I'm a big Wussie!

As a poker player, it is imperative that you make your decisions based on "logic" and not by "feel". Some people will say that their "gut" feeling always serves them well, what am I talking about? Well, surely, feelings are created to protect you. It's built from your past events and are re-enforced as there are more samples of favorable results.

Actually there is a famous 2+2 post written about development as a poker player. (I'll post it if someone can find it.) Basically it's about the development of a successful poker player. He talked about players being more of a "feel" player or a "logical" player. I personally think someone would have to be extremely lucky to build the perfect "feel" and still be correct in most spots. Most winning players are definitely logical players like myself. But by nature, I'm a very emotional person. I rely on feelings more than a lot of other guys. Actually in the past, someone who I respected greatly told me that I should become an artist because that would maximize the type of person that I am. Well that point is unimportant, but I'm naturally a very passive and non-confrontational person. Jman described in his well post about his personality and it is very similar to myself. The reason I rarely tilt is probably because I usually don't let little things bother me, and I tend to see the brighter side of things. So it's ironic that I am required to be aggressive to be successful in the game.

Constantly during a session, my feelings definitely kick in. For most part, I'm not as conscious about it as much as I would like to be. Maybe I got 3bet from an overaggressive player and I "feel" that he could have a better hand that time. So I prefer to let go of my decent hand and wait for another spot. In the state of the 2/4 games and with the good aggro regulars, you almost cannot completely just avoid them. You are giving them way too much long term edge. I find myself needing to go against my feelings very often. Sure, logic can be wrong and feelings can be right. But if I can logically understand why I'm doing this and it has good sound reasonings behind it, I need to go against those feelings. They can definitely become a distraction.

Frequently, it is way too easy to see a profitable spot and go "oh he might have a huge hand here this time, maybe next time.." or "oh I can't fire a barrel here, he might just call me down with ace high". In those scenarios, I should really assess like the following: "CO opener is a LAG and button's 3bet by an aggro TAG. If I 4bet here, I should get a lot of respect and I think both players cannot think I'm bluffing here very often" or in the second scenario, "I haven't been out of line against this villain. He's kind of tight. I've been giving up a lot of turns and he should respect my barrel on this scare card, his range is also not going to hit this very often". In the end, this is just all about getting away from standard ABC and think about each situation as a unique sample. It is important to fight certain feelings and make the most profitable plays.