4 month reflection

The end of April marks the fourth month since starting on my poker journey. 

I have concentrated my studies well, trying to remain focused on what it is I'm trying to achieve. 

There's no point dabbling in poker. If I'm going to study this game then I'm only going to go all the way, making sacrifices to push myself, further than any past endeavor in my life. 

Some days I'm not at all sure what I've managed to take into my head, what I've managed to compound, but then I'll go for a walk after being at my desk for 5 hours straight and I'll have an insight that suggests that maybe all this work is having some impact after all.

I guess I'm following the exact same path walked by many before me. Begin with a goal, tremendous desire, and determination. I'm compounding the basics and fundamentals of poker into my mind. Except that I'm trying to ignite my mind into a thinking poker mind rather than a mechanical methodical mind.

It is hard work, there's no doubt about that. But then again so is computer programming except I have no interest in learning that.  There has to be one thing in life that you decide right this is something I'm going to excel at, whether it be playing the guitar and music composition, or creative writing and producing a novel. Either of those endeavors if one has the passion and talent can be the basis for a life long career. 

There has never been an area of my life where I've pushed myself hard enough so that I grow beyond my comfort zone. I've decided that I'm going to make poker my breakthrough. 

The most difficult concept I've encountered in this poker discovery stage is hand combinations and some of the tougher mathematical formula. I haven't been taught algebra, and trying to self-learn is difficult. Apart from that I understand the fundamentals so far. 

Believing in probability, pot odds, and equity value concepts

The reason we think in terms of pot equity, and pot odds is because good poker strategy exploits long-term probability. For example 2 outs at the flop requires pot odds of 14 to 1 in order to break even. Making these types of calls will earn money long-term as long as you utilize the odds correctly because probability theory will work out correctly in the end. The 13 times you lose in this example is offset by the one time you win, and therefore break even (make a call at greater than break even odds to make a profit).


lose - lose - lose - lose - win - lose - lose - lose - lose - lose - lose - lose - lose - lose 


Sticking to the correct strategy requires clarity, and belief in the truth of probability theory, and maybe also a little courage in the face of a string of losses. 

Bluffing analogy - like a tax rate or retail markup

Have just thought of a really apt analogy for bluffing - it's like a tax rate or retail markup. So if I think of my game as a low bluff game, I would expect more turnover, as in a low taxation market economy, the market responds by spending more with me but I earn less, or like a retail shop but I make less money.
Bluffing pads out my game. A Nitty player only earns on his premium hands. But a LAG bluffer open raising with a wider range has his bluffing range markup. How much markup he puts on his game determines his earning potential, but too much markup / bluffs can hinder or freeze his earning potential. 
So how much I want to add to my game depends on my bluff markup; a range of 20% - 33% would mean a bluffing range from 1 in 5, 1 in 4, to 1 in 3 hands.
I'd probably start off at 1 in 5 and move to 1 in 4 hands as my game improves. 

Key questions during hand play

Whats my range for current position?
What's my range in relation to my opponents?
What's my range for folding, calling, raising; responding to a fold, call, raise?
Am I stack committed? If so what's my SPR?
Am I seeking value, bluffing, stealing, or folding equity?
What's my plan for flop, turn, river if opponent checks, calls, raises?
Is my range polarized, merged, or skewed?
How does opponent read my range?

Fold equity - definition

Just thinking out loud here. Fold equity. How is it used? What situations?


Making opponent estimate the equity they give up by folding is less than the cost of making the call to our bet/raise.  In other words causing opponent to make an incorrect equity estimation by making opponent believe I have more equity in the pot than they (which may or may not be true).


When I want to induce folding I can 3-bet, shove all-in, double barrel to incur a cost against him he is unwilling to pay. 
The board texture ideally does not support his range.
The board texture supports my range. 
Aggression in the bettor/raiser supports fold equity - passiveness in the opponent supports your fold equity.
I have sufficient sized stack to threaten opponent for his stack. That is I can put him to the test for a decision for his stack using sufficiently sized bets. Also I support my threat with value in my hand, whether that be made value or implied value, and opponent can judge my hand to have implied odds based on the board, my pre-flop raise from position etc.

Checking on the river allows you to get away from stronger hands or get action from weaker

A poker saying 'get away from' example - by checking the river when holding say a medium strength hand, allowing the opponent to either check back or raise - if opponent raises then you can, if you are certain they aren't bluffing, 'get away from' having to risk placing,and possibly losing, a bet.


