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Introspection. My weakness. |
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I was grinding some nl10 just a second ago, and I called down in a spot where I knew it was very unlikely my hand was going to be good at showdown. There were a couple of hints or reads I put together by the time he fired turn and I said, "Looks like my hand is bad". But I called anyway, and then I called another barrel on the river.
I thought about this for about 5 minutes as I closed my tables to focus on what was going on in my head during this hand. I think I figured it out, and its something that cripples me in some way in every aspect of my life.. And poker is interesting because it brings this problem of mine into absolute full focus.
I am deathly afraid of being wrong.
This is something I already knew about myself, though I have never truly resolved to stamp it out of my personality and my thought processes. But I have to if I want to be successful-- and I do. I am a very ambitious person in a variety of areas. Of course, they all require complete confidence in my own abilities.
Which sucks since that seems to be my greatest weakness.
So I will begin working on myself through poker.. As a start to the renovation of myself in my approach to everything I do.
In poker terms, I know when my overpair is most likely no good. I am afraid to fold it and look like a fool (too who? Not sure). A number of times I've resolved to fold a hand when I shouldn't have-- a symptom of my problem-- and then was berated when I posted the hand. Which is fine; but my problem with this simple poker concept isn't that I am technically unsound.
So long as I keep this in mind and focus on controlling this part of my personality, I think success in other areas will follow.
Because hey, I know I am a pretty damn smart guy in the end.
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YC_Fan88 United States. Dec 03 2008 10:20. Posts 160 | | |
nice piece of article, except for the last sentence. While it might serve as an excuse to acknowledge your own intelligence as confidence booster, i think its more helpful in general to not constantly and consciously think that you are so great. Being humble and having humility allows me to handle swings and bad beats better.
just a thought. |
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edzwoo United States. Dec 03 2008 10:48. Posts 5911 | | |
This is problem one of the biggest problems poker players have moving up past the pennies. Right around where you are is when you have to start learning how to swallow your pride and making some bigger folds.
Every once in a while you will make a fold and the guy will show you a bluff, and if you were to post it on LP, people might ridicule you, saying stuff like "you must hate money to fold there" or something.
Fact of the matter is, folding is neutral EV. If you have a gut feeling telling you that your hand is no good, just hit the fold button. You cannot lose money by folding. In general, making a bad calls is MUCH worse than making bad folds.
The reason you have this problem is because if you just browse through the forums, you'll notice the people that make folds are the ones that get badly berated. Heck, go back to rockman's AA thread on the lowstakes:
http://www.liquidpoker.net/poker-forum/611296/AdAs_by_Rocko.html
Realistically speaking, if can't ever be HORRIBLE to fold there even if he happened to be wrong. But look at that, 3 pages of "OMG HOW COULD YOU FOLD!?" Now just browse through all the topics where someone made bad calls. It's pretty tame for the most part. There's also just the inherent nature of people looking down on nits and nutpeddlers.
If you fold everything but the very strong hands postflop, you WILL be a winning player, just not with a great winrate. If you're losing, just start from there and work your way into making looser calls based on your opponents. |
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True Finland. Dec 03 2008 11:29. Posts 843 | | |
Mine was a bit different, i wanted to see if i was right. After losing about 20 BI to just checking if my reads/ranges were right, i started gaining confidence and actually started trusting myself. |
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| I am a NL25 player so take my advice/comments in that perspective | |
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Sicks Macks United States. Dec 03 2008 11:36. Posts 3929 | | |
| | On December 03 2008 10:29 True wrote:
Mine was a bit different, i wanted to see if i was right. After losing about 20 BI to just checking if my reads/ranges were right, i started gaining confidence and actually started trusting myself. |
This. I think everyone needs to spew off a little money here or there at the micros to get confidence in their reads. Eventually, though you do have to trust that your sample size is significant enough to start folding TPGK to minraises on the river from nits with 0.3 AFs. |
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Good point edzwoo. I am definitely seeing it like this, its just a matter of discipline and control over my own flaws. |
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seatown12 United States. Dec 04 2008 01:33. Posts 1193 | | |
I am kind of the same way but I have harnessed it and turned it into a positive because I wont allow myself to make a calldown that I know to be wrong and I get pissed at myself (but not in a tilty way) if I make a play I should have known not to, I remind myself that I am better than the degens and dont need to overplay hands because I will definitely be able to win in the future |
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| Im like a motherfucking bulletproof tiger | |
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Ya basically I need to say "Hey this is a shit spot to call down" (which I do) and then believe myself and actually fold  (OR shitty place to shove etc) |
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