ability to succeed.

Another suggestion that comes to mind when I think of confidence is not to play poker when you are ’tilt’. Once again I have done this many times and it has cost me. I am starting to learn these lessons which is why I want to pass them along, so players can shy away from making the same mistakes I did. For example, there has been times that I received multiple bad beats in a row, cooler after cooler, and bad plays on my part that ultimately resulted into one horrific poker session. After that session I know it’s time to take a break whether it be for a couple hours or a couple days. When I feel it’s time to return to the tables I sometimes make the worst mistake a player can make. As I’m walking to my computer I am thinking to myself, “I wonder how the poker Gods will screw me this time”, or “I wonder how (name of online poker room here) will set up hands to get me this time”. All this mental negativity is pure garbage, and I am learning there is no way to be successful if you think like this. Go in confident knowing that you are going to out smart, out play, and completely ‘own’ your opponents. If not don’t play. Bad beats are apart of the game and they won’t go away. Get them out of your memory, move on, and stay confident in your abilities.

Like I mentioned I am starting to learn this poker lesson which is also a life lesson. If you doesn’t have confidence in yourself then it is tough for anyone to see confidence in you either. If you lack the confidence it takes to be a successful poker player (or a player in life) then success will be extremely difficult to come by. The next time you are ready to sit down to play then tell yourself you are going to be successful during this session. No matter what happens during that session stay confident, and I would be willing to bet that over time you will start to see positive results in your overall poker game. Good luck to all and stay confident my friends.

Craig Fleck