Fear

[Jorge10]

Fear is an annoying part of poker, its specially annoying to me because I am never lost in hands. By that I mean I always know when someone is weak or strong, but I am too much of a wuss to take advantage. I hate to admit it, but thats my biggest flaw. I can see their cards in my mind without any problems, but I have a hard time doing what my instict says, of course no problem listening to it. My instict is always screaming in my ear, "Bet you moron hes weak", but my logic always says no he could have it. That is until recently ive become more and more aggressive, and am listening to my instict a lot more, but its still hard to go against my logic even if it seems to always be wrong. Over the last month I have become very aggressive, and have won more than ever, I dont know what caused it, I guess one day I just snapped and said im tired of this fear bullcrap. Weird weird stuff I have to say. Just wondering how did you guys handle this? Did anyone else go through this? Also do you very aggressive players have a bulletproof type of feel? Ive been feeling that lately, and no its not cause im running good, I have been bad beat a lot this week(including 4 1 outers, lol it happens), but when I get beat I no longer feel much, I just go to the next hand and think doesnt matter its all coming back. I dont know its a weird feeling.

Shouldnt I be afraid? I mean shouldnt I fear the what ifs? Shouldnt I have some logic into my thinking, I still consider pot odds and stuff, but you know somehow I think my aggression is going to make me ignore logic. Just wondering how do you guys handle being ultra aggressive? It just that my game changed a lot very quickly, I went from being tight passive, to not so tight very aggressive, it was just a complete change. Somehow it seems it cant be good, but I dont know im confused more than anything. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

[Jimbo]

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and no its not cause im running good,

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You had my interest till you wrote this.

[Pirc Defense]

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I can see their cards in my mind without any problems

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Teach me?

I wish I had your gift!

[Jorge10]

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I wish I had your gift!

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No point im too much of a wuss, lately im trying to be more aggro, but its very difficult.

[Onaflag]

I think it may be one of the stages you are passing through. You obviously didn't mean to say you could actually see their cards in your mind, but rather are fairly confident when you put people on hands. Following through with the proper action is another story.

It might seem that reading your opponents hands is a skill that takes time to acquire. Once you start to acquire it (if ever for some of us [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]) you then need to figure out how accurate you are and bet accordingly.

It may simply be that you have recently noticed you're getting better at reading hands. Once you figure out the accuracy of your readings, then you can start to exploit this newfound skill. I don't think I'd change my betting ways just yet. When your skill is refined enough, your confidence will increase making the last part, the follow through, a no brainer. Don't rush it.

Onaflag..........

[varoadstter]

I can remember times when I definitely was playing and feeling fearful. 100% of those times I was trying something that I'd never done before:

First time playing online
First time at a B&M
First time playing at someone else's home game

Times I felt "uncomfortable": the first time I move up in limits or try a different game (first tourney, first NL cash game, etc).

After I get past "first-itis" I typically swing a little too hard in the other direction (too aggressive) before I find my rhythm and settle down.

As to your current feeling of invincibility, try to stay honest with yourself. You may be swinging too hard in the other direction at the moment. A little success at a "new" game tends to do that to you. If you continue to clean up, then bravo for you. You're in a good place.

[benkahuna]

Fear and other forms of irrational thought are enemies of good poker play with few exceptions. That is except instinct. If your intuition does you well, you have to trust it. Act on it and you'll figure out just how useful your intuition is. I'm of the opinion that the best opinions are made with a solid foundation in rational thought. I know my best decisions are.

To become a very aggressive player, you have to lose the fear I think. Barry Greenstein said something like this in his book. He talked about traits in successful poker players and that one of them usually is not knowing the value of money.

Sounds like you fought a battle with fear that was holding you back and that you won. Congratulations.

Other posters in this thread encouraged you to critically examine the real impact of greater aggressiveness on your recent results. I think they make wise suggestsions.

[Jorge10]

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First time at a B&M
First time playing at someone else's home game


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I play very little live I have played like about 6 times, I have to say I am Mr. Shaky hands, lol.

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your confidence will increase making the last part, the follow through, a no brainer.

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Thats so hard to for me, im such a wuss, a lot of times I know my reads are right, but im too much of a wuss to pull the trigger, trying to get the hang of aggression.

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I'm of the opinion that the best opinions are made with a solid foundation in rational thought. I know my best decisions are.


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I think this way as well, but my instict keeps being right and its like a damnit if only I would have listened. It makes it hard to go with the logic.


The reason I feel I need to not let the aggresion take over is because a friend of mine can play short handed, but sucks full handed because he has no logic, thats what happens when you let your aggression take over, you can win with pure aggression short handed against inferior players, but when the table is full or you are up against good players pure aggression doesnt cut it.

I really respect the poster cantor and honesty... give him a little bit of a break.

Jorge10... I found that when I wanted to push these "edges" and play uber-aggresive (i.e. call an all in with 22 on a ragged flop when you know someone is on AK, no pair) I moved down to a lower limit game.

I usually play either a $200 or $500 max buy-in game... so when I wanted to work on something new, check on my "reads", or play more speculative hands... i would go play the $100 no limit.

It's easier to trust your "gut" when it doesn't put a substantial amount of your bankroll at risk.