How do you win in competition?

How do you win in competition? 

1) Believe you can win

2) Plan your win

3) Prepare to win 

4) Never let your spirit break! 

Going into a tournament just to see what will happen is a neutral or even defeatist mindset.  Going in without a plan is going to lead to chaos.  The pressure and threat of real and potential attacks CAN push you into a corner if you let it.  Without a plan you have little to fall back on when stress increases.    

BELIEVE YOU CAN WIN

If something bad happens, it doesn’t matter.  If your submission fails or you get reversed, that’s ok.  If you take a picture of your failure, pause to sigh and get angry, your opponent will continue to move steps ahead.  You must go into a tournament believing that you will have to win several matches.  A lot of what happens in a match isn’t that significant.  You will eventually become so confident when standing, performing guard work from the bottom position, and escaping that you will simply transition when something doesn’t go your way.  That IS Jiu Jitsu.  By now you know a lot of the typical moves, and if your instructor attacks you with one move only, his success in finishing you with that singular move isn’t likely. 

PLAN YOUR WIN

Imagine you had a once in a lifetime chance to do something amazing—amazingly physical.  Maybe I invited you to climb an incredible mountain in a foreign country?  Compete in a UFC fight against a celebrity who has been training the same amount of time as you for 4 million dollars?  Star in a movie reenacting the first Olympic games? 

You might have several matches.  Someone might seem fast, or fresher than you are.  Someone might feel strong and heavy.  Someone might have short or very long arms.  Imagine a game like chess, except both players are allowed to move their pieces as often as they want.  You sit there staring at your opponent, and they move 4 steps ahead of you.  Now you have to deal with it?  But it’s so much harder now.  Change the angle and break the grips early.  What move happens next?  If they do X, how do I respond?  In each position, what weapon will I use to win?  Plan to create the opening, and always move to your backup plan in the case of failure.  If you didn’t show up today, there is someone else in the division that will be winning first place.  You need to be prepared to unseat them for the #1 spot.  Attack pressure prevents problems.  Attacking now keeps you from defending later.   

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PREPARE TO WIN

What would you do to prepare?  There are skill based preparations, and physical preparations that supplement application of skill based technique.  How can you increase your ability to move well?  How can you increase your range of motion?  Will I need to be explosive?  Will I need to be able to hold locking positions?  Or maintain a fatiguing repetitive motion?  What exercises will simulate and prepare me for this challenging once in a lifetime experience?  If you prepare now, right now, you are going to set yourself up to win.  Without this purposeful preparation your winning future is uncertain.

NEVER LET YOUR SPIRIT BREAK

When two people compete, sometimes frustration and lack of focus get the better of one athlete and their spirit breaks.  The focus in their eyes changes and the body almost goes limp.  Their strategy is forgotten, and they make endless mistakes.  If someone’s spirit breaks everyone will know and the match will rush to an end.  Experienced people are trying to make this happen.  Your resilience to bad situations and avoiding a mental shutdown is what is going to allow you to keep going and turn the tables on a tough opponent.  It is possible to escape most positions, and your opponent is likely not a master of maintaining a bad position.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been put through hell in a match, only to really take it to an opponent at the very end.  Sometimes there was still time to win.  Sometimes a few more seconds would have guaranteed the win.  What if I had started executing sooner, or prevented problems altogether?       

How do you actually win with grappling moves?

An untrained person has no idea what you are doing or going for until it is too late.  A person with the same knowledge that you do is going to recognize all of your moves.  Even my students recognize almost everything I am doing or trying to do.  Timing, smooth execution of moves or movements is what allows you to win.  You are performing two movements and I successfully performed three.  You do not have time to react to the third move, and therefore you are swept or submitted.  It has nothing to do with speed per say.  Your brain is in control of the completion of each move or sequence.  When you feel overwhelmed, you are simply behind so many steps or possibly late.  You can recover possibly, but it will require more energy. 

You must react to threats quickly, with a preventative mindset, and attack at the same time which will increase pressure on your opponent.  What is true pressure?  A consistent presentation of moves and movements that is extremely threatening and unrelenting.  The smooth execution of your timing that allows you to move steps ahead of your opponent is how you win.  You sink the choke in while they are out of position, they grab your arm and struggle a little bit, you squeeze and the match is over. 

Your body, leg, and arm position must change every time there is a transition. 

