LesWormMurphy
07-01-2005, 03:31 PM
Hello. This is a very long post, and more of a statement than anything else, but replies and feedback is wanted.
I am 18 years old and have been playing poker on and off for the last 3 years. Though the age and recent explosion of poker may suggest that I am just merely another horrible poker sucker, inspired by televised poker, I'd like to think otherwise of myself... to an extent.
Up until about a month ago, all I've done is read some texts and studied tells-- but, I know I haven't applied them properly in the many home games I played. I read books that told me to be tight-aggressive, but I was tight-weak. My read on players would be surprisingly accurate, but I'd be too unsure of myself to rely on them when my $10 stack was at stake at the home-tourneys.
Getting to the point--
In Florida, the legal gambling age is 18. I've visited the poker room about 4 times. First time, I had a $60 profit, second time $85 profit, third time $1 profit and I stopped there.
The last month has been the start of something new. I've been studying much more, been playing limit poker for play money on PP very seriously, and most importantly, started acquaniting myself with +EV and pot odds.
So, last night I visited the casino again with my usual entry of $40. Lost it all within 2 hours. ($1-$2 Hold 'Em)
But, for someone who gets upset when he loses $2 on a bad bag of chips, I was surprisingly optimistic after I lost. I can fairly say that I learned more in one 2-hour session of casino poker than I have in my entire life.
My reads were accurate, I knew how every opponent played, but I still played wrong. However, I spotted almost all of my mistakes a minute or so after I lost. I realized when I was supposed to bet, when I should've folded and more importantly, WHY I should've played that way. I didn't play certain hands with pot odds, and I found out the hard way exactly how well they pay off. I was deceived by the short term, and as a result found out that I am pretty susceptible to getting worn out.
I applied so many things in one session that I never have. Reading hands, reading players, pot odds, +EV bets, calculating odds, outs etc.. and I was handling it perfectly the first 45 minutes-- but after that, it started taking its toll on me. I read less players, analyzed less, played the individual hand, and not the pot odds.
But, is all of that strictly a bad thing? I found things out about myself that I was oblivious to, realized just how well the pot odds do work if you play them, and am now aware that I need much more patience if I want to be a winner.
I lost $40, but I don't feel like losing money was all that happened that night. Thankfully, if anything, it WAS only $40. I bus at a restaurant and make that money in a day and never gamble when I can't afford to. I visit the casino once, twice a week and view a loss as another day at the restaurant. But I want to be a consistent winner, and isn't self-realization one of the key things in achieving this?
I am 18 years old and have been playing poker on and off for the last 3 years. Though the age and recent explosion of poker may suggest that I am just merely another horrible poker sucker, inspired by televised poker, I'd like to think otherwise of myself... to an extent.
Up until about a month ago, all I've done is read some texts and studied tells-- but, I know I haven't applied them properly in the many home games I played. I read books that told me to be tight-aggressive, but I was tight-weak. My read on players would be surprisingly accurate, but I'd be too unsure of myself to rely on them when my $10 stack was at stake at the home-tourneys.
Getting to the point--
In Florida, the legal gambling age is 18. I've visited the poker room about 4 times. First time, I had a $60 profit, second time $85 profit, third time $1 profit and I stopped there.
The last month has been the start of something new. I've been studying much more, been playing limit poker for play money on PP very seriously, and most importantly, started acquaniting myself with +EV and pot odds.
So, last night I visited the casino again with my usual entry of $40. Lost it all within 2 hours. ($1-$2 Hold 'Em)
But, for someone who gets upset when he loses $2 on a bad bag of chips, I was surprisingly optimistic after I lost. I can fairly say that I learned more in one 2-hour session of casino poker than I have in my entire life.
My reads were accurate, I knew how every opponent played, but I still played wrong. However, I spotted almost all of my mistakes a minute or so after I lost. I realized when I was supposed to bet, when I should've folded and more importantly, WHY I should've played that way. I didn't play certain hands with pot odds, and I found out the hard way exactly how well they pay off. I was deceived by the short term, and as a result found out that I am pretty susceptible to getting worn out.
I applied so many things in one session that I never have. Reading hands, reading players, pot odds, +EV bets, calculating odds, outs etc.. and I was handling it perfectly the first 45 minutes-- but after that, it started taking its toll on me. I read less players, analyzed less, played the individual hand, and not the pot odds.
But, is all of that strictly a bad thing? I found things out about myself that I was oblivious to, realized just how well the pot odds do work if you play them, and am now aware that I need much more patience if I want to be a winner.
I lost $40, but I don't feel like losing money was all that happened that night. Thankfully, if anything, it WAS only $40. I bus at a restaurant and make that money in a day and never gamble when I can't afford to. I visit the casino once, twice a week and view a loss as another day at the restaurant. But I want to be a consistent winner, and isn't self-realization one of the key things in achieving this?