Win 1 hour free coaching with Bikes

[bikes]

Hah now that no one will enter this contest here are details.

Write a short essay on the most important thing you have learned relating to poker. The winner of this contest will prolly have their article posted plus they shall receive an hour of coaching from me. Feel free to decline it if you don't want it and just like writing short essays.

I have no idea what short means these days so keep it reasonable so everyone doesnt tl;dr it.

GL to all.


i'll coach you in one of the following
nlhe hu, 6m, fr
plo hu, 6m
my mtt game is prettttty rusty but if you want that i can do that as well.

[aka_red]

i'll donate 30m of my time for this too, 6m/fr.

[d0zer]

I'll troll 2 BC threads of the winner's choosing, 6m/fr.

[Zorkion]

The long term game of poker.

When I first started playing poker, it was just a game where you could make money against the best players in the world in a dimly lit room. Not a single cough, twitch, itch or sneeze went unnoticed. When my opponent spun a chip on the table, it became worth it to call even if I knew I was beat, just so that I could figure out whether the spinning chip meant he had a good hand or a bad hand. And sometimes, there were those moments when a tight player went all in preflop, and I had an unignoreable hunch that my jack 9 would come out the better, just that once. In that game, the mathematicians were easy money. They always seemed to do ok, but they never seemed to win any REALLY exciting hands. The hardest players were those who would call me down with anything, because every time I tried to pull the most intricate bluff on them, they always seemed to know to call. Back then, a lot of poker was a home game, two weekends out of a month.

I did alright back in those games, but every so often I would play against someone who just seemed to be on a different level, they always played differently than the rest of us, and they almost always did very well. Playing against these people, I knew there was more to the game than what I already crowned myself the master of, so I made up my mind to start studying the game, and become seriously good, even if it meant abandoning everything I thought I knew.


Since then, Ive learned a lot. That said, Im still just a beginning player, and I have plenty of mistakes in my game, and miles more to go on my goal of truly mastering the game. The most important thing I've learned in this time though, is that poker is a long-run game.

Its easy to say long run, and not really understand it. In fact, Im not totally convinced I even know the real scope of it. Ive put in around 100k hands online, and I still realize thats just a small piece of the bigger picture. What I do know though, what I've learned, is this. Looking at poker as a long run game is absolutely vital to every aspect of it. It means the difference between putting your opponent on a hand, and putting him on a range. It means the difference between taking a shot at 10nl a day after starting 2nl, and solid bankroll management practices. It means that a three day long hot streak doesnt mean Ive somehow magically become a god of poker.

Essentially, the long-run nature of poker is so deeply rooted in every micro and macro aspect of the game, that realizing its significance is by far the most important thing I have learned about poker.



All that said, Im gonna cross my fingers and hope to win now.

[rong]

So if I win, I get both an hour with bikes and half hour with redz?

[aka_red]

idk ask bikes its his contest

[chatzilla]

whats the deadline?

[aka_red]

oh also im going to speak on behalf of bikes, we dont need your life story.

[Carroters]

I learned that wearing sun glasses isn't really dat important. I feel this is important. I feel I should win the thread. Now I will sit back hope to win

[bikes]

ty redzilla looks like winnner gets an hour with me and 30m with redzilla

[bikes]

Gonna close the contest as of Wednesday as well. So get your submissions in asap

[kickass]

i completely disagree with the carrot, my shades are defiantly the best part of my game.

[aka_red]

Pretty disappointed by the lack of seriousness and lack of interest. My offer is retracted unless I am significantly less disappointed by close of this contest. It's rediculous, bikes offers up his time in order to help up and comers and there is no interest. Anybody who is even remotely serious should be posting. Clearly I was mistaken with how many people in the BC are serious and want to get better instead of being mouth breathing circle jerkers. Now I remember why I stopped wasting my time here.

[supa]

Pretty disappointed by the lack of seriousness and lack of interest. My offer is retracted unless I am significantly less disappointed by close of this contest. It's rediculous, bikes offers up his time in order to help up and comers and there is no interest. Anybody who is even remotely serious should be posting. Clearly I was mistaken with how many people in the BC are serious and want to get better instead of being mouth breathing circle jerkers. Now I remember why I stopped wasting my time here.

