How do i deal with fear and hesitation in poker

Play less tables, write down a goal to look for opportunities to play more aggressive and remind yourself of it before every session. Watch aggressive coaches before play for inspiration, or just listen to eye of the tiger I guess.

Hi there DonkeyDirk,

You could ask that question of our psychology coach, I am sure he will be able to help out:

[EmbraceTilt] Erik Stenqvist: Tilt, A-Game, Mindset, and Lifecoaching ~ Q&A

Regards,

Mal.

Also write down for yourself a list of hands you want to 3bet from each position vs different positions, memorize it. And now you can power through your fear by 3betting what you are supposed to be 3betting, after a while it will become standard.

Same applies for barreling etc.

And don't jump from 3% to 10% right of the bat, start out by making yourself a 5 or 6% 3betting range, once you get comfortable with that, go further.

Originally posted by NightFrostaSS
Play less tables, write down a goal to look for opportunities to play more aggressive and remind yourself of it before every session. Watch aggressive coaches before play for inspiration, or just listen to eye of the tiger I guess.

Eye of the tiger it is ♦ Tnx for other the advice i will cut down to 4 tables and see how it goes Do you happen do have a link or name of a series to one of those video's regarding aggressive microstakes play or some 3betting vids ?

Hi DonkeyDirk,

Try a pre-flop raise and pay really close attention to your opponents tendencies. Knowledge and understanding breeds confidence.

Good luck!

You may be feeling uncomfortable because you are playing less than the very best hands for big pots. Perhaps lowering your BI would make it easier for you to 3B and play bigger pots, and you could try it at 10nl when you are happy with the increased aggression.

A couple of things come into play here. One is I think you need to learn the game better because playing aggressively is a better strategy than playing passively for a lot of reasons. The most simple way to look at is if you just check call the only way you can win a hand is by showing down with the best hand, but by raising and betting you can win by making your opponent fold giving you an additional way to win (I know you don't only check and call but it's better to assume for the purpose of the example). This isn't saying just play like a maniac and try to steal every pot.

If and when you move up in stakes metagame (table image) will become a big problem for you. Many micro stakes players aren't observant enough to see what patterns you have, but they will when you move up in stakes and passive players are by far the easiest to figure out tendencies on.

Also at the end of the day we're gambling, we're not shooting craps we're playing a skill game but there's still a chance that you lose the money in front of you and you don't even have to do anything wrong to have that happen. You can't play your best poker if you're scared of being stuck at the end of the session actually you should be happy that that's a possibility, without the possibility of losing poker isn't poker.

To sum it up just play correctly and playing correctly does involve raising and re-raising sometimes.