Full House
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Bluffalupagus
Posts: 1,261
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I posted here a few days ago asking Aok if I could play along, as I'm switching from SNG to Ring, and this seemed like a great place to start.
Now, I probably have more experience than the average beginner on here. I've been playing for almost 3 years and have a pretty good amount of hands under my belt, but I cut my teeth on SNGs and that's where I've stayed.
I enjoy the SNG format... the aggression, the adaptation to an ever changing environment. But I needed a new challenge, and it seemed to me that the people that are making any significant amount of money at this game are playing ring. I'm at the point where I'd like to in the next couple of years turn poker from a hobby to at least a substantial part of my income. I decided to go with Ring.
Now, I've played Ring before. I probably have around 10,000 hands of 10 and 25NL under my belt... But I was about a breakeven player. I was taking SNG style and adapting it to a ring game, and it was killing me slowly. So I went back to SNGs.
By the way, when I say I was "breakeven" I mean what most poker players mean when they say they're breakeven... I was leaking money like a damned sieve.
Long story short...I read AOK's site/book... whatever it is. I talked to him about the challenge. I had very little interest in his gaurantee. I think it's a great gaurantee for new players, but I trust AOK to steer me right, and frankly, blowing off 50 bucks isn't going to kill me... so I waived it and he agreed to help me out.
I played the system religiously yesterday. I sat down at 4 tables yesterday, and played the system.
For someone like me that likes to "play poker" it's a bit frustrating. The system will make you fold when you know you can win a pot...
But as I played more and watched these people, I figured out that trying to sell bluff to these people is worthless. A good bluff is art... but trying to sell a bluff to these people is like trying to explain the value of a Picasso to someone with a living room full of Velvet Elvises. It's just not worth it.
It dawned on me quickly that the loose, artsy style of poker I've been playing is the reason I lose at Ring.
I ended up 8 buyins yesterday, if that says anything to anyone. I recognize positive variance when I see it... but a large part of it was the system, not just the luck breaking my way.
Aok is on to something here. He's also been great in giving me one on one feedback when I've asked him questions.
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