Get action from weaker hands - opponents who are checked to on the river holding weaker hands may think 'oh, I may have best hand', and bet. 

Use same sized bets

In Small Stakes NLHE Ed Miller advocates using same sized bets against specific opponent - which means the bet changes dynamically only in relation to different opponents, but not in relation to the relative strength of your hand. What you do not want to do is give away reads on the strength of your hand based upon varying bet sizes.


So against NIT I may bet 3 BB whilst against super crazy LAG I may min-bet or even check - the point is my bets remain the same against the player regardless of the relative strength/weakness of my hand. 

Fold to c-bet pressure

Betting is pressure and many opponents fold too frequently to pressure.


C-bet frequently, pulling back only on opponents who exploit this strategy.

• C-bet nearly every time in heads up pots.
• 70-80% in 3 handed pots.
• In four-handed pots be more measured, but you can still profitably make c-bets on many dry flops.

Bluff two barrel strategy

OK so I'm just a n00b, and I'm sure the advanced players have this all figured out, but for me this is an AHA moment.


If I only bet for value say on the river, and I fold or check all my failed draws, then my hands are revealed as value hands - that is my opponents know when I bet I'm betting because I have a (possibly) winning hand and so I'm less likely to get a call, and consequently I make less money in these situations.


When poker earnings are measured in terms of hundreds and thousands of hands, this can be significant loss of income.


Introducing bluffs on my failed draws. So instead of folding or checking my failed draws, I behave the same way I behave as when I hit my draw, I raise or at least I bet. I have 'balanced' my poker line for hitting my draw hands, and I attract calls which without adding in raised / bet failed draw hands, I would not otherwise attract.


In summary - adequately bluff on the turn and the river to force your opponent to choose between laying down his value hands and paying off your bluffs.

Small Stakes NLHE Ed Miller

I really like Ed's books - I'm onto the 3rd one authored by him - the first two I've read beginning with How to Read NLHE Hands, then Professional NLHE Vol 1 and now this one. 


Ed's very thorough, he never skips a step in his thoughts whilst explaining in a very straight forward manner, and he's very clear in his choice of words and meaning. 


My first reading of the book set my head in a whirl, the main reason is that I lost focus on the topic of the chapter, for example 'stealing from button against the blinds' as opposed to stealing from cut-ff against the blinds; and if you don't maintain focus on the current topic, the chapter loses all relevance. So I realized that after reviewing my first read through where I had gone wrong, and the second read through things are going a lot more smoothly, I'm understanding what it is Ed's explaining since I'm keeping the topic in focus at each stage. Like poker, reading about poker is situational and specific to your opponent. 

Review of 2 month study period Jan and Feb

Current study status: I'm a member of DeucesCracked and LeggoPoker


I'm studying my way through PNLHM by Ed Miller - this is the eBook I take with me on my daily walk to McDonalds for time-out and a cappucino. Some of my best study times have occurred there and during my walk home, it's been great thinking about and really getting the whole idea of pot and bet sizing down pat.


During the last two months I've especially been focusing on understanding hand reading, understanding ABC poker, and understanding the role that pot control and bet sizing play.


I've focused on understanding ranges in relation to player types, and in relation to board texture, and also in relation to bet sizes, pot sizes, and street. Basically there is a relationship between these and understanding this in terms of ratios will help a player with their strategic lines and hand as a whole from pre-flop through each street to river showdown.

Thinking about streets as accounting time periods for analysis and reporting purposes

This is a thought I've had about pot management, or how to think about streets conceptually from a betting POV. From my accounting classes I remember a key point my tutor made about the importance of accounting periods as a key concept in accounting. Combining poker and accounting thinking I can see how the same concept of accounting periods can be applied to poker across the streets - and in fact poker could be divided into four such periods; preflop, flop, turn and river. 


A key concept in poker is the idea of polarized hand ranges; hands that could be either big or pure bluff. Another concept is the idea of non-polarized hand ranges, where someone playing in a straight forward manner can be read as holding a strong hand. That is they go to showdown betting strongly with hands that are most always with strong showdown value, without bluff value.


