when do you know you finally "get it"?

[snowlarbear]

was wondering is anyone had any experiences where they finally said, hey, i get this poker thing (enough to make some money).

is it a sudden epiphany while playing, or is it the type of thing where you look at your PT stats and notice you're playing the right way?

[bwana devil]

Been playing seriously for a year and I still "don't get it" when I move up a level I shouldn't play. It's a slow learning process and never does a light bulb go off transforming you from a bad player to a good player. It's a journey.

[jar]

When I started helping my girlfriend learn the game, I realized just how much I've learned. I've had that experience in several areas recently. I'm a teaching assistant, and this is the first term I've worked an intro level course. When you are trying to help someone learn something and you have a brief moment of not knowing where to start because there's so much you could say, that's when it really hits me how far I've come.

[Izaak_Walton]

Never heard of holdem until last winter. Got Hoyle Casino Games CD from Walmart to pass the time at boring job. Ignored poker until coworker said to try.

Learned game, practiced until comfortable.

Played online for funny money for the first time the evening before Easter Sunday of this year. Won $86,000. Even though it was fun money, this caught my attention.

Sent for Turbo Texas Holdem practice program. Used it for 2 days--could beat the computer consistently, so said "what the hell" and went for real money.

Ups and downs since then. Got books and studied. Played limit for months but got SO bored.

Tried NL a couple of weeks ago, and now it's my game. Am not a good poker player, that takes years of study and practice. At this stge I think of myself as a fairly efficient money-skimmer who can show a fairly consistent profit by playing tight while I continue to learn.

[Clemtown53]

I think of “getting it” as a process. Epiphanies are commonplace as you learn the game. Not folding to one bet on the river, learning to play proper starting cards, playing based on position and not just hole cards, etc… are all epiphanies of sorts as you learn the game, some much bigger than others.

My recent epiphany was calculating pot odds on a flush draw with the nut flush draw the other day. I typically have to stop myself, look at the pot and calculate the odds, this time I had kept track of the BBs without looking at pot size, made the correct call and hit my flush. It felt damn good.

[onegymrat]

I only play live, but a rookie friend and I were waiting for an opened seat. We were on the rail overlooking a low-limit game. Right before showdown on a certain hand, I whisper to my friend regarding the bettor, "He's got 10-8, watch." Lo and behold, I was right. It suddenly appeared to me that all the studying and playing have finally absorbed, and if I just didn't deny my instincts DURING a hand, I will make a few bucks off this game.

[brian14]

when you can own your friends

[Ianco15]

[ QUOTE ]
when you can own your friends

[/ QUOTE ]
Brian14 gets owned by his friends all the time. LOL [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[brian14]

Ianco15, you follow my posts and hassle me in each one...this is not a flame board. thanks and take care

[pokerstudAA]

Every so often I get the feeling that I get it...but then someone teaches me (or should I say schools me) and I realize how much I really don't get it. Poker seems to be a continuous learning process and I think everyone has aspects of the game they don't get. That is why poker is good.