In a competition with a 5 minute match time limit, maybe you get mounted within the first few seconds.  You must be mentally prepared to attempt to escape for the rest of the match, even if you never escape.  There is nothing good to wait for.  Your constant threat of escape is actually a form of pressure, and it must build to escape from the worst situations. 

I recommend you exercise, run, and do circuit training as often as you can each week if you plan on competing.  You will compete with less energy than when you are in the gym.  Push yourself so you will be able to unleash your full potential without having to slow down for air. 

    

Prepare for War: Enter the Mihas Prequel

He walked with a particular expression, a confident smile like he had just bench pressed the world.  That been there done that, you should join me next time kind of swagger.  His presence in any situation sets the sociological tone.  A world champion Mike Mihas who exudes an advantageous charisma of the perfect friend and dependable comrade in war.  Whatever the case may be, he rarely accepts no for an answer.  (Thankfully he no longer dates)  Almost a year has gone by since “Enter the Mihas: the PACS story”.  Before the next chapter, we must first add a prequel that culturally explains the dynamic in our combative niche throughout many shared relationships and experiences. 

Mike Mihas convinced me to become a Jiu Jitsu bum after I had already retired!  That’s right, I had quit such extremes.  The day to day fatigue, sleeping in cars, showering wherever you had access to water; this is the lifestyle of a professional grappler who doesn’t have access to professional level gyms.  This is how we won living in a region devoid of combative knowledge.  I had lived this way for a very long time, but after 10 years needed a better reason to continue. 

Here’s how it all started. 

In 2003 I was eating at a Taco Bell in Clarion PA with my girlfriend at the time, casually discussing today’s road trip to Cook’s Forest.   To be clear, my head was still swimming from a recent tournament I had won.  The extreme training had been paying off, my opponents were respectively destroyed.   I love the taste of war and peace.  The very nature of their difference satisfies both aspects of a dynamic Yin and Yang.  At this time I did not yet understand the nature of war.  We exist within our own peace, a daily acceptable norm; and yet mostly if we are to experience war, it is often an instinctual choice for the chosen few.  So this girlfriend was giving me a connective look, as my mind experiences a peripheral matrix of feedback.  There were foreign men eating two booths away, and they were speaking a language I didn’t quite understand.  One of them slowly said “Vale Tudo” which is the Brazilian Portuguese word for “No Rules” in reference to early MMA fighting.  I turned and asked the men if they were speaking Portuguese.  I was hoping they were Brazilians who did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  One of the men corrected me, and said they were Greek and followed the sport of MMA.  The man who said Vale Tudo also informed me that he trained a lot, and sometimes trained with Jimmy (James Terlecki) and that I should come by some time and train.  This man was Mike Mihas, King of Pancrase.   However, I misjudged him.  He didn’t look like a fighter, and I was used to men talking the talk and not walking the walk.  Talk is cheap. 

(I recently asked Mike Mihas about his memory of this meeting.  He had not started working in the area, but was on the road for a meeting in New York when we met.  After the meeting, he was going to compete in a North American Grappling Association tournament. ) This amazes me because this chance encounter was the start of something that wouldn’t begin for almost 10 more years. 

Eight months later my steady love interest was staying at an unofficial Sorority house in Clarion, PA near the college, and I used this questionable relationship to get more training in.  Throughout the week I wrestled with division 1 college wrestlers at the University, and afterwards would privately train one of the coaches for future MMA fights (He ended up being undefeated).  After training, I would return to the college brothel where I was staying; excuse me, an educational Coven where I would take a much needed shower.  I would then head to the town south of Clarion to train with a brutish MMA team called “Team Nowhere”.  They all had the most incredible nick names such as “Short Fuse” and “Time Bomb”.  The first thing I noticed about these fighters is that they would spar at 100% wearing the tiny 4 ounce gloves at the end of class.  Seriously, who does that?  I was kind of impressed at how badass they were, despite their overall lack of technique.  One of the members I took to very quickly.  His name was Garrett (Time Bomb), a 240 pound MMA fighter who had the ability to pick you up from almost any position.  Most grapplers require specific positioning in order to lift someone; it didn’t matter to Time Bomb if you were far away or not, or if the grip wasn’t ideal.  You were a paper weight, and could be slammed from shoulder level if required.  Training with them was great, and they often let me to teach various Jiu Jitsu Techniques.   On the days “Team Nowhere” didn’t have class I would drive to New Castle, PA and train with Mike Demko’s Wrecking Crew for two to three hours.  Every Sunday I would meet at Wrecking Crew for a semi private training session with Tony Arvelo and Allen Seabolt where we would grapple for four hours with no breaks.  During this period of time, it wasn’t hard to average 10-14 hours of training a week. 

