It doesn't make it harder to win. Occasionally you can psych yourself out, and play worse by being very passive, but that's the rare occasion. Kageyama has a nice example of that in Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go. An amateur tells K that he will definitely win if K gives him 9 stones, then plays too defensively and loses.

i think that black getting a handi actually makes it harder to win because when i have handi i have no idea what to do after white takes his/her turn so i always end up losing the game (most of the time it is a close game) and i was wondering what most people worry about when they have handi.

i think that black getting a handi actually makes it harder to win because when i have handi i have no idea what to do after white takes his/her turn so i always end up losing the game (most of the time it is a close game) and i was wondering what most people worry about when they have handi.

if you lose with handycap there is no way you will play even game and win.
take a handycap that will make you win sometime and try to make it all the time.

That's not true. I for one play better without a handicap, and I have seen 4d on kgs playing handicap games for fun between themselves, 5 stones against another 4d, and sometimes, black win. 5 stones or less are the worst to me when I have black, and 6 stones or more are the worst to me when I have white.

The black side of a handicap game is hard because your opponent is better than you.

in fact you might end up losing the handicap game by significantly more points because the stronger player was forced to make more "high risk-high reward" plays and overcompensated for the handicap.

That may be the case for an even game Magicwand, but I think you would still have a good chance of winning against me at 4 or 5 stones, even if in theory, you should give me only 3. You would also notice a change of strength if I played you evenly, than if I played at 3 stones, even if you would win. That was what I wanted to say. Evenly, I play at 1d or so level, but in an handicap game, my game could be more 1k-2k ish. There are more than one reasons for this. First of all, I start ahead, so it's hard to play normally. I will try to avoid fighting, because it's not to my advantage, given that I'm ahead. However, that is also a bad thing, because my opponent will also seek to fight, and will try to make the situation more complex. In a complex situation, no matter the handicap, the stronger player is at an advantage because of his experience and reading ability.

For example, you could overplay and go unpunished. You would be more tempted to overplay too, because you're behind, because of the handicap. It's not just that I play more actively in an even game, but my opponent will not play as many overplays than in an handicap game. In contrary is also true. Some player are more tempted to attack when they have more stones (the handicap), but often they will overplay. And then, the stronger player can see the overplay, and take advantage of it.

An handicap game is not the same as an even game, because player play differently than in an even game. To me, it's why I can't play at my fullest, because my style is hard to apply in an handicap game.

If you are really stronger in even games, why not just play the game as if the handicap stones were not on the board? Short of a shortage of liberties, which is highly unlikely, they can't actually hurt you if you play like they're not there.

I think this is what can make playing a handicap game easier if played with the right mindset.
More handicap stones means a higher chance of high risk-high reward plays by the stronger player.

Find those weak points, and the game is over. Of course, the game won't actually be over, since a 20 point gap can often be closed in the endgame.

Just don't let it get to the endgame Easier said than done, right?

Interesting idea! I think it might make some stuff look a bit weird... But for example Shusaku-style fuseki is still possible: