Moving up Anxiety..
Posted by Ray Cobbing
Posted by
Ray Cobbing
posted in
Gen. Poker
Moving up Anxiety..
So i have a very nice winrate at my current limits (I play mostly 10nl, recorded 210k hands with 11bb/100)
Now i know this is more than enough to have moved up limits by now, but i am having anxiety problems that keep me from doing so,
- Couple of reasons for this is the fact i hate having no reads/hands on people, what is a good reaction to this?
- How did you overcome this anxiety feeling of moving up stakes? What is the best way to get myself mentally prepared before a session?
- I'm finding it hard to give myself reason/motivation on moving up when i tend to do well at the games i currently play, how do i overcome this?
I guess things that put me off mostly aswell is everytime i have took stabs at higher stakes, i lose a couple of buy ins due to silly mistakes on my part, out thinking myself most of the time rather than the "ABC" i know.
Would really appreciate your feedback on this, How did you overcome the anxiety of moving up?
Thanks in advance people,
Peace out x
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I actually get the whole "mouse hand shake" aswell, haha. I thought i would of been the only one :P
Thanks again for the tip this is definatly something i will try!
Also as for having no reads think of it a different way...they have no reads on you ;). So really your at no disadvantage in this respect. If you want you can load up a few tables and watch the action check how many tables guys are on and you'll be able to spot the regs quite quickly and mark them so in reality you have a few reads already that they don't.
Appreciate the comments guys :)
One of these, and this depends on exactly what is causing the shakes, is to take your shots during/directly after a decent winning session for you. Say you just won 5 buy ins, maybe load up a couple of tables at the next stakes and see how it goes. That way, you can perhaps trick your mind that you're freerolling because if you lose, you just end up back where you started for the day. In theory, this is irrelevant, but if it helps in practice it's not to be sniffed at (it's also worth noting that if you are up 5 buyins, you are more likely to be playing well/focused than at a random moment which could in itself reduce the stress as you'll be concentrating more on making good decisions).
Another thing you could do if the lack of reads is an issue is take a look if any of the guys at your stakes are playing higher. Use the search function, browse tables for players you've colour-coded etc. After all, if you're playing at unfamiliar stakes, it will likely be comforting to know that at least 1 or 2 of the guys at your table are players you are capable of beating. This way, much as with splitting stakes, you can kind of ease yourself into the games by playing with fewer unfamiliar (and therefore potentially decent) villains.
Finally, game select. Look for the tables which appear to comprise the least number of competent villains. For me, I think really high VPIPs and a number of 70-90bb stacks are usually good indicators (high VPIPs for obvious reasons and the 70-90bb stacks because they usually indicate non-reloaders and good players tend to auto-reload). This is particularly easy at the smaller stakes where there are so many tables to choose from that you have no reason to just randomly jump into a game when taking a shot.
With any luck, you just cooler a guy on hand 7 and never look back making all this irrelevant :p
I do like the idea of "tricking the mind" One does tend to play better on a "Freeroll" :D
I also like the idea of coolering someone in the 7th hand hehe, good advice :P
My advice would be to shortstack 50-100NL for a while and play a really mathematical style so there is no room for "bad play", or to do a couple of flips at 25NL. This way you will be desentized.
Btw Toms advice is more in line with how common people think. My advice is more what a degen would do, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me?
Another thing you can do is just sit the games and play like a mega nit for like 200 hands or something. Only play TT-AA, AQs, AK. If someone plays back at you in anyway and you don't feel positive you have the best hand, then just fold. You give up some EV for sure, but you only lose 7bbs if someone raises a cbet or something. By the end of the 200 hands you will prolly be down like 1/4 bi or something assuming you don't stack anybody. But you can take that time to just watch the action. I promise you will realize that the guys playing 25nl are really no better than the guys playing 10nl. Then after 200 hands, start to open your range slowly. The next couple of circuits add some hands like flatting with 66-99, AT-AQ, 9Ts-KQs. Just add in a few of these hands at a time. By the end of a 1k hand session you will be playing your standard game and all you really had to give up to get there was playing nitty for a session.
Thanks for all your feedback :)
Will let you know how it went :P x
remember everyone has moved up and down the stakes and its never easy to instantly adapt and be cool with everything, but after a while its all just the same old same old.
good luck!
Fact is i am happy with my game at the moment, very confident going into every session but as soon as i move up i can't help but feel something "different" can't really explain it :D Think i expect too much of myself as i am getting close to the stage (If i keep double figure winrate) Where my dream is nearly my reality, it gets me kind of over whelmed.
I'm very lucky enough at the moment in my life to have a nice job, and minimal outgoings every month. So i need to just crack on with it and see how far i can really go with poker. It does over whelm me somewhat because i know i have what it takes.
But anyway, thanks again everyone <3 Much appreciated. NL100 by August :D
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