Unfortunately, sometimes drama attempted to ruin the perfect evening after returning from training on the nights when I stayed in Clarion.  There was a local underground fraternity in the area called KDR, and they were surprisingly popular.  They were also well known for raping the 18 year olds after they would take their much anticipated first drink of alcohol at a college party.  Some used date rape drugs, and yet their popularity never waned.  These Frat brothers enjoyed pulling pranks on people, and in these moments the Dove of peace never graced me with its presence.  I associated them with full bore rage; predators are no friend of mine.  One wrong move on their part and it was going to be ON.  It wasn’t long before they made a mistake.  It had been a tiring week, and I had been fighting people in training for 5 hours one particular day.  This was all the MMA Sparing, Division 1 wrestling, and fast paced Jiu Jitsu any normal athlete could handle.  I wasn’t really interested in any more action.  Then I heard a scream from the hallway.  Several of the frat boys were storming into the house wearing Gorilla masks and their underwear, and I interrupted them just as they started to enter the bathroom where my girlfriend was taking a shower.  Several of the frats never hit the ground before they landed at the other end of the hallway.  They were unable to move before their friends landed right on top of them.  I piled the bodies up high, but not before someone decided to charge.  They were lifted high into the air by their neck and throw back onto the pile.  The walls were their therapy, knocking sense into them faster than a scared strait program.  Such a strange expression on a Gorilla mask face.  It had to be a “?”, because what the F just happened?  I was ready to fight a horde within the house, but knew that taking the fight to the backyard wouldn’t end well.  However, my cell phone had phone numbers of some of the scariest MMA fighters around.  Whatever happened tonight would be interesting.  The frats ran out of the house before a threatening phone call buzzed the house.  The president of the fraternity immediately called the girls to find out who was throwing their members around, because that person is dead.  After they told him who it was, it was at that point the president officially gave me permission to throw their members around any time I wanted to.  This story would have been more entertaining if I had called in “Time Bomb” and “Short Fuse”. 

Nine years later, things were slowing down for the most part.  I was now training at Next Level in Austintown, and was really starting to vibe with my fellow training partner Mike Mihas.  People talked about him like a Legend, but I tend to ignore such feedback.  Before we connected, I didn’t associate a face with the name.  When we trained together for the first time a week later, it was a unique experience.   Mike would systematically attempt to funnel people into danger; forced steps forward, no steps back.  After several months of training together, we started a deep discussion about winning future matches and championships.  I was admittedly burned out from competition, having competed in countless matches for a reason that is now elusive.  Mike asked me to do one more, just one more tournament with him and that would be it.  Combative baby steps, a more easily accepted compromise.  Mike setup a time for me to train at another gym.  It was time to prepare for war by creating an endless skirmish.  In case you didn’t know, Mike Mihas is a World Champion in Pancration; another rare distinction is that he has won many advanced divisions in the tri-state area and fought in early MMA matches.  I was already attending day and evening classes at Next Level in Austintown, Ohio.  Would there be enough time to make it to all of the classes?  Mike recommended that I attend every class. 

“Alright”

Mike invited me to come to Clarion so I could visit the local gyms where he had been training recently. What?  Pure nostalgia, how could I say no?  The plan was to visit Team Nowhere and a new gym called Clarion MMA.  Going back to how Mike doesn’t accept no, he sort of works around the problem or excuse and gives you a solution that may or may not actually sound good.  That’s the problem with the training we do, it makes for lightning fast problem solving. 

Over the next two weeks time I attended four morning classes (8-10 hours) and six evening classes at Next Level in Austintown (12 hours), four morning classes at Clarion MMA (8 hours), and one class at Team Nowhere (2 hours).  Mike was leading the charge.  Wherever we went, the instructor at the gym would try to get us to grapple each other.  Apparently they wanted a break from both of us.  Mike would refuse, “haha no we are good, we train together all the time”. 

