[Ansky]

By in large the biggest obstacle to newer poster/players, is simply not knowing how to think about the game. They don't have a clue how to analyze hands from a pure EV perspective, they are too stuck in their own assumptions and habits, they are too results oriented, and most of all they are just plain close minded.

There are many ways to get good at poker. Some people need strict guidence (note: this does not mean they should just be told what to do w/o explanation--- it just means they need to be told what to think), some are extremely perceptive and just "get it" really quickly.

A good example of someone who just got it very quickly, is Timex. I remember last summer I STAKED HIM, in the 1k on stars, and maybe even a few other tournaments. Within a few months his roll like quintupled and he was crushing tournaments across the internet. He surrounded himself with good players and took a very aggressive approach to learning the game, and it paid off.

For me, it probably took me close to 2 years before I made a very aggressive effort to get better. I was basically an up and coming poster, I posted decent stuff and put in a lot of effort. Eventually better players noticed and I was able to talk to them to get in their heads. For example, I was mildly intimidated by guys like Strassa and MLG, and it took me a while before I PMed them for their AIM sn's. It was however, talking to these 2 that brought my game up from mediocre mid stakes drone, to whatever I am now. I would not be where I am today if I didn't pick the brains of players who were better than me.

There are certain posters here who are decent, and prob know their pushbotting charts but in all honesty dont have a [censored] clue when it comes to NL theory or anything beyond basic tournament hands. They post like 40 times a week and most of their posts are fine, but they are stuck in huge leaky habits that they don't seem to care to fix. This is the result of asking what to do, and not why. There are hardly any 2 situations that are the same in poker, so if you are just making threads asking what to do and not really noticing why you should do different things, you're gonna get better, but your skill will certainly plateau.