A "Fish" eye view

[Stagemusic]

I am actually trying to change the view. It's a little murky underneath all this water. I am really really new to poker. I have played for a couple years in a B&M Casino a couple of hours away. No more than 5 or 6 times a year. I played the free games on Paradise, UB, and a couple of others. About 2 or 3 months ago, I decided that, since my income has risen to the point I can afford it, I wanted to spend more time and money learning how to play the game. I love the action and am a very competitive person. I deposited a few times and went off in search of immortality. I quickly lost my a**. I decided to regroup and read more about it. I bought the usual books, read the newsgroups, played the microlimits and learned. Mostly what I learned is that most poker players that are any good are sincerely interested in helping you learn. Sure there are jerks that like to insult you when you make a stupid play or mistake or ask a question. That used to bother me. Now, I simply make a one word note on them...ends with "hole".

Enough background. Now to my question. I seem to have reached a hump and am having a hard time getting over it. I have progressed to where I can be generally assured of a winning session up to 1-2 online. I have actually won a couple sit and go's and placed 21st in a 500 person tournament recently. The hump seems to be evident when the pot stakes go up. I tend to really tighten up and end up losing bets. I know it's not because I am afraid of the money because I can afford it ( or maybe it's because I had to work so hard to get there). How can I get over this or even can I? I notice this particularly late in tournaments when I am among the top ten chip leaders and the blinds really start to climb. Advice? Observations? And Thank you.

[Your Mom]

Realize that when you move up in stakes in limit hold em and when the blinds escalate in latter stages of a tourney that it is absolutely necessary for you to play more aggressively. Otherwise, smart players will run you over by raising you. When you move up in limit poker, you may be better off doing a lot of checking and calling until you find a comfort level. Then you will want to do more raising. In tournaments, you have to play aggresively if you want to win when the blinds go up. Never put in half of your stack- just throw it all in and put the pressure on the other guy. Hope this helps.

[SittingBull]

I believe the psychologists in the 'Psyc Sec' will be able to help u.
Sounds as if u have a "psychological bankroll" problem.
SittingBull
Happy pokering /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[RockLobster]

Hi Stage--

I can tell you what I think is the biggest thing that has helped me: posting hands.

You can learn a lot from reading other people's questions about the hands that they played, but it's a whole different level when people are replying to YOUR post. Your thought process will come into question. This is a good thing. Anyway, you'll pick up a lot in a short time by posting a few hands here and there.

Hope this helps...

[Stagemusic]

Rock,

Thanks for your input. It's a very good idea and one that I will follow up on.

[Talex]

As another point, I find that often by the time I'm finished posting I've already learned quite a bit. When reviewing hands in the light of day I pick up a lot of my flaws. 'Course I have a lot of flaws to shed light on.

-Tim

[RockLobster]

Excellent point, I've experienced the same thing. I'll set aside 4 or 5 hands that I want to post. Then I start writing them up, and notice flaws in my play.

In reality, I think I only post about 10% of the hands that I originally plan to post.