This amount of training is exhausting, and each gym is hours away from the next.  When you train this much you end up developing incredible amounts of comfort and timing, but little energy to actually finish people.  After a rest period, you absolutely finish people.  Now we had completed the training agreement, an obligation fulfilled.  I followed in the footsteps of a World Champion, with a little less Greek swagger.  The unknown man who spoke of Vale Tudo I bumped into at Taco Bell in 2003 was now sharing mat time and the adventure of a lifetime; living the lifestyle of a Jiu Jitsu bum.  Many months later, Mike called in a “favor”.  Sort of like dealing with the (Greek) Mafia, Mike influenced me to compete with him at the PACS tournament.  That’s when we shifted to war, and began our original story: “Enter the Mihas”                 

An Arid walk to the Oasis

 April marks another philosophical year in my quest for Jiu Jitsu Zen.  I first experienced Jiu Jitsu around June 1^st 2002 in the Army, started a Jiu Jitsu club at a college in late September, and entered my first competition as an Intermediate in late May of 2003.  This has been the journey of a lifetime, and the most significant characterization of my adult experience.  I truly believe that I would be dead or crippled if it wasn’t for this hard and technical training; it was a lifesaver beyond an identity.  There are certain things you cannot prevent, because injury and aging does happen at a variable pace.  If I could change one thing, I would have been more careful in training and competition in order to prevent some of the horrific injuries.  That also would have meant saying no or changing training partners.   At the time it would have been rude and there were less training options; it would have been impossible to know which situation was truly better. 

There were certain things that I needed to learn, but looking back all the information was surrounded and obscured by fluff techniques.  Fluff techniques were someone else’s good ideas, fun little things to do that sometimes helped.  However, they were dependent on certain variables or details in order to be successful.  Remove or change a small aspect of the position and you were finished.  I recognized early on after trying many of the moves that were in books or on youtube that nobody was releasing moves that they hadn’t already mastered.  Using similar thinking such as the Gracie gift pass, (a guard pass that allows people in the know to easily choke you) book and video instructors were giving out moves AFTER they had discovered the counters.  They understood something so well, that they released something they knew they could defeat.  They used fancy or creative moves as selling points, but long after they had discovered simple counters for these moves or positions.  The fluff techniques were still used as selling points, which led to technical commonality at many gyms and in competitions around the country.  Jiu Jitsu practitioners became known for certain moves, but as the years went by the creators of the moves often stopped using them. 

I was able to replicate many of these moves, and realized how limited they were.  The moves I learned in the Army needed to be discarded.  They were remnants of the Gracie Combatives program.  We learned the Gracie gift pass for example.  The people I competed against at this time used very boring Jiu Jitsu strait out of the books.  The really good competitors used dangerous leg locks that few knew how to counter, or maybe they won positionally with wrestling.  Around this time I discovered that there is no counter for the unknown, as long as you can pull it off.  The limiting factor was going to be me. 

I decided to draw pictures of people in Jiu Jitsu positions, and would bring several Jiu Jitsu books for inspiration to a coffee shop.  These conceptual jam sessions would last for 4-5 hours.  I would attempt to think about what the positions in the books felt like, and would play out the action sequence in my head.  I would think about changes in my body position that would frustrate and complicate the opponent’s goal.  I would look over the body positions I had drawn, and conceptualize various shapes and movement to include lowering or raising body position.  The drawing and notes would take up several pages on lined paper.  Most were tested in my mind, and of course later they were tested on a mat.  Unfortunately, my Jiu Jitsu club only had a concrete floor.  Despite the lack of equipment or training partners, the frequent brainstorming led to the development of my entire Jiu Jitsu game; there was naturally a graveyard of discarded techniques along the way. 

We didn't have access to much back then.  Whatever move you made up was the move you were hoping to use in the next competition.  The best in the Tri-state area were working hard, hoping to defeat you in the next tournament.  This made things very interesting.  When I started visiting other gyms, it became apparent that most instructors and practitioners were on the same page.  Nobody had come in and handed them Jiu Jitsu, they were simply trying to figure it out with the information that was available.  They weren't quite innovating that much, so many of their movements were predictable.  Remember, the limited game was already released.  90% of people only practiced what had already been released, and much of it had characteristic holes.  The wrestlers were still winning.  The cultures of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida were adding a distinct flavor to the gyms and competitions I experienced.  Pancration and traditional Sombo added leg lock inspiration.  Royce Gracie had people going for arm bars.  Everything was complete, except for the game.  The best was yet to come.    

GI or no GI? Redefining an old question

I am often asked which is better, training Jiu Jitsu with or without the Gi or Kimono?  This is an excellent question, but I also hate the answers most present to this question.  People tried to answer it ten years ago, and then they revisit it again and again with perpetual black and white statements and emotionally charged opinions. We will explore the logic behind several popular answers, and then I will give you a simple interpretation of application. 

