Fear

Whether it's cash games or tournaments... once you're out of money, or out of chips... that's the end.

I think the fear of that happening is hindering me. As far as it prevents me from playing weak hands, it's not such a bad thing. However, it also restricts my betting, and that gets in the way of winning, which is bad.

I've done fairly well playing lots of speculative hands, at some points... it's rather risky, though, especially if you misread other peoples' hands. So nowadays, I play very conservatively, just the top fifty or so hands, with rather careful betting most of the time.

I've been on the receiving end of aggressive betting, myself - something like 5x - 6x blinds on a pre-flop betis enough to put people off even potential winning hands, myself included. I probably should't be that afraid of those bets.

In any case, my bankroll has hit a flat zero, again. :(