Playing with oneself, then analyzing

I've seen other people play with themselves at chess club, or other places and I have tried playing against myself but can't get passed the fact that I know my own strategy. What benefit do people get by simulating an entire game, making moves for both black and white? Why do people play with themselves? 

seriously?

lets give it a better name.  Call it analysis.  and the better you are at "analysis" the better you are at chess. full stop.

Ok, analysis. So that is the goal of it? Generally? 

the goal (or ONE of the most important goal) is to play out a series of logical moves for both sides to make sure you don't miss important tactics.

sometimes tactics and sacrifices are combined to win a game.

to avoid positions like that, you have to be able to predict logical moves for both players.  sometimes its a very small difference between a completely winning combination and a vague (and inaccurate) sense that there should be a win somehow in a position like that.

also you can analyze the position to see if there's a potential position you feel more comfortable with to see if a given set of moves creates uncomfortable positional pressure.

in short its an essential skill for  a strong player.

This makes a lot of sense. Often I'm up in material and my position looks good, but I cannot see mate. 

yeah.  being up in material though makes life nice.   but many stronger players only lightly analyze in that kind of position.

instead its the losing side that is all very interested in combinations and tricky moves. 

both sides will start analyzing deeply as the game goes into "complications"

and after the game.  more analysis , so that they guys can strive to play better next time.  such is the cost of being a strong player.  trust me I fall very short of doing this activity well. 

Many times when youre up material, the easiest thing to do is just trade down into a winning position.  

Be very careful playing with yourself in pubic. You could get arrested, go blind or end up with hairy palms.

I meant public,not pubic.

it has begun!

the op should consider changing the title (IMHO)...

its Catchy

but you may not like what you catch....

Apparently, it's quite legal in Italy.

there's only one thing to say about these new posts. 

Appreciate the serious input while it lasted. I honestly looked and cannot see how to "edit" a title

The gift or the current time? 

Go to "HOME", then click "Manage all Content". Finally, under "Actions", choose the appropriate "Edit" button. The rest is self-explanatory.

The problem is I always beat myself.

So cheap Bilbo

Cobra I'm on iPad and do not see that option. I did find a way, when in a topic you created, just below 'new topic' button is "edit forum topic", which I have done.