Under Pressure

  The ability to operate under pressure is a necessary skill for successful poker playing. Let's face it, you're going to be under pressure during the course of the game. Pressure will come from many angles. The other players will be pressuring you with their betting and their card play. The cards will be pressuring you with their fleeting chances of developing. You may be under a time constraint, causing its own pressure, and you will probably be pressuring yourself, trying to win the game.  Pressure is a good thing. Pressure pushes you to work and try harder. Pressure puts you in the hot seat and forces you to act accordingly. Pressure is also a bad thing. Pressure forces you to act, limiting your time to make decisions. Pressure can make you nervous, forcing you into poorly calculated risks or scaring you away from taking any risks at all.  When you play poker, you need to operate under the positive aspects of pressure, while coaxing your opponents into operating under the negative elements. This makes it necessary to modulate the amount of pressure your place on your opponents. You want them to stay in the negative aspects, letting up or pushing harder accordingly.  You can make some of your best moves when you're under pressure, and you can force your opponents to make some of their worst moves under it as well.