Confidence is the key. How often have we heard that advice given for just about any situation? Cards are not like any other situation, but I believe this mantra is still relevant, particularly in games where your opponent is not the house, but other players at the table. You know the difference in your feelings when you think “I’m a fraud, I’m going to get caught,” versus “This is in the bag.” Guess what? Some of your most astute opponents know what you are feeling, too.

I’m not saying confidence is the one main key, certainly not more than the math or plain old good luck . . . but isn’t it surprising how often that quiet confident card player ends up leaving the poker room with more chips than he started? Or even after a session on-line how that annoying confident bettor who kept pushing you around left the table with twice as much money as he started? There is always skill involved, and math, and reads, and tells (and, yes, there are still fairly reliable tells when playing on-line) but why was that other player so successful when it seemed like he (or she) played so many hands?

Here’s a part of it: confidence. If you are confident at your ability to play as well or better than everyone else at the table, you are more likely to play the best game that you have in you to play. When you play better, you win more often. No great secret there. Another key component of confidence is the slight edge it gives you with bluffs. At a real table, the nervous or twitchy bluffer will be caught about every time by a good player. When you turn and look at stone, or a slight smile, you are not going to call that bluff unless you just about have the nuts in your hand. On-line the same often applies in an almost subconscious way. Play on-line long enough, and you will start to notice that one person who bets quickly scares you, another who seems to do the same will almost scream for a call. There is just something small that comes through, even through the computers.

There is, obviously, a difference between confident and stupid. Go into an on-line poker room and go all-in on 2-7 off suit after the flop and see how quickly that works on getting you off the table. Still, a player has to have confidence in their game. My breakthrough came when I began silently thinking to myself, “I am the most dangerous player at this table.” In my mind I repeated that to myself before the game, and during, especially after a bad hand or break, because if I had less chips, it didn’t matter if I was still the most dangerous player. Over time I started believing my mind’s mantra, and my play improved dramatically. Coming back from being down happened frequently, and a lot more pots gave up on aggressive betting than they used to when I’d bet and pray.

Confidence can go a long way, so next time you are in your favorite poker room, just remind yourself, you are the most dangerous player at the table, you’re not scared of them because they should be scared of you, and see if the little things start coming together better than they had before.

Tags: Pokerrooms, Gambling Articles

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