Pretty harsh but point taken. Feeling like I have to defend myself (prolly others) and say that I was gonna post and ask for the deadline but someone beat me to it. Figured that as long as I had it in by wed everything should be hunky dory. Much respect to both bikes and yourself for taking any interest in helping us mouth breathing circle jerkers out.

[Carroters]

Pretty disappointed by the lack of seriousness and lack of interest. My offer is retracted unless I am significantly less disappointed by close of this contest. It's rediculous, bikes offers up his time in order to help up and comers and there is no interest. Anybody who is even remotely serious should be posting. Clearly I was mistaken with how many people in the BC are serious and want to get better instead of being mouth breathing circle jerkers. Now I remember why I stopped wasting my time here.

It takes people time to plan out and post an essay, especially if the prize means a lot to them which I'm confident it does to a load of the posters in the BC. Coming in and shouting your mouth of, abusing the posters here after less than 2 days is ridiculous and probably why people feel intimidated and put off sometimes in this community. If anything your outburst is only going to result in less people posting through fear of being berated by better players.

It's a terrible example to set and while I'm sure most people who post here would be delighted to have some of your own or bike's time, your immaturity and completely uncalled for hostile tone is only going to drive people away. In fact, it makes me ashamed to be proudly part of a community where the mods and strong players speak to people like this.

"Hey guys you should all have written an essay on the first day of the contest being open....you're mouth breathing circle jerkers."

Nice way to make people want and appreciate the time you were formally offering. If I was a new player, unsure about FTR, interested in entering this contest, your post would have just put me off entirely, since I wouldn't want a prize that consisted of being berated for half an hour for no actual reason.

I'm pretty disgusted right now actually that you're a mod and this is how you represent the forum, community and site of FTR to it's newest members who are obviously most subject to influence.

Anyways, with that aside, I'd urge people to post essays because:

1. You'll learn a lot in the process.
2. An hours coaching with Bikes for free is going to help your game a shitload.

My last post wasn't intended to devalue this contest. I was just messing around as I always do so I'm sorry if anyone took it that way.

Defo enter. Even if you're short of time, churn something out. You'll learn a bunch and have a shot at learning an even bigger bunch.

[Razvan729]

Write a short essay on the most important thing you have learned relating to poker.

for me it's easy and really short. the most important think i learned by bumping my head into the walls to many times is DISCIPLINE, w/o it you will do nothing in poker.

discipline in studying theory and playing practice, if you have this then you have all. discipline will teach you and help you to learn opening ranges, postflop play, reading opps, adjusting etc. you can read and memorize all, but w/o disciplie in applying them into practice and w/o discpline into rewieing your mistakes and see what you did wrong and w/o discipline in accepting that you suck, you will never do anything in poker.

never in life, not just poker, you will never do anything w/o discipline.

maybe seems dumb, but since i introduced this concept into my game it developed it self from up/down, to steady winning ( at micros for now).

[supa]

Dammit Raz, that's what I was writing about. Even had a catchy title, "Discipline: The difference between winning and losing players."

Back to the drawing board.

[PutaForkInIt]

Me:
- 10nl 6 max player
- English is not my first language ... be kind.

The Micros
Winning the Loser’s Game

Alternative title: Don’t Spew!

Anyone familiar with the book by Charles D. Ellis on investment strategies will likely recognize the inspiration behind this essay. Here is a long quote from his book:



“There are two types of games: "Winner’s Games" and "Loser’s Games." Now this doesn’t mean that losers play only certain games, while winners play other games. It has nothing to do with personality characteristics.

The outcome of any competitive game depends upon the actions of both the winner and the loser of the game. This does not always imply the winner’s actions will dominate the outcome. Many games are not won, but rather, are lost. It is important to understand the distinction.

Winner’s Games are those games whose outcome is largely determined by the actions of the winner. Loser’s Games are those games whose outcome is largely determined by the actions of the loser.

Amateur tennis is a loser’s game. Non-highly-trained players do not possess the skills to deliver excellent serves and returns with consistency. An attempt to try harder to deliver superior shots, compared to the opponent, will not meet with success, but double faults and shots that go out of bounds. Trying harder to make great shots will mean that you are giving the opponent points. The player is not only competing against the other player, but also against the inherent difficulties of the game. The more competitive the amateur tries to be, the more the inherent difficulties of the game will beat him down.

The amateur who has not mastered the fundamentals of the game is far better off just trying to deliver a shot within the tennis court bounds than trying to outplay the opponent. Keep the ball in play and give the opponent the opportunity to mess up the shot. And, the harder the opponent tries, the more likely he will mess up!”

