Self-belief - Are you a beleiver?

‘Self-belief is your secret ally. You've just got to be able to turn it on, boost it when you need it most. It’s part of the armoury of all people who achieve great things. To win at anything in life, your greatest battle is with yourself. Your most powerful enemy is within. Your greatest ally is there also. The person who has the weapon to make you win or lose is you. Your weapon is your mind. Your mental approach makes you strong or weak, tough or flabby. Conquering yourself is the ultimate challenge.

Great self-believers have the edge. They carry within a formidable advantage over the average person. They know how to dig deep and muster additional resources and back-up when called to. They never lose. They always live to fight another day. They always come through. Even if you identify yourself as one of the great self-believers, you’ll still be eager to run a check on your current levels to ensure you’re in peak condition! Self-belief is your secret ally. You've just got to be able to turn it on, boost it when you need it most.’

I think I have a game but I’m not convinced, I play outstandingly well when I get the cards but don’t we all?

When the cards are not there for you you need something else and that’s what I’m looking for – the discipline to avoid tilting when things aren’t going my way. If I join a table and can manage to win a few early pots I am a totally different player than if I lose a few initial skirmishes. Something inside starts eating away at me and I start playing cards I wouldn’t normally play! Yes TILT sets in. In tournaments it normally happens when I have less than the ave stack and in cash when I’m leaking money from every orifice and my body clock is telling me to hurry up.

I hate playing passive but I would say my style at the minute is Loose/tight with a little hint of passive/aggressive

The thought processes are mad at times but here is an excerpt from my head and the emergence of TILT.

“I am missing everything this site is a fooking joke”

"FFS, what a goon!"

“How come every other twat gets the easy money on the table then the easy money gets my fekker”

Finally emerging into:
“I’m playing too passive; they’ll think they can walk all over me”.
And subsequently losing a big pot by calling down with Ace high because;
“the twat’s trying to steal here cos he thinks I’m a weak player!”

Other than the girlfriend who can send me on tilt by just asking me if I want a cuppa, things are really good. In fact I realise I actually did used to like playing poker at one time.

The swings I can cope with at present and I have had some harsh beats but I keep telling myself that as long as I’m ahead when the chips go in then ‘no problemo’. It does seem real hard at times, especially when you've built up a decent stack only to get donked; ‘just when you thought it was safe’ springs to mind. However, if you keep focused when your nut straight gets busted when all-in against a set that turns into a rivered full house for 5k you will crack it – or crack up (your choice). This is where self belief comes into it and if you’re a doubter you’ll doubt your money away with little effort.

By the way I lifted the top two paragraphs from a site that I found whilst googling on the net (credit where due) and it’s just perfect in accord with my current thinking. I am playing some good poker at the minute and managing to control & read the game without the white wine numbing my senses. Want an edge? Don’t always look for advice and read the books – take a big hard look at yourself and who YOU are. Whilst doing that take a look at people who you consider to be successful and try and figure out why and what they do to make them so.
Self analysis is hard because you have to be critical of yourself or just honest. I think honesty is a better term and if you can avoid deluding yourself your well on your way to being a better player in poker & life.

Good Luck & Beleive in yourself!