Learning poker - its a marathon, not a sprint.

Sometimes I sit back and feel really good about how much better at poker I've become since I started. Sometimes I sit back and ponder how much more I have to learn.

I've gone a long way past the initial stages of a starting hand chart and understanding pot odds, but sometimes I read responses from the good players and realise they're thinking about concepts I'm sometimes not even aware of, or looking at situations completely differently to how I do.

The good part though? The stuff that a couple of months ago blew my mind, thats now standard in my game. The stuff that blows my mind now? I'll work it out and incorporate it over the next while.

The fun part? I'm basically learning as I move up. The things I learn as I go, are helping with the process of moving up. Its almost like, as I need it, I learn it. How cool is that?

Anyway, what can you get out of this little ramble. A few things I guess.

Learn the basics, the rest will come, theres no rush.

Dont get discouraged if you dont always understand things immediately. Keep plugging away and they'll come.

Always keep trying to improve. Learning enough to beat 5nl is good, but you need to be learning more to beat 10nl, then more to beat 25nl, and so on.

Dont get cocky and think you know enough. Theres always something out there to help improve your game more.

Poker is fun. Learning is fun. Winning money is fun. Keep at it .

nice post.
I occasionally sit back and reflect on progress since playing $5nl late last year... mostly when i'm in a breakeven or downswing stretch.
It takes a while, but getting better happens.
And if you stop studying, then you don't get better as quickly.
And we can all get a lot better...

Every few months I look back on my former poker self and realize how much I sucked.

Originally Posted by Deanglow

Every few months I look back on my former poker self and realize how much I sucked.

qft
Good post, Ben.

About being cocky, I still say be confident in that you can crush the stakes you are in every time you sit down.

Oh yeah, but when you finish your session you still should do a review and read some strategy .

For sure. Just make sure you talk the talk in your head before/during the session and then go back and review. Self evaluation is so underrated.

Very underrated. Probably one of the easiest and most reliable way to improve, but not very sexy and kinda boring so most people cant be bothered with it.

I am taking it real slow. After donking off $200 I moved down and grinding it back up. Doesn't matter if I ran bad, just as long as I was still catching myself playing bad. Eventually I'll get back up and take a shot at $1/$2 again.

Originally Posted by iopq

I am taking it real slow. After donking off $200 I moved down and grinding it back up. Doesn't matter if I ran bad, just as long as I was still catching myself playing bad. Eventually I'll get back up and take a shot at $1/$2 again.

good advice as well. too often i think players forget to analyze their own play during bad runs.

nh bjsaust always more to learn!