To a large extent, I feel that the poker I play is a loser’s game. Most of my opponents are bad. Some more than others, but overall all of us are in the “bad” end of the spectrum. Just different shades of grey. As such, in the micros, one should simply play solid poker and wait for the villain to make mistakes. Fancy play syndrome is similar to the amateur tennis player trying to deliver great shots rather than focusing on the basics (keep the ball in play).

The key to me beating 5nl and now 10nl (hopefully) has been my understanding that my “technical” knowledge of poker was more than adequate to beat the micros. What I needed to do was simply apply some of that knowledge in a consistent basis, waiting for other players to make mistakes. Basically, keep the ball in play and profit through others’ mistakes.

This may sound like a simple "lesson learned" but for me it made a big difference once I had internalized it.

In the meantime, this does not preclude me from improving my game and waiting for poker to promote me to higher stakes.

P

[aka_red]

Pretty harsh but point taken. Feeling like I have to defend myself (prolly others) and say that I was gonna post and ask for the deadline but someone beat me to it. Figured that as long as I had it in by wed everything should be hunky dory. Much respect to both bikes and yourself for taking any interest in helping us mouth breathing circle jerkers out.

Agreed, was a lot harsher than I needed to be. Just trying to rattle the cages.

[ColdDecked]

Playing fewer tables

Everyone here on the forums wants to get good at playing poker. But with rakeback, people are encouraged to mass table and grind out thousands of hands to earn a profit. When we mass tables, however, there is a much greater chance that we overlook profitable situations. It becomes more difficult to learn.

When I first started playing, I had a strategy of limping/flatting all pocket pairs (with the exception of QQ+, which I just shoved pre) and suited aces (including AKs). I would they try to hit a set or a flush draw, and just shove it in with the nuts. It used to be a profitable strategy and I could just grind out a bunch of hands on a lot of tables and earn a decent profit up to 10NL. But with a strategy that is only catered towards the super micros, I wasn't able to move up and was stuck at 10NL. I wasn't learning and couldn't improve.

When we mass table, we are more likely to follow a kind of system that we develop, and may not think through hands as deeply due to time constraints. Although that system may be winning at your limit, your game may stagnate if you don't dedicate time to learning. There are many ways to learn about poker. What I feel has improved my game the most is practical experience playing fewer tables.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that mass tabling is bad. I 16 table a good amount of the time. What I do encourage, though, is to spend at least one session per week playing fewer tables (four tables in my case) and take your time considering each decision you make. Think about the range of your opponent and how you can exploit it. Consider every possible line option that you can take that could be more +EV. You'll begin to see spots that are good for 2 or 3 barreling, spots that are good for bluff catching, spots that you can bet thinner for value. Eventually, the things that you learn during your sessions playing fewer tables can be incorporated into your game when you mass table and increase your win rate dramatically.

[Vinland]

Using Position to Exploit Opponents Tendencies.

I always heard that position was so important in poker but I never really understood why. For me, it always boiled down to; “well I know this guy bet and this guy called so either one or both have a good hand and I should fold.” I sometimes used my position on the button to call preflop with hands that were often dominated and play strictly fit or fold postflop. I used the excuse that with position, these hands could be profitable. My problem was I never used my position to exploit players’ tendencies.

There are probably still a million things that I have yet to learn when it comes to playing in position but I recently had some light shed on the subject that has allowed me to not only exploit my position but my opponents tendencies as well.
I have been able to improve two aspects of my late position play; raising limpers and blind stealing.

Raising Limpers: I realized that one of the ways to profit on the button is to play pots in position against loose passive limpers. The reason is that they play their hand very face up and you don’t need a hand with much value to profit in this spot. I’m not looking to play big pots here, just raise and take it down by the flop.My opponent’s tendencies, to limp/call preflop and play fit or fold postflop, make this a profitable spot.

e.g. Villain is 31/7/1.3 loose passive with a 70% fold to cbet
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - Party-Poker Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 ($11.90)
MP1 ($12.62)
MP2 ($6.62)
Hero (CO) ($10.15)
Button ($11.18)
SB ($10.27)
BB ($9.85)
villain (UTG) ($9.32)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 10, 9
villain calls $0.10, 3 folds, Hero bets $0.45, 3 folds, villain calls $0.35
Flop: ($1.05) 4, 5, A (2 players)
villain checks, Hero bets $0.70, 1 fold
Total pot: $1.05

It’s a good way to make a few extra bb’s with a hand that under different circumstances would not net much profit if played in an earlier position. Hands such as 9T, J9, QT etc are hands that I would not raise in early position but play well in late position plus they have the potential to make strong hands should I have to mix it up postflop.