Now if we combine the two ideas; polarized and non-polarized hand ranges with the idea of accounting periods for the purposes of reporting we come up with a strategy of being able to think about poker from an accounting point of view for reporting and analytic purposes. I have no idea if this idea has already been discussed or thought about elsewhere as I've not read about it anywhere but it is merely common sense - the combination of an important accounting concept of dividing time into periods for the purposes of analysis and reporting and applying it to poker. 

SNG ICM strategy - is there value in it?

So I've been watching one of the deucescracked coaches review a video of a tournament he played in back 2009 in which he got his first big break. He uses the term ICM quite a lot but I wasn't convinced that his understanding ICM bought anything of value to the game review. 


It's like what this other deucescracked coach says about the use of HUD play - too many people want a blueprint for all their moves - they want to know what course of action to take in each specific given; the stats of their opponents, when a particular flop peels. 


I feel that the use of ICM can also distract from value added play - in the end a player wants to have their focus entirely dedicated to the table, what's going on at hand - by dedicating too many brain cycles to calculating ICM odds, or by over reliance on HUD stats a player will only hog-tie themselves, and forget that the actual game taking place in front of them is where it's at. 


HUDs and ICM odds should be used to support but not be the deciding factor in your decisions. 

Strategic value in the lower end range

I like the strategic value in calling polarized and bottom ended non suited 3 gapped cards - as well as typical nitty premium cards.


a) It makes my calls more difficult to pin down 
b) the lower end of the range - the 3 gapper non suited's are what I describe as a free channel to run through, where the gap is and where value can be found. 


If the call price is reasonable, and if the flop falls for a set or two pair then that's great value. If I can get it in against someone who has a made pair, and if the board texture doesn't support their hand for a set then I'll slow play it and go all in on the turn, but before the river for fear of their hand turning into a bigger set.

More patience required

I've become slightly impatient playing in recent SNG's to my detriment. Ride out the variance, stop pushing the edges so much at least for now. Fold when required. That's all.

Villain made straight on the river

OK so I drew a pair of tens and the flop was KsKh9h so far so good, and I C-bet the pot and pot again on the turn which drew an 8h - a potential flush draw for someone. At this point in retrospect I should have gone all in pushing the flush draw off, but I didn't. The river drew a 4h and the player two seats to my right raised for 2 times pot $16,000 - a call which I promptly folded to realizing he'd river'd the flush. 


Lesson learned - when I flop the nuts I need to be aware of flush and straight draws - and if the turn puts a flush or straight draw on board I need to go all-in or at least make calling negative EV; putting my certain nuts hand against a potential draw putting villain to a decision for their stack at the most.

LAP loose and passive beats loose aggressive LAG

My current phase is the loose and passive style especially as a strategy for beating the loose and aggressive - LAG. Why does this work for me? Well, the analogy I use is hitching a ride on the hurricane. 


That is the LAG range is as wide as mine but prone to greater variance. I on the other hand can minimize variance, albeit I may not enjoy the benefits of winning bigger pots. However, by hooking onto the LAG's crazy rush, not letting go and calling them down all the way, I am in essence taking advantage of the positive benefits of the LAG strategy using their aggression against them WHEN I have value in my hands.


LAP beats LAG at their game.

RaNT: JUST FUCKING DO IT

I love this entry. Credit to: citizenwind’s Blog on www.CardRunners.com– December 18 2009

Some people don’t make it at poker. Who knows why. Tilt? Neurosis? Lack of ingenuity? Mathematical phobia? Inability to calculate? To apply common sense? No. This isn’t the case. There are smart, talented players who are not making it. Some of my students are clearly smarter and more naturally talented than I am, but are huge losers. But why? Why are people not beating 100nl? Or 200nl? It seriously requires common sense and a basic understanding. Not hard. You want a hard game? Learn chess. The amount of memorization and calculation requires for chess is totally mind-boggling compared to enumerative analysis. I bet if chess players played poker, they’d shit on people all the time. Like crawl up on their chests and take dumps on them. Poker isn’t that hard. It’s not even as hard as say, Street Fighter. You want to talk about leveling? Wait until Blanka is chewing on your face for the third tick throw in a row. Yeah, I’m a nerd, wanna fight about it?

If you’re hoping to go pro at 50-100nl, but you’re failing at it, stop failing. Do whatever it takes. Get coaching. Read. Study ferociously. Watch a video and force yourself to leave the session with 4-6 pages of notes. Don’t know something? Then go find the answer. Ask. Post in forums. There are 10k CR members and maybe two dozen regulars posters in each forum. Surely there are more full-time grinders than that.

