Do you play better when you are alone or when someone is watching you?

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Emily Trott said:
I may be mistaken but I took their comment to mean that God or another deity was always watching over them. Could be wrong though.
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Haha ohh that makes sense now! I didn't think of it that way at all.

Yeah if it's about God watching, then we are never really alone lol. Thanks for pointing that out, I totally misread his comment.
 
Emily Trott said:
I may be mistaken but I took their comment to mean that God or another deity was always watching over them. Could be wrong though.
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Emily Trott said:
I don't think that there is any difference for me. I've played a lot of live poker during my lifetime so by default there has always been an audience with that. I understand completely how you have the desire to show off when you have an audience. I do it by making quips and jokes, not by changing the way that I play.
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That's a really good way to handle it. You show off with jokes, not with your cards.

I wish I could do that. For me it always leaks into my play. I need to learn to separate it like you do.
 
anasslaaleg said:
I play better when I’m alone because I feel more relaxed, focused, and confident without the pressure of someone watching me.
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Yeah same. Relaxed, focused, confident. That's exactly the feeling when I'm alone.

No pressure from anyone watching, just play my own game.
 
anbu210 said:
I definitely prefer playing alone. Poker requires a lot of concentration, & I feel I make better decisions when nobody is watching or commenting on my hands.

When someone is watching, even casually, I sometimes become conscious of my decisions and start thinking about what they might say if I make a mistake. That can affect my natural game.

Playing alone gives me the freedom to follow my own strategy, take my time, analyze situations, and learn from my mistakes without any external pressure.

Especially during online sessions, I prefer a quiet environment with minimal distractions. For me, poker is all about focus, discipline, and making the best possible decision at every stage
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Yes, you explained it perfectly. That part about thinking what they might say if I make a mistake, that's exactly what happens to me.

When I'm alone I can take my time, analyze, and even learn from my mistakes without feeling embarrassed. Way better.
 
I Live Poker said:
It doesn’t really make a difference who I am, because I am always the same. I don’t determine the outcomes. Therefore, a "difference" only exists for those who are divided within themselves. You might have a clear idea of the best way to play—executing it perfectly—and yet never win, even while doing your absolute best; conversely, you might act without any real criteria and still come out a winner. The outcome remains the same, and the notion of what is "best" is merely a point of view. Now, just imagine someone who holds a specific concept of what is "right"—which is already a vague notion to begin with—and then changes that concept the moment they think no one is watching... well, here’s some bad news: everyone is always being watched by God, and He is more important than anything or anyone else.
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Wow, that's deep. I never thought about it like that.

You have a point, if we change our play just because someone is watching, maybe we are not really sure about our own game yet. And yeah, at the end of the day we're always being watched by God anyway. Thanks for sharing this perspective, really made me think.
 
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koalapanda said:
I noticed something weird about my game. When I play alone at home, I play calm, I fold easy, I make good decisions.

But when my friends are watching me play, or when I'm playing live with people around, I start playing more aggressive, bluffing more, trying to look smart. And most of the time I lose.

Does anyone else feel like this? Do you play better alone or with people watching?
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I always play alone. And I don't play live games.
But it makes sense that in front of others you try to avoid mistakes.
 
Marshmalo1994 said:
I always play alone. And I don't play live games.
But it makes sense that in front of others you try to avoid mistakes.
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Yeah that makes sense. If you always play alone you don't have that pressure at all.

For me it's the opposite, when people watch I try too hard to avoid mistakes and then I end up making even worse mistakes lol. So maybe playing alone is better for me too.
 
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koalapanda said:
I noticed something weird about my game. When I play alone at home, I play calm, I fold easy, I make good decisions.

But when my friends are watching me play, or when I'm playing live with people around, I start playing more aggressive, bluffing more, trying to look smart. And most of the time I lose.

Does anyone else feel like this? Do you play better alone or with people watching?
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I play the exact same way whether someone is watching me or not. It doesn't really bother me since I'm always 100% focused on the game.
 
When I play online and I'm multi-tabling, I prefer playing alone with nobody/no destructions around as this makes it easier to fully focus/concentrate on the game and make the best decisions in each spot... Nowadays, I do play a lot more live poker and tbh while I'm doing it for the live experience, it doesn't change my approach to the game if I'm around people - the slow pace compared to online, actually makes some things easier and I still try to make the best decisions/play my A game for the entire session...
 
I'm a loner, I like to play on my own. I don't play better when people watch me, I talk to them as say what I think their range is just to be against someone who'll call me down with anything, and if I'm playing on my own I seem to read the game better, people just distract me 👎

Just now I'm playing poker, mum not watching me, but talking to me saying "look at the Spanish dancer" I'm like, "No, I'm playing poker, I put it on for you!" 🙄
 
koalapanda said:
I noticed something weird about my game. When I play alone at home, I play calm, I fold easy, I make good decisions.

But when my friends are watching me play, or when I'm playing live with people around, I start playing more aggressive, bluffing more, trying to look smart. And most of the time I lose.

Does anyone else feel like this? Do you play better alone or with people watching?
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I play better when my wife is there, I explain my moves and therefore I think longer and harder.
 
I always play alone. However, I don’t think my gameplay would change if there were spectators in the room. Spectators are, essentially, static objects, and the entire gaming process would remain exclusively under my control.
 
I prefer playing alone. When someone is watching me, I feel uncomfortable and play worse than usual.
 
I keep my focus when I play alone.
If someone is watching me , I feel distracted and cannot stick well to the game
 
I play alone at home and really can enjoy my game. Once I played in a local Cafe and was so stressed trying to conceal my great hand that when I won a big pot,
I was literally shaking. I don't think I could play poker in person without giving out many tells.
 
Yes, the statistics show that when I play alone and no one is bothering me, I put up very solid results. But right now I have a lot of problems, and I’m often sitting out because of outside issues. For example, sometimes I’m playing at the final table when missile strikes begin, and I have to take cover. It’s very frustrating that I can’t show my true skill level in most tournaments. 😕
 
I mostly grind online, and I 100% play better alone. The second a friend watches my screen, I turn into a maniac trying to make 'highlight' bluffs. 😂
 
I'd rather play by myself, because having friends watch over my shoulder sometimes throws off my game.
 
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asx86 said:
I'd rather play by myself, because having friends watch over my shoulder sometimes throws off my game.
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Same bro. Playing online by myself is so much easier—quiet room, full focus.
 
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