When you have session where you aren’t getting the strong preflop cards or your opponents are folding to your flopped monsters, ask yourself if there is something else you can do to make some money while you wait for one of those coveted 200bb pots.

Blind Stealing: In the past I often stole blinds with the same range of cards for every opponent, I never adjusted my stealing range to account for the type of opponents I had in the blinds. That changed about 5 months ago.
So what then, can I do, when I am on the button, in an unopened pot and I have two passive players in the blinds that fold to over 75%? I can raise with any two cards and show a profit…

When I started doing this I was worried about my opponents adjusting and calling my raises preflop with a wider range. But these opponents have the same tendencies as the limp-callers in the previous section. They don’t continue without decent hands and you will find out quickly if you are behind. Against two weak players in the blinds I am raising any two cards and I am cbetting almost all flops, unless they are connected. I learned that sometimes they will start calling my steals with a wider range but they still play fit or fold postflop, making this an even more profitable scenario.

e.g. SB is 10/5/2.7 with 100% fold to steal over 103 hands. BB is 13/9/4.5 with 84% fold to steal over 548 hands
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (7 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($21.87)
MP1 ($3)
MP2 ($14.57)
CO ($10)
Hero (Button) ($15.65)
SB ($8.81)
villain (BB) ($9.97)
Preflop: Hero is Button with J, 8
4 folds, Hero bets $0.26, 1 fold, villain calls $0.16
Flop: ($0.57) 4, 5, 2 (2 players)
villain checks, Hero bets $0.37, 1 fold

[Galapogos]

It takes people time to plan out and post an essay, especially if the prize means a lot to them which I'm confident it does to a load of the posters in the BC. Coming in and shouting your mouth of, abusing the posters here after less than 2 days is ridiculous and probably why people feel intimidated and put off sometimes in this community. If anything your outburst is only going to result in less people posting through fear of being berated by better players.

It's a terrible example to set and while I'm sure most people who post here would be delighted to have some of your own or bike's time, your immaturity and completely uncalled for hostile tone is only going to drive people away. In fact, it makes me ashamed to be proudly part of a community where the mods and strong players speak to people like this.

"Hey guys you should all have written an essay on the first day of the contest being open....you're mouth breathing circle jerkers."

Nice way to make people want and appreciate the time you were formally offering. If I was a new player, unsure about FTR, interested in entering this contest, your post would have just put me off entirely, since I wouldn't want a prize that consisted of being berated for half an hour for no actual reason.

I'm pretty disgusted right now actually that you're a mod and this is how you represent the forum, community and site of FTR to it's newest members who are obviously most subject to influence.

Anyways, with that aside, I'd urge people to post essays because:

1. You'll learn a lot in the process.
2. An hours coaching with Bikes for free is going to help your game a shitload.

My last post wasn't intended to devalue this contest. I was just messing around as I always do so I'm sorry if anyone took it that way.

Defo enter. Even if you're short of time, churn something out. You'll learn a bunch and have a shot at learning an even bigger bunch.

This essay better not win. He doesn't even mention poker once in it.

[Moradis]

I started playing poker less than a year ago. I was introduced to the game by an acquaintance at my local gym. He played at a friendly weekly game and they were looking for more players. Poker is, shall we say, “illegal” in the country I live, so recruitment is only by word of mouth. My answer was simple. Of course I’d love to play. I have played poker on Facebook so surely the real thing can’t be that much different?

Joining the live game was more than a shock. I’m used to feeling out of my depth. I work in a foreign country with different language, culture and laws to where I grew up. Change and challenging situations is normal for me. At this table however, I felt completely out of my depth. I quickly worked out that these guys had some method they were using to determine when, what & why they bet. I didn’t know a thing but was determined to learn as much as I could in as short as time as possible… and so my search for poker knowledge began.

