This was originally going to be about something else but....

I decided that I have learned my lesson about what I was going to post (which happened to be about not playing at a certain level anymore), so instead I have another topic to write about. It seems like that most of us around here think of ourselves as at least somewhat respectable poker players with some degree of skill (and a little luck when we need it). So with that in mind, I pose this question to you all. If you can look back at all the poker you have played and pick out one moment/stretch of time where you feel you took your game to the next level, what would you say was the time when you felt your game really improved?

I know personally for me it was when I made two final tables in two consecutive tournaments and finishing 3rd both times even when I was last heading into both of them.

Probably the most satisfying day I had was coming back from the short stack and winning a 3 table (27 people) SNG at pokerstars. Was down to 80 chips and came back and won. On this day I understood what's meant by "a chip & a chair"...

Won 3 Maui SNGs in a row in Noble which was cool also. I was already counting my 15K when I got hammered in the 4th one...

2 instances when I remember feeling I had turned a corner won my first Pokerstars freeroll of course I didn't win anything but an entry into another freeroll. Next was after I read Theory of Poker by Skylanski I went from an overly aggressive maniac to controled aggression almost overnight. Still have a lot to learn but when I think back to how I played when I used to play all those freerolls on Stars I cringe!

I played in a weekend over 24 hours of live poker and did well everywhere I played.

Friday
Won a bar tourney with a $50 bar tab.
Won a $25 satellite into a $100 buy in tournament on Sunday.

Saturday
Won 2 out of 3 home games - 9 person table. Cleared over $200

Sunday
Finished 8th out of 97 in the Tournament (turned $25 into $245).
Finished second in a side game and won an umbrella (first trophy ever).

Overall, not a bad stretch for me.

In a recent $5.50 SNG, I was the chip leader with 6 remaining (3 cash) and it was folded around to me and I found AQo on the button. I raised 3.5x the BB at the time (BB=100) and the SB pushed all-in. I figured he was ona steal, I called and was right. I hit trip Q's on the flop and he hit a runner-runner straight. I was angry, but not out of it. I was down to ~900 chips at this point (short stack at the table). I battled my way back to 2800 chips when I again raised and was re-raised all in. I had TT and my opponent had 86 of hearts. The same guy as before hit a runner-runner flush to beat me. This time I was down to around 600 chips. I ended up battling back up to 2000 before I lost an all-in on a coinflip, which I can at least stomach.

Anyways, I was extremely proud of my ability to come back from such a huge defecit twice in such a short period of time. Although I finished 4th and just out of the money, I feel that my game was truly on and if the cards had gone my way there is no question I would have won that particular tournament.

I think the night it just clicked was a live game when i started to put people on a hand and i was right. Great feeling, didnt help me to win that night, but now probably the only hand that i miss on a regular basis is the set.

Like Chicubs, not one of the tournaments I have won (Paradise Big Buck which got a few lucky breaks towards the end, and Cardchat freeroll where I got good hands at good times), but won of the tournaments I lost (bet365 £200K). I survived FOUR bad beats and a half hour run of no cards to claw my way back into contention. Called all in with QQ and got done by AA, but I'd scrapped against odds for over 2 hours.

The big breakthrough in my game was understanding table position, and the weakness of A6,A7,A8 etc, which seem so enticing when you are just starting. Next step is to start taking notes which i dont do yet.

robwhufc said:

Like Chicubs, not one of the tournaments I have won (Paradise Big Buck which got a few lucky breaks towards the end, and Cardchat freeroll where I got good hands at good times), but won of the tournaments I lost (bet365 £200K). I survived FOUR bad beats and a half hour run of no cards to claw my way back into contention. Called all in with QQ and got done by AA, but I'd scrapped against odds for over 2 hours.

The big breakthrough in my game was understanding table position, and the weakness of A6,A7,A8 etc, which seem so enticing when you are just starting. Next step is to start taking notes which i dont do yet.

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On a Friday night, I came in 4th in the Pokerchamps freeroll, Saturday, came in second and on Sunday I won like 50 cents in a freeroll.

i went a streak of 3 weeks without having a down night, considering a i played almost everynight, i began to think that maybe i was ok at this.

My best is yet to come. :icon_comp

well i havent won a great deal just yet, prolly total just $1000.
but ive only been playing online poker for 3 months now. I think i got the hang of reading reaction times for internet players. If only i could do that in RL games

joz84 said:

i went a streak of 3 weeks without having a down night, considering a i played almost everynight, i began to think that maybe i was ok at this.

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This most likely means that you aren't as good as you think you are. Good poker players dont mind having a down night. Bad poker players pay attention to this and keep track of 'up' streaks. My guess is that every night where you were down, you moved up to higher limits and got lucky to win it all back to put you in the positive. Many new novice players do this and it catches up with them, as they lose all of their money in one night when they cant walk away with less than they brought to the game earlier.