The latter of course! It is necessary to go into a game with the feeling of confidence in yourself while installing fear into your opponent. The difficulty with online poker is that your opponent cannot sense any fear by looking you in the eye… they must develop a way of reading your style of play to ascertain if you are optimistic, confident or fearful.

As the heart of Englishness was ripped out of the country’s chest recently when Croatia knocked England out of the European Football Championships to be held next year in Austria, you could sense the nation’s frustration and picture the drooping mouths and sad faces as part of the UK’s National Heritage was again destroyed before everyone’s eyes.

Humiliating defeat, made worse by the fact that England invented the damn sport, was always on the cards. We as Englishmen should be used to it by now, recalling previous World Cups and other sporting tournaments.

However, while there was an air of optimism around the country, someone clearly forgot to explain to the player’s that the air of optimism was emanating from the fans watching, and didn’t mean that the players themselves should be complacent, leaving their playing abilities in the changing rooms prior to the game.

Optimism is very much a part of who we are as people. It is what makes us fight on when the going gets rough, press on in the heat of battle, and would probably have enabled our players to have a little hope in their hearts as they entered the playing field. Complacency however, can easily accompany optimism and this is where we Englishmen in particular fall down.

Optimism in life allows us to enter many situations with the feeling that the outcome will result favourably. So whether it’s a game of football or a game of poker, we must always believe that we are going to win, it’s the only way to install some element of hope and fight inside us, coupled with the added element of putting more fear into your opponent.

Playing poker of course cannot be compared to playing football, but poker players like most other sporting contestants enter into a game in the hope that they will win money. Going into a game with a negative attitude or looking like they are going to lose even before the game begins is not the way to approach poker, nor other games for that matter.

According to one online poker site, poker players are positive people in nature. They have high levels of expectation and optimism. 64% of those surveyed by Juega Poker Ya responded saying that they felt they were positive and confident people who always looked on the bright side of life.

Of those 64%, many said that they felt having a positive outlook brought positive results. Being confident going into a game often brought out positive and some times more aggressive poker play, with good results. During key moments in a game of poker your ability to remain positive and confident helps you think and make mathematical decisions more easily.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that positive thinking helps release endorphins into the body which give you a ‘feelgood’ factor. Of course it is not always a good idea to let your opponents sense your character during a game of poker, but surely being confident you will win is a good thing.

Of course it is difficult to sense an opponent’s feelings or thoughts during online poker play, and this is an advantage for many newcomers. However, the more regularly you play, the more your style of play will be picked up by experienced players.

So while you can go into an online poker game feeling optimistic, make sure you do not get complacent and think you have won before the cards have been dealt. Or like those England players, you too may end up feeling that you left your game in the changing room.