My quest began with books. These were openly shared within the weekly poker group and discussion of poker concepts was actively encouraged. They all strived to improve and I was a willing participant. I then began reading online forums until finally subscribing to grinder school. I began to play micro stakes games to practice my technique and get more ‘game time’ than my weekly poker buddies.
So what have I learnt so far?

• The many books that I devoured taught me the fundamental of position and outs, including opening ranges, limping and betting. It also gave me the theory of the mindset, but not the practice.
  
• The forums helped me to understand how my opposition will have an opening range and a continuation range. They also helped me to understand Effective Value (EV), identify what it is and what action I should take given the situation at that point in time. The most valuable thing that the forums taught me was the consideration of bet sizing when taking into consideration EV (am I betting for value, as a bluff, or to make the villain’s action negative EV).
  
• Playing online has taught me patience. Better cards will always come, wait for a better situation and be rewarded for your patience. Take the bad beats and enjoy the lucky draw but most importantly of all, a successful player controls the emotions and stops the primal urge to follow that “inner feeling” regardless of your odds.
• Grinders taught me the art of isolation

So what’s the most important thing that I’ve learnt in the 10 months?

Never stop learning.

To the outsider poker is a frivolous pastime for idle gamblers… to me it is a never ending search for knowledge and experience.

My special thanks to all those experienced players who give advice for free and to those less experienced who give support through asking challenging questions and situations from which I gain an deeper understanding through the various responses. Good luck at the tables.

[Carroters]

This essay better not win. He doesn't even mention poker once in it.

That's just back up incase my 1st one doesn't.

[chatzilla]

I'll try to do more with less here because hopefully you can spend more time thinking then reading.

Detachment
The most important concept I've learned (obviously still suck at it but I'm trying!) in my poker endeavors to date is emotional detachment. Emotions are for your life, logic is for your poker life, emotions can subtly cloud your judgment without you even knowing in your poker life. Detachment can be applied to many different area's, detachment from ego, detachment from money, detachment from results, detachment from Big hands preflop, detachment from "running bad", detachment stake (eg " the jump from 50nl to 100nl is big!"), detachment from wanting a positive session or month, detachment from your all in EV, the list goes on. Lots of winning players who have great understands of the fundamental can still overlook large psychological leaks. Basically if you can even get close to playing solid poker and truly not give a shit about anything other then making the correct decision in that particular spot, your head and shoulders above the pack.

[OngBonga]

Stop being a little bitch

Yeah, that might sound ironic coming from Mr Reputation, but it makes me howl with laughter when I see people bitching in the chat bar about villain making stupid moves. And yes, I do it too. But I have noticed, when I'm bitching, I'm paying less attention to my current hands, I'm perhaps folding hands I could profitably raise, just because I have something to say about dickhead calling my shove with A9s and hitting a miracle flop. But, of course,when I shove my QQ, I want dickhead to call A9s. Why am I bitching? Tilt control? It doesn't work, it tilts me more. Does it make me feel better? Marginally, though winning a big pot would make me feel much better. Do I want him to stop making such stupid moves? Of course not.

Some jerk (very good player though) once said to me "No-one ever does what you expect them to". No, they don't. Nor should we want them to. It's this element of unpredictability that makes poker profitable for those who know how to exploit villain's mistakes. If everyone played how we expect them to, all we would have left is luck. If that's what you're looking for, play bingo, that way you won't get raped by those who use maths.

Bitching can be fun, but it's -ev. Taking notes and exploiting mistakes is +ev. Next time some idiot hits his miracle flop, smile. This flop is what makes the idiot keep making idiot plays. This flop keeps poker profitable, if only you know how to exploit him in the future. Learn to shut your mouth and exploit the idiots, and reap the rewards.

[bikes]

posted from an email i recieved from redarmy

The most important thing I have learnt playing poker is very simply to learn.

Grinders, pros, regs at all levels have experience and advice that you can access at any time, almost anywhere. You can watch poker, play poker, read poker....... Nothing in life is given to you, you have to work to achieve your goals. You would not turn up to an interview to be a CEO if you did not have the credentials, especially when those around you are more experienced. In my opinion Poker is the same. It requires the ability to work towards a certain level. It requires the ability to be dedicated. It requires the ability to listen to what your told. I requires the ability to do and not say. It requires the ability to be realistically ambitious. It requires the ability to understand why people behave the way they do. Lastly, and almost the most difficult, it requires the ability to self access weakness.

The key word here is ability.

