How to get the confidence back?

[KINGOFINLAND]

I posted this to small stakes as part of doubting myself thread, but it might suit better here.
I play MHNL myself, and as known you all have big egos here [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

One more thing I would like to add. I often feel like i'm the worst player in the table, and I need to get lucky in order to win I don't know if this is actually the case.

So I try to avoid all the regulars, and often guys from nordic countries when they are playing 3/6 or higher.

This often leads to that I will end up playing smaller game where all are unknown to me.

This has been the case after my first huge downswing, kind of lost my poker confidence during it.
Before it I used to feel like "KingOfFfinland" just like my nick says, and felt almost unbeatable. I wan't that state of mind back, using good game selection but not being afraid of anyone.

I have lot of doubts about my game, just like this thread shows.

So the lack of confidence leads to doubting myself, making bad decission and missing +ev spots as i'm a pussy.

After that huge downswing I have played 40k+ hands 2/4 -> 5/10nl and couple hands higher, but still i'm afraid of loosing all the time and generally just don't feel confident. It's not about the bankroll really, i'm rolled for pretty much every NL online game. Excluded primas 100 200 and 200 400.

[Niwa]

being afraid of losing is setting yourself up to playing your b or c-game.

Just try to play every hand as optimal as possible and when you have any questions just post some hands on here.

Why are you so afraid of losing when you have a BR for 50-100 and below?

[KINGOFINLAND]

Last year I went almost broke from a healthy bankroll.

That probably means you arent a very good player.

To gain your confidence back you should drop down in limits.

Go abuse the $1/2 NL, you should gain some confidence back.

[KINGOFINLAND]

I'm already playing lower then back then, difference is then I was playing little over the roll now i'm playing maybe too low.. I'm winning at the low stake games, up to 5/10nl but the confidence seems to be gone.

Well if you are winning all the way up to 5/10 then I see no reason why your confidence should be gone.

Playing correctly and winning should bring confidence along with it.

My suggestion, go get laid.

[jaydub]

Quit poker

[BeantownCaller]

I don't play anywhere near your stakes and this isn't that insightful of a post but I'll add it anyways.

Over the summer I had no job and no school and played a lot of online poker. I was playing above my roll a bit but those weren't where a lot of my big losses came from. I probably had about 4k in the poker roll and was playing everything from 50nl 6max to 400nl 10 max, sometimes split 50/50 with a buddy. I also played some 30+3 SNG's and a little bit of 2/4 limit.

Anyhow...lets just say I had a dreadful month. Dreadful. If I sat for 4 hours and played good poker and broke even I was relieved. If I got my money in and the other guy wasn't drawing dead chances are my roll was gonna take a hit, and it did. Totally obliderated me.

Anyhow, here I am 6 months later, finally building up a bit of a roll again. It's taken til now to not be AFRAID to get my money in in a NL cash game. Up until now a set was scary with all the money in, nowadays I can't flop a set but when I do I'm happy to get my whole stack in the middle, and I've been winning [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Ok so i've been rambling...and it's been useless. Since you've been through this before you know what YOU need to do to deal with losing and get back on your horse with the confidence you used to have. I think you're doing the right think, playing below your roll until you realize that you are good enough to beat these games. Maybe play 5/10 nl for the time being and in your spare time you can scout the bigger games that you plan on moving back to after you get more comfortable.

Good luck finlandish king I'm pullin for ya

Rather than just grinding on low limits, why don't you take a break. Similar to Beantown, I used poker as my summer job. By the end of summer, my performance seemed to be really slowing down and I just felt like I was running bad and was always afraid to get tangled up in pots. I was almost relieved when the end of summer came so that I could go to school and not have to play poker. I was just always scared at the end of summer even if I was playing really well.

Well I took from October until the middle of November off without even thinking about poker. It was only in the last couple weeks I started reading the forum again and then I had a new motivation. I started playing again and I was really motivated and really confident in my game. Over Thanksgiving break I started playing again and I played full-time like I had in the summer and with my new confidence and motivation I was shredding the tables. I was making money like I was on peak days during the summer each day over the break. I'm just really confident again and not afraid to tangle up with anyone. I have a lot of confidence in my game now and I think the break was the best thing that could have happened to me. If you can afford to do something like this, I'd recommend trying it out.

Deev

[jomatty]

there is a lot to be said for a short break. often when my confidence takes a hit i find that i dont really want to play and that im forcing myself to so that i can make money and get back on track. since i dont really want to play though my confidence stays bad and im setting myself up for a bad run, all the while thinking im being responsible and putting in hours. what ive found works for me is taking a break until i really want to play. that makes me start feeling better about my abilities. for me it never takes more than a week but i could see it taking a lot longer for some people, depending on how shot there confidence is. so much of this game is mental that you have to respect that element of the game.