Thanks 2+2 or How to Put It All Together and be a Winning Player

[MikeyPatriot]

My poker career has been a long journey. I started out playing in an unorganized, blind-less home game and donating my paychecks online. After a 9 month hiatus from the game for personal reasons (moving/not having a home game/dating someone I spent a majority of my time with), I got the itch to play again. Since then, I've made an effort to improve at all times rather than assume I know how to play because I've read Super/System. I read any book I couldn't get my hands on, started lurking 2+2/SSNL, and most importantly started to manage my bankroll responsibly.

When I first started reading here, I couldn't believe that some people were beating the game for 8, 10 or 12 PTBB/100 hands. Even when I became a consistently marginally winning player (3-4/100), I figured the big winners were liars or luckboxes. Slowly, but surely (and switching to six max) I started to see my winrate improve. I understood where these people were coming from. You COULD beat the game that bad.

I should start by saying this: it isn't easy. When people say you should post hands, read SSNL, evaluate your play in PT, etc. they aren't kidding. Doing these things help build the fundamentals which make everything else such a breeze. It's comparable to a musician playing scales over and over or a basketball player taking jump shot after jump shot. Once you get the basics down, the advanced stuff starts to come to you piece by piece.

I'm not going to try and tell you I know it all. I certainly don't. Like I said before, I'm trying to learn all the time. But these are some things I've noticed in my playing experiences that I think are important to my success.

1) Passion - Poker is a game. You can beat it with a good understanding of the fundamentals. Like most professions though, those who are truly passionate about what they're doing are the most successful. Michael Jordan didn't get to his level by shooting free throws on the weekends. Bill Gates didn't become successful by writing software in his free time. These people were/are passionate about what they were/are doing. This doesn't mean you have to play 8 hours a day or be thinking about poker 24/7 away from the table. But it does mean you should constantly be looking for ways to improve and never accept complacency - especially when you first start out.

2) Bankroll management - I'm sure this sounds like a broken record to those of you who read this forum with any regularity, but it can't be said enough. If you are playing at a level you are uncomfortable at, it will be very hard to be successful. If you don't mind going bust and reloading, by all means play as high as you can afford. If you're scared of getting it all in and being sucked out, you're probably playing far too high.

3) Marginal situations - The more experience you acquire, the more able you will be to handle marginal situations. This can definitely add a BB to your winrate. However, as other posters have made note of, they aren't that important! If you have a hard time in marginal situations, you will save yourself money and frustration by keeping yourself out of them. Fold QJo on the button if everyone has limped to you and you don't want to raise, but don't want to call. It may not be optimal (and I may get flamed for suggesting it), but when you enter a pot, you're potentially risking your whole stack. The marginal EV you gain playing the hand isn't worth the risk if you'll get stacked a bunch when you hit top pair.

4) Participate on the board! - Post hands. Reply in other hands. Sign up for a session review (I highly recommend this). Do something. The more you challenge yourself to critically think about the game, the easier decisions will come to you at the table.

5) Stay humble - I don't know how many times I started my own downswing by getting to cocky. Sure, we want to play as many hands against the fish as much as we can, but (and this goes with point 3) that doesn't mean we should be putting ourselves into super marginal positions. Playing ATo from UTG is trouble for most everyone. Don't let an upswing twist your head into thinking otherwise.

These are the things that have led me to becoming a winning player. Finding Two Plus Two kickstarted all of it. Just the fact that you are here is a great start. Keep learning and don't be afraid to make mistakes!

Also, if anyone would like to discuss hands, poker, life, politics, etc. AIM me at MikeyPatriot.