Confidence is an important factor in casino play. It can make the difference between a good player and a great one. But what exactly is confidence? And how do you develop it? We’ve put together an overview of what confidence is, how to spot it, and how you can use it to bet with more decisiveness on your next trip to the casino.
What is confidence?
Confidence is the belief in yourself and your abilities. It’s the feeling that you can accomplish whatever you set out to do. Confidence is one of the most important qualities you can have in your career and your day-to-day life.
Confidence, in a nutshell, is being steady under pressure or excitement. Confidence is the state of knowing you know something to be true about something. In simple terms, it’s realizing that you know things about your sport, your plans, or the stock market that you wouldn’t otherwise.
For example, if you played a round of pool and hadn’t thought to check the score, you might be feeling confident about your skills but unconfident about your pool. Confidence is the first step in becoming a successful gambler.
How to spot confidence in casino players
When you know how to spot confidence in casino players, you know who the winning players are. A confident casino player will be making eye contact with the dealers, the pit bosses, and the other players. Confidence combined with good bet sizing will increase your odds of losing money when playing and keep you in the game longer.
Confidence is about More Than Just Taking Action
When you play blackjack or poker in a casino, you are just that — an action.
How to develop your sense of confidence when playing at the casino
You are in control of your feelings. You can’t control the feelings of others, but you can control your feelings. Focus on what you do best and play to your strengths. When you have enough experience, you will have a good sense of your strengths and weaknesses. You will know what you’re good at and what you are not good at. Here are your strengths and weaknesses.
STRENGTHS
- You have the power to control the direction of your thoughts. You can think laterally, focus on facts and figures to establish your position, and control what others are telling you.
- You can locate and overcome obstacles and stay calm under pressure.
- You put in a good deal of time, energy and resources to become the best you can be.
- You have survived and thrived in critical situations before.
- You know what you have done and learned.
- You have flexible beliefs.
- You can think sideways and consider alternative sources of information.
Weaknesses
- You like to guess (or maybe want to be right) and love throwing numbers out to see what happens.
- You prefer being right over playing well.
- You refuse to admit when you’re wrong over improving yourself.
- You roll your eyes when someone tells you you’re wrong.
- You prefer to share your secrets with no one except your spouse.
- You don’t want to stick around a casino long enough to discover that you weren’t the greatest when first entering.
- You normally delve into the minutiae of what you do instead of broader concepts.
- You didn’t get a great enough grade on your report card to get promoted.
- You stick by what you know instead of testing what you’re told.
- You reject reality more than others continuously tell you to do.
- You try to talk your way out of committing to something.
- You refuse to look outside your circle for help and advice
- Tips for feeling more confident
Tips for feeling more confident
Feeling more confident can be as simple as buying a new outfit or a new pair of shoes that you feel good in. It can also be as simple as smiling more. You don’t have to be 100% confident all the time, but a little confidence goes a long way.
So how do you develop confidence? There are many techniques and strategies around confidence, but we won’t dig into all of them. What you will learn is that confidence can come from different places. It can come from movies and books, teams and activities, or even from your interactions with people you don’t know. But regardless of where confidence comes from, the key is knowing how to use your confidence when you are at the casinos
HOW TO SWOOP OUT MORE DEALS
Whether you’re playing blackjack or poker, there’s always the chance that someone is going to beat you. There are also a lot of game strategies and actions one can take that are directed at beating the house — things such as calling the house, holding their cards, betting a large amount on a smaller number, and others that produce more profit for their house than it costs them.
These are simple actions that grow in confidence as you learn the strategy and its associated actions, and as you invest more time, energy and money beating the house and getting more deals.
How to spot confidence in others
Confidence is a good thing to have, so you can always spot it in others. Here are five ways to spot confidence in yourself or others.
Confidence shows in the eyes. Confident people don’t look around much. They tend to look you straight in the eyes.
Confidence shows in the voice. Confident people tend to talk directly to you and speak more slowly. The combination of across-the-board dominance and relatively slow tempo of conversation is the reason we tend to sound confident.
Confidence is based on experience. Compared to less confident people, those who are extremely confident tend to own less experience. These opinionated, early risers often prefer risking more money than less confident, less experienced peers.
Ignores outside feedback. People with confidence choose to ignore outside feedback and feedback that isn’t directly related to their success or relaxation. They will go so far as to forbid others from telling their own stories. What James Lipton, author of The Odd Couple, calls “The Secret to Magical Thinking” shows us this behaviour in action.
Ignores the monkey on the bar. With a confident attitude, you are likely to say “yes” to any offer that comes your way. You’re more likely to say “no” to the wrong offers. Why? Because confident people are indifferent to who wins and who loses. Trusting and getting to know the people you play with will help you win more and lose less. Don’t worry about losing.
Have you ever seen someone appear to have confidence despite having no idea what they were talking about or why they were saying it? Confidence seems to show a preference for one side of the brain, which is the “facilitator” side. That’s the side that initiates, organizes, and leads other thoughts and actions. This is what authors call the “fake it ‘til you make it” effect.