Look. You could make six-figures in 2010. I came from a broke family. 100k is an outrageous amount of money. 250k is unimaginable. We’re talking about life-changing amounts of dough. You could make this. Easily. If you’re into material things, next year you could be driving an Audi and have a lot of TVs. You could pop bottles and do other rapper-ly activites. If you’re just into living free (aka hippie), you could have an extremely high paying job and unlimited freedom. I’ve never had a 9-5 and never will, all because I decided to spend a year really learning how to play some fucking poker.

Stop dicking around. Stop being a tilting monkey. Four year olds throw tantrums. You’re an adult. Get over it. If you don’t know the math, learn it right now and don’t step onto a table until you know it back and forth. Buckle down. Play less tables. Turn off the TV. Don’t watch videos in the background while you play, make it part of your daily routine to watch a Myth or CTS video and take a notes on all the plays and thoughts that you would not have emulated. Take notes. WHATEVER IT TAKES. In one year, you’ll look back at the moment you decided to take it really, really seriously and realized that it was way easier than you thought.

Facebook Sit-n-go's and Deucescracked

I've joined  www.deucescracked.com  poker training site and the first series I have begun watching is Andrew "BelugaWhale" Seidman coaching the lovely Cristy Arnett who's blog is www.snaptress.com and who works for www.Pokernews.com. Andrew's first goal for Kristy is to instill in her an ABC solid poker mindset. He questions a number of Kristy's open raise calls such as 76o and K8o. It's interesting because a number of her open calls are similar to my range. What's difficult is that I'm not sure of the balance I need to attain. Do I become tighter, or do I stay somewhat loose. It's particularly when I fold out a speculative hand only to see the flop give me a set and the winning hand was a pair, or to see my mucked hand flop two pair, again higher than the winning hand. Sometimes my intuition is correct, at least most of the time, but on occasions I've seen about three folded hands of mine flop a monster winning hand and the pot has been stacked multi-ways. It's frustrating when this happens.


I'm developing my reads playing sit-n-goes which I like playing, especially at the end stages where only two or three remain, typically the better players whom I'm getting better practice against. There are so many loose players at the beginning stages who go all in with crazy crap holdings like J8o. Just stupid calls.


Anyway my reads are getting better. I look at the board and compare their play to pre-flop calls raises and so for example against a rainbow polarized boards I know they've either flopped a high KQ or a pair, or possibly even a speculative suited connector, but when contrasted with the board I know more or less where I stand and can play accordingly. 


My recent leak where I was knowingly giving away hands whilst knowing what my opponent was holding has been reduced. I know it has something to do with fear of competing and winning. This is irrational and I know I have no need to be so fearful of winning against others. 


Another reaction I've felt is that when I start winning hands and when sit-n-go's reach the end stages my heart starts thumping and get an almighty adrenaline rush. This is another symptom I believe of being fearful of winning. It's probably been a long time since I have truly been competitive against others, and so I simply need to become more used to winning again and enjoying the competitive nature of the game. It will come with time. At least I'm aware of my reactions and can track my progress.

SNG straight on board, holding J-4

Quick lesson learned: when on the first hand of an SNG and holding J4 with AKQ on board, the chances of someone else holding a J10 are likely - do not go all in. I just did this and bumped out first round. 

Facebook Zynga poker and hand reading practise

Have been playing some Facebook Zynga poker (don't laugh) every day so as to practice my hand reading and apply what I've been studying in the various books and forums.


Have played some sit-n-go's and I've found a weakness in my game play - as I near the end where only 1 or 2 other players remain, I have noticed a tendency I have to give a hand away, knowing the card they're holding beats mine, and yet doing it all the same. A weak killer instinct and lack of applying myself to follow through with the coup d'etat. I did it once yesterday when I and  other were the two remaining players, and again today where I knew I had the 2nd best hand yet still gave it away. It's something I'm gonna have to close, this leak. I must learn to focus through for the win till the end. My sit-n--go stats are at 10% win rate, and I know I can improve if I tighten up my focus onto winning the hand and not knowingly giving hands away. Whether I'm being 'nice' to the other player or what I'm not sure yet - I think I will work on closing this leak up for sure though. It can't be knowingly allowed to continue.


