Over the hump

[Aytumious]

I basically have one main aspect of my poker play that is holding me back, but first a short history. My first exposure to Hold Em was two years ago in a $5 tourney. It took me about three months of part-time play to become a decent winning player, then another two before I felt very confident that when I sat down I'd be able to tell what my edge was in a given game. I've played up to the 600NL games on party and have been playing professionally for a little over one year now two tabling the NL 6 max games on the net. I'm quite happy with my decision overall, but I have an obstacle I need to overcome and I'm hoping the intelligent people on this board can provide some insights.

Basically, despite a long track record of success and a high level of confidence in my own technical skill in the game I've chosen to focus on, I still make what I consider to be a very basic error in the heat of the moment. The main technical error is calling off money on the river when my opponent has made it clear through his betting that I am quite likely beat. I think the problem persists because I do not truly respect the skill of my opponents and I assume they don't have the hand they are representing because they are typical Party donks, which is actually what I think at the time in these situation: I think the donk can't actually have X hand that beats me right now. Sometimes I am correct in my play and pick off bluffs and semi-bluffs, but over the long term I am losing money by calling in these situations. I do not think this is my main issue, however, but only a symptom of the main problem.

The main problem is that I know that I am playing below my skill level, and hence do not respect my opponents, yet I have not had the gall to move up to a level where it is clear to me I am out of my league or at least playing with others who really challenge me. Some may think that is arrogant somehow, but I think it is a fairly common problem with winning players and I'm wondering what strategy others have used to overcome this problem. I really do think I could both increase my winrate as well as increase the joy and challenge I derive from the game if I move up, yet for some reason I continue to pound on players who I really believe are not very good. This is clearly detrimental to my development, yet I stay at the 100 and 200 buyin games and think to myself how terrible the players I play with truly are, and then I get frustrated when they actually do beat me because I'm convinced they are for the most part clueless. Obviously there is some ego involved here, as well as some fear of failing when I play the higher limits, but I am sure I am not alone with this line of thinking and I truly would like to know what it was that pushed players who are in a similar situation to where I am now over the hump. All comments are welcome.