The Learning Curve

[ElSapo]

Every game or sport or hobby I've ever done has had its own learning curve. And if anyone has read the book "Mastery," (a phenomenal book on a path towards excellence), it describes the peaks and plateaus of learning a new skill. Anyways, I've been thinking a lot lately about what's been happening with my poker game, where I am, and where I'm going.

I Started playing in a home game about a year ago. That play - that game - was and probably still is mostly irrelevent to the majority of poker playing I do. Then came the multiple home game stage - players were bad, tables were short and I was winning. Then, about a three months ago, I decided to try and get serious. I started playing online, low limit stuff, and devoting a fair amount of time to it.

I bought into Party for $50 and lost it. Rebought, and lost most of that. Rebought, worked by way back to the initial buy in, and now I hover in that area.

In short, I think my game has hit an initial plateau. If you've read "Mastery," these are periods of times that follow jumps learning.

I've been a break-even player for about six weeks now (which is nothing, I know). I go up some, loosen up maybe, drop some, have a good day, have a bad day, make good plays (I think), make poor plays (I'm sure)...

And so I wonder what comes next.

This is really a bunch of rambled thoughts that end with a question or two. I'd be interested in hearing other players' descriptions of the learning curves they went through to reach the game they have now. I've read the 2+2 essay on the stages of a poker players education -- this is partly what I mean.

If anyone is interested in looking it up, I would highly reccomend the book "Mastery." Though more directed towards sports, I think the concepts readily apply to poker. You have to be willing to continue on a path, the author says, though at times the progress is slow or seemingly invisible. You have to love the thing you're doing for the thing itself, not merely for the results.

Seems right to me; myself, I'm trying to stay on that path. I know the three months I've been at this is a very small time, and as it is I've got a great hobby that costs me little or nothing, will eventually turn a profit, and which I really enjoy. I'm just hoping for a peak at what lies ahead.

Thanks for any comments.

El Sapo

[ResidentParanoid]

Improvements continue for a long period of time if you continue to study your play impartially and critically. For a sports analogy, for several years now of playing golf, I seem to discover a new "key" to improving my game every month or so. More swings, more learning, more critical study of my game, better scores. Painfully slow but improvement is there. Now, I think I'm a much better thinker (poker) than athlete (golf), so my ceiling in poker is higher. From last summer to the last couple of months, I've found adjusments that have improved my earnings 100% per hand online. That's after a few years of playing in B&M once a week or so.

[Robk]

I think that my game rapidly improved when I played a ton of 5-handed on paradise. Ring play necessitates such tight play that 1. You don't get too much practice at handling marginal situations. 2. It's not that important to pay attention to/adapt to other players' styles. 3. You don't get much practice at blind steal/resteal situations. By playing SH you can improve these areas of your game much faster than you would playing ring.