How long did it take?

Hi all, I was just wondering how long everyone here has been playing, and how long you played before you started to feel confident in your game?

I've been interested in hold'em for quite awhile (after watching WPT) and have played online with play money off and on over the last year along with the occasional homegame. I just decided to get serious and try to improve my game in the last couple of months (I think the spark was placing second--mostly by luck I'm sure--in a 28 person tournament at a friend's birthday party, that was a rush!) I've been studying online and reading some books, and I'm going to start a small bankroll at pokerstars the next time I get paid so I can start playing some micro games. I'm also trying to set up a semi-weekly home game but the first one was cancelled due to not having enough people so that might not happen. I'm just curious how long I can expect it to take before I am no longer a donk (or at least not one most of the time).

It took me over a year to even begin to think that I might know what I was doing. Before that I was a freeroll donk who was happy to place in the top 500 of a 1500 freeroll. Then I joined Cardschat and started playing with the same group of folks and was able to actually put into practice some of the things that I learned here. This helped my "outside" game tremendously and finally I started placing more often and would even have an occasional victory. I still don't feel confident in my game to tell the truth but I sure feel a lot better than I did a couple years ago.

First of all, welcome.

Experience is everything. Play lots and enjoy it.

If you get a big win early, be careful.
If you dont get a big win in a long time, be patient.
If you lose alot of money, be tighter.
If you win alot of money, dont get looser.
If you get a bad beat, be philosophical.
If you bad beat someone else, be humble.
If you think it is the sites fault, be warned (it isnt).

As for the rest of it, well i'm sure you will pick it up as you go along.