During my 19 years of playing, I have competed in nearly 400 tournaments.  When I look back at those events, I see probably…
100 good tournaments
250 average tournaments
50 absolutely terrible tournaments
 
By terrible, I mean that my performance was much worse than I had hoped for and that I didn’t perform even close to my full potential.  So, if I would have avoided playing those 50 tournaments, would my playing career have been better during the last 19 years?????? 
 
Absolutely not.