There are numerous skills required to perform effectively at the poker table and achieve desired results. We possess both soft skills and hard skills. The problem that poker players face is that they don’t know how to develop certain skills, and there is also a problem that they don’t realize the value of some skills.
There are also different caps on certain skills, as everybody who is trying to make it is focusing on technical skills, but is forgetting about the mental game, table selection, bankroll management, lifestyle outside of poker, efficient studying, etc.
Once we have all the skills sharpened, this is when peak performance happens. However, even if we possess all the technical skills, if we are not mentally prepared for stress and variance, it can affect our perception of what’s happening at the table.
Mental Game
A good mental mood should be a precondition for even starting a session. To achieve that, we need stability outside of our poker life, as this is the most critical factor in everything we do in life.
Even if we know that a certain hand should be played in a certain way, we still have to make adjustments to our opponents. It makes no sense to put your whole stack in the middle with pocket kings if we know that only hand our opponent would 5-bet shove are pocket aces.
This is where we return to the mental aspect of the game. If we are not in great shape (due to life problems, tiredness, burnout, or a poor diet), we can make poor decisions and overlook the obvious. Sometimes we can see what is going to come one step ahead and avoid it before it happens; this is why full sharpness is necessary.
Confidence combined with focus is the key element to being a poker crusher. This is one thing I noticed all the best players have in common: they are confident, which helps them when they have to be aggressive at the table and execute risky moves.
But the Main Question is How to Get Confident in Poker?
Well, it’s like everything in life, you need to spend a lot of time working on a specific spot that it becomes so natural, and you know what to do if somebody wakes you up in the middle of the night.
You also need experience and faith that all the work you put in will pay off eventually, as long as you keep believing in it. Poker is a high-variance game, and results often don’t indicate whether a move was good or bad. To know for sure, you will need a significant sample.
Usually, we as humans gain confidence through repetition and experience, but it can be swayed by bad results, as we associate good results with good processes. However, it’s essential to focus on process and avoid results-oriented thinking.
Moving Up in Stakes
One thing I observed from various poker coaches is that they recommend aggressive moves as stakes increase, as this is the fastest way to make the most money, and they are right – it is. The problem with that is that players don’t have enough hands played at the lower stake to make them confident they are crushing the stake, and they are already moving to a new stake.
From my experience, when you move up in stake, two things happen mentally for a player. First thing is that you are excited to play higher, and you want to become a good regular at the stake. The other thing that could happen is fear or a lack of confidence that players will be much better than they were at your previous stake, which you are unsure whether you have crushed or just hit the upswing.
The whole thing can be counterproductive, and if you get hit by a downswing, it can destroy your confidence and send you back to a lower stake, where you will still be in a downswing with damaged confidence. All this could trigger a domino effect and additionally slow down your future move-ups.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the process is the key, and there is no need to chase fast money at the expense of slowing down your poker career. Money will come organically as you progress as a player, and your main goal should be personal development, as a person and as a poker player.
This will keep you on track and make life easier, as you won’t be stressed and in a bad mood as a result of trying to skip the steps.
Moving up in stakes quickly is beneficial for confirmed crushers, in theory, but in practice, I’m not sure about it. You would need a great coach who coaches you daily to ensure it is done safely.
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