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#1
02-28-2005, 04:55 PM
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The Learning Process
Hello everyone. Back in September my roommate introduced me
to hold 'em, and I was shortly thereafter hooked. I signed up with an online poker site and deposited $30 to play .25-.50. At first, I just played "by the seat of my pants", playing any ace, any two face cards, any pair, etc, with little regard to position. I didn't raise much, and I called a lot. Yes, I was a calling station. Several re-deposits and $200 later I decided that this wasn't a viable strategy, so like any party interested in self-betterment, I turned to that glorious resource of the modern age: Google. I read articles and book reviews before finally deciding to buy "Winning Low Limit Hold 'em". I was excited when the book arrived and shortly began to read it earnest. The book advocated a strategy far different from the one I'd been practicing. Play tight, both before the flop, and after -- look for reasons to fold. Emboldened, I went ahead and deposited $200 into my account and jumped straight to $3-$6. My first night playing $3-$6, I won $400. The night after that, I won $200. I finally thought that maybe I had this thing clocked. After a few days, I was up over $1000 -- then I lost it all over the course of the next few nights. How could such a catostraphe occur, you ask? Well, I hadn't really read too much into that "variance stuff", and that surely played a part of it, but quite frankly I was playing bad! Waiting for big hands was boring, and I when I got one, I took it to the river, even when I was obviously beat. There came a point where I was chasing my losses, and down more than I care to admit. Eventually, I realized that I was still a calling station, albeit a post flop one. I resolved that I would play tigher than ever, giving up hands like AK when they didn't hit, or even if they did if there was any action. Again, I tried to 'look for reasons to fold'. So, I began to fold a lot, both before the flop and after. Eventually, some of the more observant players realized that it was pretty easy to make me fold and took advantage of this. I'd moved my play right into another problem -- I was too weak. Pretty soon I almost never won big pots, a few individuals would always get involved when I played and they usually could muscle me out. Well, I certainly lost money much more slowly this way, but lose it still I did. Either I'd get muscled out, or some guy who I let stay in the pot for fear of a re-raise would outdraw me. I was playing a tight-weak game and paying the price for it. Those of you who have been pushed around know that a man can only take so much before he pushes back. I felt like I was playing 'by the book', but I was obviously losing money. So what did I do? Well, I did a few things -- I loosened up again, but more than that, I started biting back. Pair of sixes under the gun? Bet. Raised? Three bet it and bet out on the flop. Yes, I was now a maniac. Again, I was falsely encouraged by my play -- I made over $1000 in a few hours just by playing any hand whatever like the nuts. As you might suspect, this didn't last. I eventually went broke, not once, but several times. As the months wore on, I bought several more books. I read them, took notes on them, and attempted to apply the concepts that I learned to my play. As well, I experimented with NL, PL, and different variants of poker altogether, buying and reading books for those forms, as well. I feel like I'm a much better poker player today than I was in September, but I am by no means a consistently good player. I suppose the purpose of this post is two-fold: 1. To introduce myself and my experiences with the game to those venerable souls that peruse these forums, as I am new here, and will likely be posting frequently as I struggle to improve my play. 2. To reflect on what I've learned, some of the mistakes that I've made, and the learning process involved with poker in general. In closing, it is a pleasure to have the privilege of posting here and that of being able to read the intelligent discussion of ideas as presented by other posters. Please feel free to reply with your own experiences and insights. 
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