100th post spectacular - ty cc & omg I'm a fish!

When I first joined here I stated I was looking into poker forums, have never been a member of one, and decided to give this one a try.

Although I'm only at 100 posts now, I already feel confident I've made the right decision to join CC and feel humbled by the many posts I've read/particpated in. To get on with it....

THANK YOU CC!!! I'M VERY PLEASED WITH THIS FORUM AND THANKFUL TO ALL FOR HELP I'VE RECEIVED AND THE EDUCATION I'VE BEEN GIVEN FROM ALL THE POSTS I'VE READ!!!!

What I have learned:

1. I am NOT the most unlucky player on the face of this planet! Bad streaks and terribly bad beats happen to everyone on a much more common basis than I had originally thought.

2. BRM - what??? I'm embarassed to admit that it didn't even occur to me to start thinking about proper brm until I went through a particularly nasty streak last fall. After reading so many threads/posts here it has totally hit home. I play WAY beyond my means the majority of the time. Until CC I hadn't even researched brm, I read a brief blurb about it in one of my poker books (older one that said never commit more than 10% of your br to 1 event, ie; ring game or tourney) and I had considered that in play. Now I've seen charts and graphs with exact figures on proper brm which has reinforced the goals I should be striving for.

3. ROI % - I never cared much for it until now. I hold my own fairly well in live games (casino play) and only considered my extensive online play as dabble: not a place to make some serious cash. I made a decent profit, equivalent to a part time job, playing live and would just throw $50 or a $100 in my online accounts whenever I felt like it. This is how I've justified my online losses, it's still profit from live so it doesn't matter. LMAO - what an idiot I am! (Not to mention I've gone through a losing streak live recently and can't afford to just reload my online accounts anymore.)

4. Online play is serious - okay I've known this, in the back of my head, but didn't take it too seriously until I started losing more than I could afford to in this very poor econony (which has also been a factor in my lack of live play profits, there's just not as many recreational players in the poker rooms right now, the easy money is gone!).

I've now watched videos, read threads, read strategy guides and the like and realize there is a real chance to make some serious $$ online. I was under the impression that live play was the way pros made their money. Man I was so far off. I didn't even realize until last year that there were people who consistantly made serious profits online. Didn't realize there could be online pros and they were putting a hurt on many live play pros. And all this has really hit home and been reinforced here at cc.

5. Stats - about 2 weeks before I decided to join a poker forum I started looking into HEM & PT3. I didn't really know what they were, when I read up on them at their websites I thought they sounded like useful tools. Here at cc I've discovered there are many stats with these programs that are important beyond the ability to calculate odds that can help you increase your profits. Not to mention the ability to track the hands you play, how you play them & identify what's working for you and what isn't. I have now made up my mind to try out both programs and purchase one of them.

6. Multi-tabling - until cc I felt fairly confident in my ability to multi-table and keep up. I rarely played more than 10 tables at a time, but rarely did I play as few as 4 tables at a time. I've learned, for me anyways, that I need to slow down and concentrate more on what's going on at each table than just having the ability to keep up and not time out. I run off a 15 in laptop screen so I really shouldn't be doing so many tables anyways.

7. Poker knowlege - I started reading some books last fall by pros instead of writers. I started with Doyle's supersystems 1 & 2 and am making my way through Harrington's series (cash and tourney) as well as some by Mike Caro (Skalnsky is next for me).

Online it's difficult to tell how knowledgable many of your opp's are as I normally don't have conversations with them. Live play I've felt fairly knowledgable as we had a nice mix of regulars and tourists. Compared to the knowledge of a tourist I look like a pro! LOL! Now that I've been reading more book by pros and the threads/articles here at cc, I realize I'm not nearly as knowledgable as I once thought. As a matter of fact, I feel fairly humbled by all that I've read. AND, I am thrilled that I can have productive conversations here with knowledgable poker players.

8. Superstition - I am more superstitious than I cared to admit. I've watched for patterns during live play and at times, acted on them. I've even switched seats because I observed great hands being delt to a particular seat. Once, I even paid a guy $10 to switch seats with me, it did work that time, fortunately, I made a nice profit that night. Other times I've switched seats it's been a hit or miss, no guarantee. Some nights you are just destined to run bad. It happens. There will always be another night of poker.

9. Distractions - I'm not the only one with them, but I really need to limit them. I have 4 kids, 1 off to college and 3 young ones (10, 8 & 6) at home and it is a rare occassion I don't have several neighborhood kids over. My house is chaos and to play poker online when so many kids are over is just stupid. Even if I think "okay, I have an hour while they play in the basement before I have to make dinner" - wrong! On avg. there's a total of 11 kids at my house after school and on weekends. (The kicker is, I really don't like other people's kids!) Yet I keep trying to play a game while all these kids are running around. I often will start a sng or mtt and have to leave it because kids want snacks, something to drink, are in a fight or get hurt and I have to sit out for 5 or 10 minutes, several times. Not good. I read here that someone doesn't play until at night or something when distractions are at a minimal. I need to do that. Right now there are only 7 kids here, I kicked them all outside to play since it's finally in the 50's outside. Woot! Warm weather approaching! I'm also going to try and turn off the tv while I play, just keep the radio on.

10. Tilt - most people experience it at some point. Online I have tilted the most. Live I rarely do and if I do I take a walk around the casino, take a dinner break or something then come back to the table refreshed. Now that I know I'm not the unluckiest player in the world I tilt much less often. The funny thing is I used to rarely ever tilt online. Lately that I've been trying to take my online play to a whole new level and care about it more, I did find myself tilting more than before, but over the last month it's been considerably less.

I've also learned better tilt management techniques for online. One player posted they like to go to a micro table or play money table and beat up on people when on tilt. Kinda like get the frustration out at a safe level that won't be detrimental to your br. I've tried it, and I like it! (Almost sounds sadistic, lmao!)

11. I'm a fish! No, really, I mean it! Some of the stuff I've done and the way I've played some hands - I didn't even realize how much of a fish I am until joining cc. I look forward to learning to become a shark online.

12. Cash out curse - there's no such thing! I cash out too much for proper brm, play to loose when I'm feeling fat and sassy with my br and then donk it off so I can start over again.

Anyways, thank you again cc and I look forward to growing my poker skills here and helping others do the same.

*If you read through this long and boring post in its entirity, you deserve a cookie! Mods - how about a fresh batch of chocolate chip! Mmmmm.

Well said Storm and wtg.

Getting aware of your leaks and working on fixing them is the key to success.

And man - you seem to learn fast....

Very good post imo - keep it up sir.

Yep nice post. Congrats on the 100. Look forwards to reading more of your posts.

Nice post Storm,
I feel sorry for the guys at the casino,I think there bankrolls are in trouble!
GL at the tables and I will see you soon.

Did I read cookie?

You're a nice addition to this forum, Storm. It's great when someone joins with a sincere willingness to improve their game.

[x] Was an awesome 100th post.
[x] What Belgo said...seriously.

Great to have you here! Looking forward to your future posts.

Ty Ty all, and yes I mean it.

(The cookies are on there way )

Great read,gl with the learning.Oh btw i like oatmeal..