The Jiu Jitsu GI seems to be best used as a friction device.  This is obvious.  I’ve had access to successful people in Jiu Jitsu, lots of them, and have seen how they perform differently with or without it.  People often obsess about which was the core of their training, and then their other obsession is who is better at GI and no GI Jiu Jitsu.  Which has a higher vertical leap, Cows or Llamas?  Both are classified as Ungulates and often observed ruminating, meaning they have four separate stomach chambers, and by geographical climate have different shaped feet despite their shared classification.  Still not enough information to answer the question?  Don’t even mention world class competition.  Few will ever be able to relate to that level of understanding and performance.  Who is usually asking the question on GI or no GI training?  A world champion?  Not at all, often a beginner who is looking for a training path.  That was one of my first questions.  I wanted to choose the best one and stick with it.  If you don’t think the answer has changed in all of these years…  You just might be wrong. 

Your average no GI school follows the typical Jiu Jitsu format, with a variable level of instruction.  Depending on how many hours it has been since they last showered, will affect how much oil is on their skin.  When it combines with sweat, it is even more slippery.  There may or may not be air conditioning.  Some schools are well air conditioned, and students dry off quickly.  It is sometimes very slippery, and sometimes not at all.  They are used to fewer moves compared to a GI Jiu Jitsu practitioner because the GI allows there to be finishes when there aren’t any true openings for chokes or arm locks.  You could argue that training methods, degree of technical knowledge or instruction, cognitive potential and reserve, and realm of submissions are all factors.  If we were to be critical of only no GI practitioners and say that they are less technical because they use less moves, then maybe they would consider replacing what would have been GI submissions and sweeps with leg lock mastery, additional repetitions of naked arm chokes, wrestling techniques, and judo techniques.  Maybe at this point they will have enough moves to be technical.  Will the GI make their escapes better?  Sure.  But do they know how to defend against judo and wrestling techniques?  Or do they know how to escape and reverse all versions of leg locks, or defend against someone who has more naked arm choke finishes than they have escaped?    

Delegating Instruction

A common practice as you gain proficiency in something is to share what you have learned with someone less experienced than you are.  A person gaining ground in math often helps their classmates understand and apply some of the steps they are missing.  In the Army they call the practice of having the slightly experienced train the novice “train the trainer”.  The concept is to improve efficiency by further breaking down the information, increasing the instructor’s potential for mastery.  The materials were derived from a dry skill level 1 task training book, and unfortunately left nothing to the imagination.  I specifically remember resenting the Army Sergeants for putting a cadet in charge of soldier training, often a college student who had attached themselves to the unit to receive more money for school.  It bothered the soldiers that the cadets did not have the experience to round out the information.  Our cadets presented the information confidently, without knowing if the information was accurate or outdated.  The concept made sense, but I knew there had to be a better way. 

We wanted an expert, but did we really want an expert?  A common frustration for advanced practitioners of any skill or craft is breaking down and teaching the early conceptual building blocks to someone with no prior knowledge of the subject.  It’s not mentally stimulating, nor is it at the pace they are used to when training their specialty.  It feels slow, and tries the patience.  Some can’t even do it.  The benefit is solidifying the understanding of the early foundation of subject knowledge.   That’s what we are told anyway, and it appears to be true.  If an expert focuses exclusively on the early basics, will they evolve to become a well rounded expert?  Or will this philosophy effectively limit advanced progress?  To educate your students beyond the basic level you must have the experience to do so.  If you always keep it simple, your applied knowledge will lack depth.    

An expert who cannot define the basic fundamental pieces to a novice is not an effective instructor.  Due to natural aptitudes it’s possible for an instructor to perform certain tasks quite well and have an even more limited knowledge base compared to another instructor who isn’t quite the natural.  Despite their skill or ability level, they will not be able to bring their students above a certain level of proficiency. 

Suppose you had a mid level student that only knew certain moves, and the single initial application in which they were instructed.  If they are able to replicate those exact movements with technical success, then forcing them to teach until they can articulate the subject would benefit the new student, the mid level student, and indirectly the main instructor.  Our main instructor now has the time and focus to understand and break down more advanced concepts and accept higher knowledge and more complete knowledge of the subject matter.  This is true for any “live” application, or growing science.  A science or study that cannot change falls outside of this model.  An instructor allowed to grow can take themselves to a greater human potential, and when the time is right they may use their advanced education to advance their mid level students.  As our knowledge grows to new heights and blossoms into a personalized flower of expression, we may begin to break the rules of the early lessons because we have the understanding to do so.  The initial setups and reasoning may no longer be used, and be replaced with completely different applications.  This creative process lends itself to building true mastery and effectiveness of any applied skill or function.  To leave a novice in an advanced setting is like dropping a minnow into the ocean.  To leave an advanced student in the beginner’s class is like dropping a shark into a pond.  Put them in the right place, and they will thrive.    

