Why I hate and LOVE poker

I have been playing poker for fun, with just friends etc for the last 6/7 years.

These last few months I decided to give it a go and try playing a little more seriously online.
Well when I first started I realised how little patience I had. Going all in after 45/1hr as I had got bored.

Anyway the last 6 months I have been playing more seriously to just improve my game. Im not playing "to hope to win big" its for fun and improvement.

So after playing online, about a month and a half ago, I decided to play a live tournament as I believd my game had improved, or was good enough to step into.

Oh let me tell you how bad I realised I was. I Finished 136th out 152. Quickly bringing me down to earth that I had not improved as much as I thought. So I decided I would no longer play live tournaments until I felt I was ready to atleast last longer than an hour next time.

So this last month and a half I have been putting in some hard work playing 5 nights a week small buy in tournaments at pokerstars. 1 $10+ tournament a week to play against the better players and try to understand the game at a higher level.

So friday I entered a $2.75 sit and go and won an $11 dollar gurateed seat tournament, I also won this and in return bagged myself a ticket for tomorrow nights million guranteed. (These tickets are worth $109) and I got one for $2.75 so I was pretty ecstatic and believe my game must have improved to win through qualifications a ticket to this tournament.

So after this confidence boost I noticed they had the same Live tournament at a casino, I had played a month and a half ago. I dropped what I was doing and headed there.

I Wasnt expecting much just wanted to improve from my last performance. After 5 hours play I was dealt AK suited went All in. Then I heard a shout "Final Table" so everyone of course folded.

We were down to 9 - 5 places played. I really felt at this moment I dont belong on this table. But after a run of bad bad hands I found my stack decreasing very quickly.

All in all I finished 6th one spot away from the money, on the walk home i was so mad and fustrated thinking of course its me that finishes one spot out, I HATE THIS GAME...

Then I got home and realised... why am i mad? Although fustrating that i didnt make the money. I made the final table something i really wasnt expecting.

And it got me to thinking yes at times I can hate this game, but there has been a huge improvement in the last 6 months especially the last 6/7 weeks of playing.

So I realise now If i continue to learn and study the game more over the next year. Imagine how much my game will improve.

So its a random post I know but any poker players wanting to get better I definately propse just putting in the time, learning and you will most definately progress.

If there is any good/great/amazing poker players on ATS advice would be greatly appreciated also.


Thanks

I’ve been playing for a few years. It’s all about discipline and patience. Minimise your losses and optimise your wins. I rarely go all in, unless I do the math in my head and have really good odds.

When you get bored, cash out. It’s time to go, before you screw up.

This isn’t meant at you 0P.

But this is pretty much the way many pros think of amateurs at the poker table .

Canada bill Jones poker and red card player .....

“ suckers have no business with money in the first place “

I play at the Native American Casino fairly regularly. Usually at the 11am holdem or Omaha tourny.

I think Amarillo Slim summed it up pretty well...."As you look around the table and you can't spot the chump; it's you"

Don’t understand how anyone could play online poker for real money. The craziest card combos come up online. They do at WSOP anyhow.

What are the chances of a full house being beat by four of a kind in RL casino playing ?( texas holdem) Happens too often online. I enjoy playing with free chips. Easy come .. easy go.

a reply to: AncientDuop

The old law of averages, if you identify when you're on a run you need to go hard, I've learned to just let go when I'm drawing dead, come back to fight another day.