Positive Mental Attitude

[Nicky O Donnell]

I'm not a big drinker. I'm a real light weight to be honest. I haven't had a blackout from drinking too much alcohol in ten years. The last time I did it was my first year in college when I was peer pressured into doing shots of tequila with salt and lemon, and this time was no different except I'm no longer in college and it was the gold tequila that you drink with orange slices and cinnamon, which by the way is much nicer, but still bloody lethal.

So at 6 in the morning I wake up on a friend's couch missing at least 4 hours of my life. i don't remember how I got there and the last thing I remember was leaving the niteclub. Obviously the fresh air hit me and I became zombified, or maybe I went crazy and started fighting or exposed myself in public, I have no idea and I'll probably never find out for sure.

So as I was walkiing home in the beuatiful morning sunshine wondering how many brain cells I'd just destroyed I was suddenly overcome with an incredible positive feeling of calmness and clarity, like all is well with my world, the rest of my life will be great and I am going to succeed in everything that I do. Even though I may have just killied half of my brain I awoke something that wasn't there before.

I began pondering the question that has niggled at me over the weekend. It's a question that has actually niggled at me lots of times before and I've never been able to answer it. That is until now.

"Since I am a better poker player than Phil Hellmuth how come he has 11 World Series bracelets and I don't have any?"

At first i thought the reason might be that I haven't actually played in a World series event and while in your quest to win bracelets that would probably be very important, but that's not really the main reason.

So what is the secret to Phil Helluth's success? How does a pretty average player with poor mathematical ability leave behind such an incredible legacy? The reason is the same reason why anyone has amazing success when the odds are stacked against them. The same reason why a man with no legs can climb a mountain or someone with an iq of a chimpanzee can become governor of California. It's all down to an incredible positive mental attitude.

Phil Hellmuth believes he is the greatest Holdem player in the world. We all know he's not the most skillful but he does have the best tournament record of any player ever and probably still will have when he plays the last hand of his life. His PMA is his secret to success. He never gives up, he drives himself to succeed and while he may be the most arrogant irritating and childish man in poker I have to put my hand up and say that in a way, I really admire him. Today I realised that although I have managed to pay the bills through poker for 2 years the reason why I am nothing but a bit of fluff on the underbelly of poker professionalsm and Phil Hellmuth is the most successful tournament holdem player ever is because at times I have lacked self belief and Phil believes he is a god.

Whatever your goals are you can never achieve them without maintaining a positive mental attitude. No matter how many Anthony Robbins books you read or how many people you have supporting you, without self belief you are nothing. It is the key ingredient to your success not just as a poker player but in life.

Every time you sit down at the poker table believe you are the best. Respect your oponents but tell yourself they are inferior. Don't be hard on yourself when you lose and when you lose many many times in a row tell yourself you will definitely win the next time and believe it. When you lose all of your bankroll try to figure out the reasons why but never for one second think that it was because of a lack of ability. Pick yourself up off the floor and try again.

"Stay Positive" is the best advice I can ever give you as a poker player before I even begin to talk about strategy because I know from experience that it is often absolutely the hardest thing to do. Write it on a piece of paper and keep it in your pocket if you have to but just remember that no matter what happens to you at the poker table staying positive is what will help you overcome it.