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How to Build Confidence in Poker

June 27, 2022
by Raise Your Edge

Are you struggling to feel confident at the poker table? Maybe you’re still getting used to the game, have only played a few sessions, or you’re transitioning from online to live and are nervous that you’ll give off tells. Whatever the case may be, today we’re going to talk about 5 ways you can improve your confidence at the poker tables.

1. Study

The best answers are often the simple ones. If you understand more about the game of poker, you’ll feel more prepared to make the right decisions. Even when you make wrong decisions, you can take these issues back to your study sessions to learn from them and resolve them.

Daily study adds up over time and you’ll become a much better player over the next 6 months if you stay consistent with it. Journaling your study progress can help you track your progress and writing down study goals before each session can help you focus and internalize what you learn better, instead of just bouncing around different software and courses without any real direction.

2. Diversify Your Sources of Confidence

Even if you’re the best poker player in the world, if you’re only confident in your poker game it won’t lead to a very fulfilled life. Furthermore, when you hit a downswing, your confidence will drop massively, and you’ll be left with nothing at all to keep you pushing forward.

 

Developing youself in other areas of life that interest you, like dancing, playing guitar or kickboxing will give you confidence that will carry over into your other interests, including poker. When you have bad runs in poker, you’ll have the confidence in these other skills to hold you up and remind you that you know how to be successful in anything.

3. Diet/Sleep/Exercise

Taking control of your health builds confidence massively. If you don’t believe me, you’ve perhaps overlooked the importance of this previously, as the benefits are undeniable.

Try simple adjustments like cutting out fast food and cooking from home, moving your body 30 minutes a day by working out, dancing, running or doing some other form of exercise, and getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night. These changes alone will help your confidence a ton. It feels good to be a healthy human, and when you feel good, you’re more confident.

4. Be Patient with Yourself

Every poker pro you see on TV took years and years before they achieved lasting success in the game. When they failed, they didn’t hate themselves for their mistakes, but rather learned from them.

Mistakes will happen, setbacks will happen. Use them to become a better player. Don’t wish for the easy road to success, but instead make your mistakes worthwhile and grow from them.

5. Do the Right Things

You know what you should be doing deep down inside you. You know when you should be studying instead of watching TV. You know when you should be more focused playing, instead of scrolling on twitter. If you had to, I guarantee you could write down a list of 15+ things you should be doing.

Start doing them. It doesn’t have to be all at once, but the confidence you’ll gain from following that inner voice and acting on what you know you should do is insurmountable. This is the single biggest confidence booster you can get – take the right actions that will get you the results you want, every day. You’ll start to feel differently, think differently, and the people close to you will notice the changes within a month.

Hopefully these 5 tips on building confidence have been helpful to you. The key is to start applying them. Even by acting on one of these tips, your confidence will start to grow because you’re on the right path, and you’re taking the right actions. To continue studying mindset and learn how to master your fate in life, click here.

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