This is applicable in almost all aspects of life. You learn to walk similarly to the way sportsmen develop their skills. Learning is the fundamental key to continually improve. You get out of life what you put in, the more you are prepared to learn the happier you will be because success is deserved and more likely

[PKKFW]

The most important thing I have learnt is time.

Time spent playing, time spent reading, time spent analysing hands, time spent discussing poker aspects and strategy, time spent watching the other players, time spent watching videos, time waiting for the right spots, time cooling off after a bad beat, time spent explaining to the wife that the time spent now will surely reap rewards later, time spent writing essays in the hopes of winning 1 hours worth of Bikes' time!

Time is critical to poker success. Without dedicating the time needed for all these things and so much more, poker success will be elusive. Finding the time to be truly dedicated to poker is something I have struggled with until very recently. Then I fully realised that poker success, like success in most anything in life, wont come from half assed part time efforts and I decided to get seriously. I have no doubt that in time my results will improve.

[Petulie]

Value betting.

This is by far the most important skill to learn in order to beat the micros and, sadly, I suspect this is the least credited. (Is this really the first essay on the subject?!)

It all boils down to extracting value with your strong hands. If you can’t value bet, you can’t make money. Full stop.

All that is needed to beat the micros is a solid value-based strategy. By sticking to tight pre-flop ranges and value betting according to relative hand strength, monies are easily harvested. If you have the nuts, then get your damn stack in!

That said, value bet sizing is key and this is where relative hand strength comes into play. This depends on the types of opponent(s) you’re up against, the texture of the board and your hole cards (ldo). For example, top pair on a dry board is relatively much more strong than on a super mega sopping wet board, and in the case of the latter, thinner value bets (if any!) are better so as to minimise losses when having to fold to raises or valuetowned. Similarly, a K hi flush is relatively stronger than 8 hi and so you're happy placing larger value bets.

Opponent tendencies also influence value bet sizing. Stations are probably the most easy to identify and exploit. If you notice some fish call three streets on a scary board with bottom pair, then don’t be afraid of thinly value betting 2nd or even 3rd pair for three streets. Whatever you do, don’t be bluffing these guys! Also don’t be afraid of overbetting when you’ve got the nuts so you can build the pot and get all your monies in. Fish tend to be pretty inelastic in their calling ranges and the stronger ranges of regs and nits are likely to call you down.

Take home message: simple, tight, value-based strategy. That’s all it takes to crush the micros.

[AznFoodGood]

Hows it going Bikes? I would first like to comment that I am completely new to the community. I have only played 150 hands of online poker but the rate that I am learning at is quite alarming. My friend, an active member in the community, has hounded me on several occasions to start posting on FTR in order to better understand myself and to better understand the game of poker.

The most important aspect of Poker really stems into the most important aspect of life. People will always stand on a soap box and preach about the economics of poker or the art of discipline, but in reality all of these things can be brought under one all encompassing roof. A poker player is only as strong as his will to learn. The poker player must continuously be asking the question why as he evaluates his next decision, regardless of the stakes the he is playing at.

But asking the question why is only the beginning. From there the Poker player must continuously analyze the situation and then execute based in the information given to him. With this in mind, I have learned that poker is not just a game of dollars and cents but a game of understanding and application. Poker is not just a game of controlling emotion, but a game that forces one to make correct decisions regardless of emotion.

My scholarly approach to poker is taught me to have a hunger for learning and understanding. These two aspects of Poker stream from the definitive question of why. Hopefully with the correct application of information I will continually improve my game as a poker player as I explore and experience this new world that I have been introduced too.

While it’s true that the majority of the other contestants have played much more poker then I have. I feel that this stage of my “poker career” could really use some amount of direction. I have the desire and ability to achieve; I just need someone to help me with my first steps. Hopefully you will send me on my way to becoming a MONSTER!

[supa]

Don't spew...

Lack of time and and a sick case of writers block leaves this as my contribution, but is the main thing I'm working on atm. Srsly, if you're not beating the micros this is prolly your main problem, as it is mine.

Did I win?

[bikes]

keeping this open till friday or saturdayish,

feel free to revise or change whatever you want

[bikes]

Hows it going Bikes? I would first like to comment that I am completely new to the community. I have only played 150 hands of online poker but the rate that I am learning at is quite alarming. My friend, an active member in the community, has hounded me on several occasions to start posting on FTR in order to better understand myself and to better understand the game of poker.

it's going pretty good. crushing my way out of a 1.5 month downswing. welcome to ftr and i hope you learn lots.

