Impatience in sight of ... THE BUBBLE!

I started playing poker 5 weeks ago and am playing freerolls to learn the game and grow comfortable before making the next step. Last night I had my best finish ever coming in 2 spots away from the bubble. I was the chip leader too. Well I played 2 mediocre hands aggressively and was knocked out. I was laughing because I came so close. I quickly realized that my impatience let my emotions run away from me. This is something I'll need to learn but I wanted to ask the forum if anyone has a ritual they uphold when they're close to the bubble to keep their emotions in check such as using a stressball, performing pushups, reading an article while playing, talking on the phone, etc...

I'd really appreciate any input on what I should to do to take my game to the next level. I imagine I just need to play more and get comfortable with playing close to the bubble.

For me, when I get close to the money, especially if I have a big stack, I get very conservative. I look at the intro amount as already won, and my job is to protect it. As I get closer to winning it all, I play good cards only, knowing eventually I might hit what I need to finish things off. Force the lower stacks to eliminate each other.

I really don't do anything different, I just keep playing the same way that got me to that point, but people do tend to play a bit tighter in this part of the game,look in the strategy articles in the forum you can find a bunch of info just about this

I go to the lobby to check who is behind the bubble. If at all possible, I observe the table of the person with the least amount of chips.

Playing the bubble can be a chance to pick up some chips if you have a big stack. I only try to make moves on people trying to not go out. I leave the other big stacks alone unless I got a good hand, and the middle stacks are usually fair game also.

Bubble can also be a good time to play agressively they dont want to go out either or risk their chippies.

^^^ This. If you're the big stack then the villains who are sweating the bubble (not quite the short stack but just up from that) are the ones to target. If you're aggressive against these guys then unless they have a really high calibre hand they are unlikely to mess with you and a whole lot of stealing can go on.

It’s ok to be aggressive as long as you aren’t risking not getting into the money or that you can comfortably fold yourself into the money (in other words, the short stacks are very close to blinding and anteing out.) If you only have a few blinds more than the guy on the bubble, and you have a big hand, then go for the double up.

Thats a good question one that miiht take years to overcome. I still get excited near the bubble. And have played hands knowingly that I shouldn't but do. Gl figuring it out. and when ya do lmk. bbbcs