18 Months of poker and what i have learned

[El Tigre]

great post dude!!!

do u have AIM or something, cuz i have a few questions i want to ask you. maybe PM. maybe you dont want to talk me at all lol!!!

[fathand]

Since you're young like me, and since you provided us with such good advice, I'd like to share some good advice with you:

Never let anyone know how much dough you hold. Having that much money comes with a few set of rules that you don't want to learn the hard way.

Congrats on the recent success. Invest some of that money and enjoy college.

[Ulysses]

Kowalski,

"Having that much money comes with a few set of rules that you don't want to learn the hard way."

What are those rules? Thanks!

[J_V]

Nice post and congrats.

[ThaHero]

Great, great post.

See you at the 2k NL tables(someday lol)

[fathand]

I just don't want to see the kid get robbed/scammed/heldup you know what I mean?

Just be careful.

[SA125]

You seem wise beyond your years. For an 18 yr old, that's an extremely impressive characteristic and something to be proud of. Good job, GL.

[edge]

I think there's a reason the best/highest-stakes players on this site are usually under 25. When you're that young (I'm 20), the money doesn't really sink in and you can risk tens of thousands playing some dumb card game. More mature people realize the value of $25k, but for me, I now have all the money I need at the moment and any extra is just gravy. This lets me gamble what non-poker-players would consider a huge amount of money.

[MicroBob]

I think the shot-taking idea because they're young is a valid point...but don't overlook the likelhood that some of them are just pretty damn good players and are awfully dedicated to learning.

A little luck is helpful to go along with some serious skills and abilities of course.
But I think these many of these guys would have made it to where they are sooner or later.
The internet allows you to just play SO MANY freaking hands....and, of course, study study study, discuss and learn.

I think it's far more than just an issue of luck for many of young talents like Gabe....and I think the ideas he expresses in this post are evidence of that.

[edge]

There's also the fact that kids have more free time to devote to playing and learning. There are probably lots of 30-year-old+ players who have the talent and ability to become successful high-stakes poker players, but don't have the 1-2 years to devote all their time towards doing it. Kids under 25 have the best opportunity to flourish at poker, and it just happens that there are a good amount of really smart kids under 25 that visit this site. If those guys miss out on poker before reaching 30, I doubt they end up where they are now.