Imagine it's your first time at the poker table - here at Everygame Poker, or in your friend's living room. You're excited and ready to face any challenge, but bam! You fail... and fail hard. How would it affect your confidence? Will it change the way you play poker in days to come? The answer is probably 'yes'.
Many players who experience failure tend to change their playing style, while becoming more cautious and often developing predictable betting habits. Losing at poker can be disheartening, especially for a beginner. But letting it affect your entire poker strategy is unwise and unnecessary.
So, what can help you build your confidence while you play poker? And how can it affect your ability to use Everygame poker no deposit bonuses? It is time you find out how to boost your confidence to boost your poker wins.
Self-Confidence: Your Tool to Success in Poker
The Cambridge Dictionary defines self-confidence as "the belief that you can do things well and that other people respect you."
There are two parts to this definition: first, you need to have complete faith in yourself to feel self-confident. And second, that confidence might alter the way you think others see you. Both are crucial to succeed in poker, as you will often find yourself in situations where you are required to bluff or adopt a self-assured demeanor to outsmart your opponents.
Now, we're not talking about positive thinking and being always sunny and optimistic at the tables. Self-confidence means you know your own worth – without overestimating or underestimating it.
But if you are an unexperienced poker player, how do you get this confident about your own poker abilities? Here are a few tips that might help you as you start out:
- Practice makes perfect – If your lack of confidence stems from your inexperience, there is only one thing to do: play as much as possible! The more you play, the better you understand the game and your own abilities, which means you might be more secure in your decisions as you play poker in the future.
- Give yourself a pep talk – While there is a distinct difference between being optimistic and confident, the first can help you develop the latter. Before every game you play, do the following exercise: make a mental list of all your positive traits, remind yourself that you must remain focused and that you have all the tools necessary to win a few hands.
- Remember that no-one is unbeatable – Facing off against experienced players can seem like a daunting task at first, and it can even be rather demoralizing. But you must remember that even the biggest sharks lose sometimes, and even though they have much more experience than you, if you keep your cool – you still have a chance to beat them.
- Use mental imagery to plan ahead – Lastly, you should remember that your mind is a powerful tool you can use to your advantage. The mental imagery technique is often used in different fields to affect one's abilities, and it can be rather useful when it comes to poker. All you have to do is imagine how you react in different scenarios, how you keep your composure when in a tough spot, how you stick to your poker face while bluffing, and so on. You can even imagine you are Phil Ivey or any other poker pro you admire and try to imagine you're playing as well as they do.
Have Faith in Your Own Abilities!
To win at poker, you must be 100% committed to the goal. Any hesitation on your part will result in undesirable outcomes, so before you start playing online poker and using no deposit bonuses to boost your wins, make sure you trust your ability to win a game or two completely!