Q1: tough to answer, gets asked a lot, and usually ends up with OP getting roasted
Q2: Better players are better because they are less at the mercy of the cards. They are better at identifying (or manufacturing?) opportunities where their cards they hold are not (as) important. “There is an old wisdom that says you don’t win tournaments, you steal them. While there are no absolutes in poker, there is a lot of truth to this wisdom” taken from an old FossilMan post. Suggested reading: eMarkM post
http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...mp;o=&vc=1
and
Bubble Aggressioin
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...amp;sb=5&o
Q3: You’ve taken the first step by admitting it’s a problem. Suggest you search the psychology thread and/or post the question there.
Q4: suggested reading: woodguy's post on playing a big stack
http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...;o=&fpart=
Q5: Another psychology question. As far as being scared goes, I think the easiest answer is to play at limits that don’t scare you. I suspect great players have the ability to not let the $ affect their play by acknowledging the $ that they could win/lose (hiding the $ aspect is unlikely to work and would tend to have some ugly psychological side affects), I suspect they then seeing the chips as chips and the game as a game, which allows them to focus on winning the game. How do you do that? I’m still working on it, but in a weird way I think it involves embracing losing. Vahedi’s over used quote of “you have to be willing to die in order to live” suggests that he’s okay with losing, he may not like it, but he’s okay with it. Suggested reading: Gigabet on success and failure
http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...mp;o=&vc=1
In the future I'd recommend you spread your questions out a bit, 5 questions in one post is too much to chew on.
Hope this helps…