The older (and wiser) I get, the more I realise how important confidence is at the table:
Confidence in your strategy
Confidence you'll be able to pull the trigger and execute
Confidence might be the single most important component of a successful poker player.
It's that deep-rooted belief in yourself and your game that fuels you to tackle challenges and come out the other side much stronger.
But confidence isn't just something you either have or you don't have, it's something you need to develop over time.
Today I want to share how.
Let's dive in...
The Poker Player's Problem
You wake up on a Monday morning and see that seemingly everyone else on social media won a tournament last night.
And that can feel demoralising if you had yet another bad Sunday session.
I get it. I've been there.
Everyone has moments when they're not doing that well.
The self-doubt starts to creep in, and it makes everything feel so much harder.
When you lack confidence, you're not sure if it's your game that needs work or you're just running bad.
But here's the thing: your game will always need work.
And you develop confidence in this game by continuously working on your game.
Competence Breeds Confidence
If you're ever in a spot where you're not 100% sure you know what to do, that's a pretty good sign that you haven't mastered that situation yet.
And that's a good thing.
Add it to the list of topics that you need to study - use them as fuel to create a clear gameplan or framework for that particular spot or situation.
The more competent you become in different spots, the more confident you'll feel at the table.
And you end up focusing on what you can control.
Push yourself every day to develop your skill set
Start by focusing on improving the bread-and-butter spots that are crucial for your success in tournament poker game.
Whether that's mastering preflop ranges, getting better in position against the big blind postflop or learning how the strategies change on the bubble or the final table, it's crucial to commit to being a life-long student of the game.
As you develop your skill set, you build competence. And this will lead to increased confidence.
And you'll soon realise that confidence is your greatest asset.
It's what keeps driving you forward in the face of a downswing as you make great decisions, take daily action and start believing in yourself again.
Confidence Is The Key
And competence will get you there every time.
That's it for this week.
See you next time.
Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you:
The Final Table: Play your best poker when the most is at stake. Detailed analysis of over 100 hand examples at different stages of play. Learn how to make great decisions every time and set yourself up for daily progress.
Poker On The Mind: Listen to my podcast with Dr Tricia Cardner as we discuss peak poker performance and tournament poker strategy.
Train & Play Like The Pros: Join my signature programme that will take you from amateur to training and playing like the pros in the next 12 weeks.
Purposeful Practice for Poker: Gain a clear theoretical understanding of the science of purposeful practice and how you can apply it to your poker study & training. Includes specific exercises designed to create an infallible plan for poker improvement.
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