[Shotglass]

Patience

That old addage patience is a virtue is extremely important in poker.

Don't be like a piranah, which has no patience. It attacks every piece of meat that enters it's little pool, no matter the size.

A shark has patience. It swims and circles it's prey. It sizes up the prey. It swims, circles some more and goes underwater only to strike from a direction that it's prey least expects. When it attacks it's prey is SERIOUSLY injured, if not dead.

Our prey doesn't die. Our friend the fish swims away to heal. When it returns, it's wounded stack will be complete, ready for another bite.

There's no need to get overexcited and attack every chip that hits the table. Don't try to force hands and plays by shoving as much into the pot as your bankroll allows, all the while expecting everyone to fold to your great aggression.

Have patience.

[rong]

I'm not so sure that sharks have patience. Aren't they all instinct and unbridled aggression.

[celtic123]

Patience..

I've been hacked...

[DoubleJ]

It's good to Win;
It's better to improve your Game

[Sasquach991]

Most important thing I've learned:

I suck at poker. I just need to suck less that my opponents do.

[Shotglass]

Most important thing I've learned:

I suck at poker. I just need to suck less that my opponents do.

winner winner, chicken dinner

[bikes]

gonna read these when i wake up.

[bikes]

thanks everyone who took time to write quality material. i can def tell who put effort into this.

aznfoodgood wins the hour with redzilla and me.
congrats you wrote a brilliant bit and i can relate to it very easily. also you put one of my favorite dev songs into your essay. wp'ed if you knew, sick luckboxing if not.

zorkin moradis and petulie you get a 30m session with me because i thought yours were good as well.

pm me some skype info or something. might be a week until i am available and likely a lil bit longer for redzilla but i'm sure we can pick a time that works both you and i.

[Zorkion]

\o/

grats to the other winners, too!

[baudib]

I would have totally done this if I could play online.

[mbiz]

Would've entered if i'd seen the competition in time. Will there be more like this?

[rong]

I would totally have done this if I could be arsed to write an essay.

[DoubleJ]

Congrats to the Winners!

+ a big up to bikes for doing this, and to everyone who posted. Some great stuff ITT

[aka_red]

congratulations gentlemen, a step towards greatness or at the very least a step away from mouth breathing and circle jerking.

[celtic123]

Been a great thread. Fine articles. Long live FTR.

[PKKFW]

Congrats to the winners, some great stuff written and well deserved.

[AznFoodGood]

Thanks bikes! And thanks everyone else . currently the house that im moving into dose not have any internet so it might also be a week or so before im able to get online and work with you and Red.

Again, Thanks for your time!

Azn

[Roid_Rage]

Patience

That old addage patience is a virtue is extremely important in poker.

Don't be like a piranah, which has no patience. It attacks every piece of meat that enters it's little pool, no matter the size.

A shark has patience. It swims and circles it's prey. It sizes up the prey. It swims, circles some more and goes underwater only to strike from a direction that it's prey least expects. When it attacks it's prey is SERIOUSLY injured, if not dead.

Our prey doesn't die. Our friend the fish swims away to heal. When it returns, it's wounded stack will be complete, ready for another bite.

There's no need to get overexcited and attack every chip that hits the table. Don't try to force hands and plays by shoving as much into the pot as your bankroll allows, all the while expecting everyone to fold to your great aggression.

Have patience.

I really liked this one, but thats cuz I'm a pawthead that <3's sharks.

Piranhas are also cool.

[Moradis]

Congratulations to Aznfoodgood!

[bikes]

paging anyone who won time in this contest. sorry i'm gonna have to delay even further. i'm having a poker crisis lately so sorry to inconvience you all but coaching time is gonna be put on hold for atleast another a week possibly longer

[Zorkion]

10-4 captain.

[aka_red]

bikes is being a sissy he'll be with you guys shortly.

[AznFoodGood]

Hi bikes! was just wondering if you would have any free time this weekend for out lesson? just message me back at any time

[bikes]

I'm available anytime now so long as i'm not sleeping. get at me

[aka_red]

I'm available get at me

.

[Zorkion]

i will hit you up sometime this weekend, bikes. probably sunday if that works for you

[bikes]

sunday prolly fine