Why am I afraidat the table?

ChuckyB · #1 05-25-2005, 07:29 PM

My big question is: When did you stop being afraid of losing...and how did you do it?

Here's why I ask:
Playing a $25 buy-in NLHE game on Party Poker last night. UTG raised pre-flop to 75 cents, fold, fold, I re-raised to $2 with KQs. Only raiser calls.
Flop comes KTx (one of my suit). I bet $2, he raises to $4, I grudgingly call.
Ace (not my suit) on turn, he puts me all-in (another $12). I folded like a cheap suit. He showed 99.

LINES · #2 05-25-2005, 10:11 PM

I stopped being afraid when i stopped being a scared little [censored] at the table. That started when i lost almost 3/4 of my chip stack in a game, where i thought 100% the read was perfect. But i got outplayed.
Since then, i have learned many different things but just observing people before i go in and play, you have to feel comfortable. If you go in scared, you will be afraid of losing, and you'll never be sucessful.

xCEO · #3 05-26-2005, 06:46 AM

I'm a limit player, but I play NL occasionaly. When playing NL I also get afraid in exactly the same situations like you described.

That's why I play limit. I'm never afraid there..

Mathemagician · #4 05-26-2005, 08:20 AM

When I started I was constantly afraid to lose my stack, so I would fold like a tent to any pressure. That stops when two things happen:

1. You are adequately bankrolled for the level you're playing. (I started with $100 at 25NL, which is VERY underbankrolled and quite scary)
2. You learn how to consistently (not perfectly) get your stack in the middle with the best of it.

Once you've lost a buy-in or ten to suck-outs or bonehead plays on your part (which hopefully reduce in frequency over time) and won it back from the very same player less than an hour later more than once or twice, the fear disappears and you just start itching for those opportunities to double up.

So, if you're afraid to lose your stack drop down levels until one or two buy-ins doesn't feel like much. You can't play at your best if you're afraid.

Jazza · #5 05-26-2005, 10:22 AM

i pretty much stopped feeling emotion after about 30,000 hands of NL

poker-penguin · #6 05-26-2005, 10:34 AM

At a guess, you're afraid because it's new, and you're not confident that you pwn the rest of the fishies round the table.

Go to www.billfillmaff.com, watch the instructional videos, and learn self-confidence.

ChuckyB · #7 05-26-2005, 03:36 PM

That's good advice. Thanks.

I'm wondering if the best thing to do is just say "screw it" and start employing a more-agressive style (like the books I keep reading tell me.) It may just be a matter of turning a part of my brain off.

ChuckyB · #8 05-26-2005, 03:37 PM

30,000? Okay, just 28,000 more to go.

I like how you say you stopped feeling emotion. They have pills for that.

LINES · #9 05-26-2005, 05:47 PM

haha

pzhon · #10 05-26-2005, 05:54 PM

You should worry about your play. You reraised an UTG raise with KQs with several people left to act? I'd fold. I'd also fold to the flop check-raise. KQ is not a powerful hand after someone raised.

You should get bluffed out of many pots. If you don't ever let people bluff you, you will pay off too many value bets. That is suicidal in NL.