Have finished reading Ed Miller's How to read hands at NLHM for the second time - after this time through somewhat more of what went right over the top of my head is starting to make sense. I believe this book is probably aimed at someone with somewhat more practical poker experience - in other words it helps to have played poker. I also purchased Flopzilla and have been using it in conjunction with the exercises in Ed's eBook and it's been an enlightening piece of software to use. Both Ed's book and Flopzilla highly recommended.

Started using Flopzilla

At the recommendation of Ed Miller's book How to read hand's at no-limit hold-em I purchased Flopzilla for the purpose of understanding reading hand-ranges.


I started as Ed suggested by inputting and saving ranges for various player types such as Nit, Regular and Fish into Flopzilla and using Flopzilla to show how various combinations of ranges result from different flops for each player type.


The idea of understanding ranges and combinations is to be able to perform real-time estimations of good fit and bad fit combinations against players ranges for specific flops, then call or raise positive Equity Value decisions or fold negative Equity Value decisions.


If it sounds complicated to a n00b like myself then I hope it becomes second nature eventually, especially the real-time decision making part. I can only put in the work and practice with Flopzilla so as to better familiarize myself with understanding ranges and combinations. Ed states that in order to make the real-time decision making easier, he simply thinks in terms of good fit/bad fit combinations and the ratio of each - so if during play I estimate that villain has more bad fit combinations that good fit combinations I would continuance bet or 3-bet raise and maybe get them to fold their weaker fit combinations. 


Anyway this is a work in progress I've only just begin with - it's been a month of beginning to learn poker from absolutely zero and my strategy is to continue to learn the rudiments of poker, progressively increasing in complexity, so that when I eventually make my start for real, I'll be in a better position than if I had of just jumped in with both feet fresh. I do want action and it is a struggle to resist the desire to just start playing but I believe I'll be all the more stronger for it doing it the way I am.

Poker Academy Pro learning from bot decisions

Bear in mind I've never played poker apart from some casual Facebook poker and the scope of this blog is a record of the process an absolute poker beginner goes through from whoa to go.


I've purchased a poker simulation program called Poker Academy Pro which I've been playing most days since and what I've found interesting is the decision making process of some of my bot opponents. To facilitate my learning process I have chosen to play with my bot opponents cards face up. 


One example I just observed was a turn card which gave a backdoor straight to one of the bots who raised. However he was pushed off his backdoor straight by another bot who had flopped a 3 pair. I can relate this scenario in some of my live play when drawing a backdoor flush or straight only to be raised gave me pause for thought. 


The solution is to calculate pot odds / implied odds to help in deciding the call. Obviously a straight beats a single or two pair and if the odds are in +EV in your favor then make the call. Short term losses from these types of decisions don't alter that a +EV call will always be in your favor long-term according to probability.  

Beware of river flush draw slow played my 6 set and lost pot

My bad - lesson learned. I slow-played a set of 6s on the flop and built the pot but wasn't thinking about the flush draw which villain to my right collected and took the pot down with. I lost the pot because I wasn't flush draw aware. Another one I need to be aware of as well as yesterday's straight draw losses. That's why I'm practicing first and using whatever means necessary without incurring a real dollar cost. 

The art of Poker Judo and straights

The strategy of Judo is to allow your opponents aggression and strength to be their pitfall. Similarly with poker allow the LAG’s aggression to be their pitfall. Call their aggressive raises / bets through until the river and then pot size raise them. If they call then fold, otherwise if they’re holding lowest pair then hold on FTW...  


A LAG will show aggression raising all the way through for the backdoor flush/straight draw, but if they miss on the river they will fold to a raise call. 


Straights are a stealth hands = beware of them... I've been coolered by them a couple of times on Facebook poker today - my Ace set cooler-ed by a straight on the river, raising and counter re-raising until going all-in on the turn, but villain wouldn't fold. It reveals my weakness lack of straight awareness. A pitfall identified and plugged in my poker education.

Finished re-reading Crushing the Microstakes - thoughts

Have just finished reading Crushing the Microstakes by BlackRain79 and I'd like to record thoughts whilst the book is still fresh in my mind.

• Poker is a game of details
• Key decision points communicate information to other players.
• Poker is a game of complexity and variables
• Poker is not only about the mathematics, ratios and odds; poker is also about the people who play this game. their style, their tendencies, their impulsiveness or conversely those who don't step outside their comfort zone.

