It looks as though you've been successful. Who cares how you got there? Following the advice of better, more experienced players is nothing to be ashamed of.

Here's something I've noticed after reading this site for a couple of months - my play improves the most not when I follow the advice of others word for word, but rather use it to tweak my game.

I got myself into a bit of a rut early on by taking things that the respected posters said as gospel. Well, not everyone agrees on how to play in a given situation, and some of the techniques these guys use only work at a high level, not the lower levels where I live.

The books I've read and the postings here have definitely helped me, but I think it's important to develop my own game within the basic framework that others have laid out. I have a tendency to get trapped in an uncreative "this is the way the experts at twoplustwo say to play it" mindset. I'm starting to realize that, although these experts are better than me, they aren't always smarter. Some are, some aren't. This means I may just stumble on a better technique through observation and trial and error.

Don't know if this get's to the heart of your post. I'm just kind of freelancing here.