Confidence--part of the game?

connie147

How high in the list of ingrediants for playing poker do you place confidence?
I took down the €20,000 guaranteed tonite on Irish Eyes Poker(got €6,000 1st prize) and I think confidence has a lot to do with it. Since i won the poker events munster open in limerick two weeks ago for a €10,000 payday, I find a win like that definately gives me, not only more belief in my ability but the confidence to make plays that before I might have baulked at.
I played a lot of sports earlier in this life of mine,some at a pretty high level(+3 h/cap pitch & putt including a national title) and played the circuit in the amatuer snooker rankings,and I was always a firm believer in confidence being hugely important in bringing your "A"game with you. Question for you is do you think confidence has a role in poker and if so how important is it?

De Deraco

i think it makes a huge difference havent won a live mtt since december and I play 3 a week usually, but whenever ive won a big mtt i usually go on a bit of rush.
its like laforteza wrote in his blog poker is like busses and stuff.

5starpool

You need confidence to play at your highest level in any game, poker is no different. If you are not confident in poker I find you wait for cards to come to you, whereas confidence in your own ability allows you to run well timed bluffs that you wouldn't otherwise do.

My 2c.

Tipperarymike

5star, hit the nail on the head there. My 2 cents, albeit a seriously on tilt two, is that its gives you the edge around timing and conviction to bluff and make plays that you wouldnt do if things were going bad for you. When you are weak or not running well, it does show, you might as well tatoo " take the pot from me' on your forehead

Nice job in Limerick Connie, great win for you

eggie

Very important, nice results connie! well done.

smurph

connie147 wrote:

How high in the list of ingrediants for playing poker do you place confidence?
I took down the €20,000 guaranteed tonite on Irish Eyes Poker(got €6,000 1st prize) and I think confidence has a lot to do with it. Since i won the poker events munster open in limerick two weeks ago for a €10,000 payday, I find a win like that definately gives me, not only more belief in my ability but the confidence to make plays that before I might have baulked at.
I played a lot of sports earlier in this life of mine,some at a pretty high level(+3 h/cap pitch & putt including a national title) and played the circuit in the amatuer snooker rankings,and I was always a firm believer in confidence being hugely important in bringing your "A"game with you. Question for you is do you think confidence has a role in poker and if so how important is it?

Hi connie, It was great to put a face to the name. I met you at City West over the weekend when you did as i named "The Connie Manoeuvre" betting with pockets 88's on a board with 3 spades, class. I do believe you are dead right about having the confidence to believe in your own ability. If you start second guessing yourself there is no hope. I also believe patience is a must. Played 3 hands in the first two levels in Citywest and had AK KK and JJ and all got beaten. Then all of a suddent the flop came right for me. Now before I would have started pushing to win pots, and thats not good either. I got to the last 36 so came back to City West on Saturday, and got outdrawn on two massive hands AK off suit and pocket Aces, which got cracked on the river by pocket 10's which got a lovely 10 on the river, and I packed up belongings and gone. Very good tournament and great turnout. Might head out of the big smoke and head down to Kilkenny for the €500 game. Met Hector Jelly (yes he does exist) and a few others from Boards, which was great. Congrats on your recent wins Connie, you certainly are a force to be reckoned with and I look forward to playing at your table in other tournaments.

connie147

Thanks Smurf.Your patience certaionly paid off in the city west on the first table we were on.I was card dead once I got moved table.Nicky told me about your bad beat.Sickening.
Going back to this confidence thing.Im convinced its got a huge role to play.I know my own performances improve with a high confidence level.Now all ive gotta do is keep the confidence high.
See you in Kilkenny.

Ollieboy

Confidence as a big part in it, its all about body language in live MTT and if your on a roll, you'll feel good about your poker and not look to be outdrawn, but it can also go to far and when it turns on you it can be very hard to come back from. I had a great 2005 and have struggle all year to get back to my winning ways in MTT's, I now find them to long and slow and have move back to cash games where I'm making good money and the action is faster.

An example of this was last nights PP Irish Open, I got outdrawn by gunshot draws on the river about 4 times and end up coming 14th, even when I hit two pair on the flop for the guy to call me and get runner runner spades for a flush and take down a 100k pot which would have won me my ticket at that stage. I've only won one STT since January and bubble loads.

But I'll be back.lol

connie147

Yeah ollie,I know where your coming from.I had a very good 2005 on mtt but 2006 was dry enough until limerick.Cant do much wrong since.Hope it continues.See you soon on a final table (lol).

ianmc38

Feb - Cash great MTT Sh*te
March - MTT great Cash sh*te

Playing so many live cash seems to have fcuked up my online game. Need to have a look at my stats in pt to find the leak.

Seem to have lost confidence in my cash game online, where as I feel like I'm going to make the money in every MTT i play...

JustMac

Confidence me arse. By all accoounts the deck was hitting you in the face all night.



Only joking. Congrats again. Yeah, I agree its all about confidence. I'm on a low at the moment and though I know its all in the head it just seems that you never hit your draws when confidence is low. Just need to turn it around soon.

stephenoleary

connie147 wrote:

I played a lot of sports earlier in this life of mine,some at a pretty high level(+3 h/cap pitch & putt including a national title)

I know this is a little off topic, but when did you win your national title? Match or stroke? I won two national titles a few years back, and two European titles as well, but poker has begun to take up slightly more of my time now!

Nice to see a former p+p champ doing the game proud on the poker tables. Congrats on the wins.

Dub13

I overheard a chap in the SE a couple of weeks ago saying he was going to get hypnotized to win at poker.He went on to say he had a very good summer last year and put it down to confidence,so by his logic if he gets hypnotized to win at poker he will have another winning summer.

The poor ****er needs to do something as he is a calling station/Ace rag merchant.Maybe Paul Mckenna will help him out and be responsible for the next big thing in Irish poker.

fixer

found a great quote on confidence today on www.omaholics.com

...one of the causes at the root of weak-tight disease is a vicious (and I would argue totally understandable) Catch-22. It's not easy to win at poker without aggressive play. But it's at least as difficult for a player to be consistently and properly aggressive if he lacks an unfailing confidence in his ability to win. That confidence can only come from one source: a proven track record of winning! Put more simply, it's very difficult to win at poker if you're not aggressive, but it's very difficult to be aggressive if you aren't sure that you can win at poker.

connie147

whodini wrote:

I know this is a little off topic, but when did you win your national title? Match or stroke? I won two national titles a few years back, and two European titles as well, but poker has begun to take up slightly more of my time now!

Nice to see a former p+p champ doing the game proud on the poker tables. Congrats on the wins.

1987.tullamore and i was on at 33/1.sweet as a nut.