Is it normal to always feel quite nervous before a game

[DarrenX]

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If you are a competitive person, being nervous before any kind of competition can be normal.

You can't really *get rid* of your nervousness--it is a mental factor that you will have to deal with. As something becomes more routine, you can learn to work through your nervousness so it doesn't affect you adversely. One important step is to realize that nervousness like this is indeed normal, and that you are always going to have to deal with the nervousness--but in spite of these things, you can indeed learn to work through it. Good luck.

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Personally it's a rush to me. In poker, but also in volleyball, where I'll get the 'butterflies in my stomach' feeling every tournament I play when I step on the court even though I've been playing for 16 years- reminds me I'm alive.

My advice- feed off of it, and enjoy... [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

In the following post, BB refers to big bets.

In response to the OP, $65 is a REALLY small buy-in for 4-8. That's 8 BB. When you're playing with a buy-in that small (I'm surprised it was even allowed; the minimum at the tables I play at is 10BB), you will not be playing optimally because you don't want to end up down. You will miss out on a lot of good opportunities while waiting for that first big hand to put you in the plus.

If it feels different to you if you put $65, $80, $160, or $240 in play at $4-$8, then you are playing scared with a small BR. What I would suggest is dedicate a seprate amount of money specifically to playing poker. Do not spend this money on anything but poker and tipping the dealers/servers. Don't even spend this money on a meal while you're playing. Get used to a dedicated poker BR. Once you begin to realize that the money you spend on poker cannot be used for luxuries, you will have a much better understanding of Money Management.

"Whenever I had a losing session I'd obsess over it, going over and over all the mistakes I made and how I should have played differently."

While this may seem like it is a good quality at first, it is an understatement of what you need to be doing. It is possible to play terribly during a winning session. I made 47BB in 4 hours last night, and most of my hands were played very poorly. I played much better the day before but made a whopping 0BB over 6 hours.

The correlation between sessional wins and quality of play is non-existent. The faster you understand that and money management techniques, the sooner you will be on the road to a succesful mindset.