Passing the Gambit

It's true, during conflict we often frame our current and future decisions based on the past and present actions of our antagonist.  In our first experiences in conflict we begin a sequential sensory process, taking a myriad of mental notations.  In competitive combat sports our actions are often described as feeling out an opponent, actively paying attention to opponents actions and reactions in response to our combat presentation.  We are slowly buying what they are selling, and basing future decisions on what is perceived.

The most dangerous game was said to have been played with a man.  The ability to reason separates man from beast, as written by Richard Connell in "The Most Dangerous Game".  A man was invited to a mysterious island by a legendary hunter and was offered a chance to experience the hunt of  lifetime.  The famous hunter described what would be the ultimate quarry, one that could reason.  He described man as the most dangerous game (noun).  The  game animal, perfectly unpredictable; paired with an uncanny ability to reason.  Richard Connell described it best.

I will admit, it is advantageous to pay attention to reactions, to remember the past movements in the current time.  After so many minutes, over a given acceptable period of time it is hard to think we would see anything different from our opponent.  Are they building or working towards something, or is this the same show replaying over again?

Our combative logic suggests the longer we wait to accomplish a goal, the harder it becomes.  The anticipation is the distraction.  The build up is the incumbrance.  The tension is self induced.  Statistics for college drop outs  are often stated as reason to avoid dropping out in the first place.  A growing static methodology can be hard to break away.  Once someone accepts that they are out of school and have broken the commitment, it is easier to maintain the broken commitment and move on; a quasi relationship went awry.  My father told me that most will not go back.  I went back three times, and it wasn't easy.  I assume it was the Army's version of expanding an education, and challenging a flexible determination.    Because this characteristic behavioral theme of predictable behavior based on current behavior revolves around our opponent creating norms and shaping a predictable current reality, this lends itself to predictable odds and may be considered enough to be a high percentage focal point of both your attack and defense.  What they do changes how you act and react.  What if the reverse process was used to create the ultimate strategy?

My friend and training partner Kevin recently decided that watching past performances of his opponents may lead to false expectations and unpredictable performances.  If you plan for past presentations, a new presentation may deliver problems previously unaccounted for.  This is primarily a mental defeat, as being forced to change for a learning curve you didn't ask for is hard for anyone to accept.  A counterpoint to this statement is that we may misread what we are seeing, and making all the wrong assumptions.  Human error is a factor: we see what we think we see and often miss the rest.

The sport of Mixed Martial Arts is certainly full of strategies, and each theory comes at a price.  An elaborate strategy might be just the right medicine, or a jumbled mess that cannot be implemented in the game that is played.  Some more caveman like strategies are described with brutal simplicity; a fighter hoping to keep it standing or to take the fight to the ground.  I always thought it would be fun to only attempt takedowns, and act afraid and unsure of incoming strikes.  Later in the fight as the pace starts to slow, you would start using more dynamic footwork and setting up calculated striking combinations.  This is the opposite of the more common strategy of starting with striking, and then adding grappling if your opponent gets the better of you in the exchanges.  In this situation, your behavior is predictable.  One of the most effective strategies I've come across has been successfully implemented during my worst performances.  You delivered less, you showed all the wrong things, and finished with what you sold as a pawn.

A bad presentation sells what you don't have.  A good presentation delivers solid feedback.  In the same way you read an opponent, you give them something inaccurate to read; a rather thick book.  Now they have to sort through what is fiction and what is the future.  An exaggerated movement, a lack of follow through, overtly showcasing a lack of experience.  Faking weakness in your strongest areas.  This is the epitome of playing offensive possum.  The longer the act, the better the sell, however the ability to implement this game depends on the mental flexibility of the player.  I've successfully used it to win two recent competitions and almost five total divisions with zero contest preparation through a time of challenging life experiences.  This wouldn't be called success, but rather fool's mate.  It is however an example of how even at your lowest point, the correct strategy purposefully implemented can be used to get you through to the next stage.  How will you game when you play the most dangerous game?