Poker is a game of details
It has struck me while reading this book how much attention to detail there is even at 2NL and 5NL level. If I am to take this game seriously then I would like to establish good habits from the very beginning of my hopeful poker career. Establish or lay the foundation. Build upon solid ground not sand. Jesus told a parable about the wisdom of building upon rock not sand. I want to build upon rock. In poker terms rock means learning and practicing correct +EV play. IT also means establishing good mental and emotional habits from the beginning. These practices include designing a daily routine of review and journalling of lessons learned, key points taken from the day, and just generally keeping a record for future reference and comparison purposes. This blog is partly about that.

Key decision points communicate information to other players
Call, fold or raise are decisions we make in response to our read on the unfolding game play. These decisions communicate information to other players just as other players decisions communicate information to us. The skill in poker is in learning to be good at interpreting the information communicated through our decisions. When we lack verbal and visual communication clues, we are thrown back onto what is present and available in a game of poker and these are our decisions which are in turn based upon our position, our opponents position, the cards we hold, our stake, our read on historical stats, and any historical dynamic relationship with another poker player. I sum it up in communication awareness. Use every means available to listen to what your opponents are telling you. Vice Versa be aware of what you are telling your opponents.

Crushing the Microstakes by BlackRain79 study

Today has largely focused on studying Crushing the Microstakes by BlackRain79 an ebook I purchased from Nathan's website www.blackrain79.com in December 2011 and I'm now on my second reading.


I had one key takeaway thought whilst reading the book at a point where Nathan was listing the types of hands he would fold at various positions and certain circumstances, and the realization struck me that if I had of begun playing online before learning and studying this game I knew I would have played precisely the hands Nathan was advising not to play which would make me a fish!!


This strategy - identifying pitfalls and scout the territory of poker first is already paying dividends in terms of identifying potential future costs to my game, and it is these costs which if left unidentified for any length of time, can build into entrenched negative Equity Value behavior and strategic play, and poor game historical statistics.


I can measure the progress I'm making by comparing the percentage of understanding I'm gaining this second reading compared to the first reading of Crushing the Microstakes. My poker studies began in earnest the start of December of 2011, I created this blog end Jan 2012 and I purchased BlackRain79's book mid December 2011. A lot of the terms and concepts in my first reading one month ago were unknown to me, but now as I re-read through the book I can see how much I've learned since. I've been spending time on Two plus Two poker forum, and reading various other poker books which I will cover in a future blog as I re-read each of them in turn.


What I've taken away from Crushing the Microstakes in this second reading is I still think like a fish and I would have played like a fish - playing low to middle pair in early position, playing too loosely in all positions, I would have called a lot more than I am going to now. Now I'll begin my poker career playing tight and aggressive - opening up from a very tight range in early position to a wider range around to button, and I'll play the top of my range aggressively, pot bets at each street with sets, that sort of thing.

Steps 1 and 2 - baby steps or crawl first

The beginning of my poker journal and journey with a twist - I've yet to play a single online game of poker, except Facebook poker!! 

I've never particularly had an interest in poker as such. I've never been a gambler; hated horse races, have only ever purchased less that 10 lottery tickets in my life. The only card games I've played with any enthusiasm is Canasta, Euchre, and 500 (not sure if 500 is the commonly known term).

So why poker and why now at this middle time in my life, hence the title of my blog Half-life poker? For the challenge. For the financial rewards. For the brain training exercise from calculating odds, ratios and hand equity on the fly during a game. I work out at the gym on my body, so working out my brain in poker is an extension of my attitude towards continual improvement in as many areas of life as I can extend.

Never stand still. Always seek goals and move towards the future.

So, I intend to journal my fears and desires and expectations and ambitions; what I’m reading about regarding poker, whatever thoughts pop into my head. Uncertainties and doubts. That sort of thing.

I have a strategy I came up with in this half-life poker journey of mine. I intend to read study and learn for a period of 18 months, all the while resisting the urge to just start playing. The big thing about this strategy for me is I'm in a scouting phase, an exploratory phase, a preparatory phase where I look over the poker territory, discover others playing styles, gain some insight in to pitfalls, and learn from mistakes others have made in their beginning foray into the poker 'verse.

I jot down my thoughts as they rise in my consciousness "I need to do exactly what I am doing now. Don’t worry about jumping in yet, be patient and learn just learn, and absorb it all into my unconscious competence".