Super,
I have a job, but I play poker almost everyday so I think I can answer. I think with just about any sport or game or anything in life there are plateaus.......you reach 1 plateau and your stuck there for 6 months, and eventuatlly you reach the next level, (for some it takes longer than others)..........when I 1st started playing online about 2 years ago....I didn't start by playing free money, or $5 tables...I played $30 and $50 dollar right off the bat (I did have holdem experiense from playing alot with my friends in college)..........it was more that I COULD play these tournies, not because I was good enough yet...I had the disposable income, (kid out of college, solid job, no reponsibilities)....I definitely took my lumps early on.....but the experience was invaluable, I played some really good players, but there is only so many times you can make the same mistake until a lightbulb goes on..saying "maybe I don't have the odds to call this flush draw" or whatever

When you say the word "instinct" I think of experience, you've seen the hand played out in front of you a thousand times before, you know what he's trying to do, and you can more or less guess what his hole cards are, some times your right, sometimes your wrong.

I think I or someone else posted on here about reflecting on how you lost a tourny, did I get unlucky? did i get outplayed?, did I make a mistake? Did I not get enough cards?....if you take 3 min after your out to reflect, it will help your game tremendously

browerkid

Thanks for the response Brower, I guess my question needs a little more explanation....the whole discussion started after watching "High Roller: The Stu Unger Story" on TV. I know it was a movie, but basically Stu Unger just picked up a deck of cards and beat everyone. I was wondering if this is the way it was with a lot of pros, where they just sort of started out winning at lower levels and after a year, maybe two...they were just making money hand over fist...like John D'Agostino...the kid is only 21, how long could he possibly have been playing for? Did he just "have it" or did something happen in his mind where one day, something happened and it just clicked, oh THIS is how you win.....better explaination?

VERY good response and I thank you for it, but Im still not sure it answers the question. Let me give you an even more specific example. When I was little, I was trying to learn how to whistle. It took me months and months and I practiced every day, but I still couldnt do it. Then one day, almost by mistake, I whistled. Well, once I did it that one time, I could do it all the time, whenever I wanted. And I ran around showing everyone how I could whistle. It was just a matter of "figuring out how to do it". Im wondering if it is the same way with poker or, to make a comparison, you have to be "born whistling". Thanks!

Speaking from my limited experiences...I would have to say...you can learn and learn and learn, but there are some people that just have a great instinct for poker. I have been playing seriously for 3 years now and have been winning more then losing. Nothing really to brag about yet. A friend of mine who I met 6 months ago at a card game has only been playing for 9 months and he's crushing the step tourney's on partypoker. He has won over $10,000 in less then a month, and has made quite a few final tables in MTT also on Party. From what I can see is he has natural instincts when it comes to reading people and paying attention to the small details as far as betting patterns and such online, it's just easier for him.

Now I'll admit I'm jealous...LOL...but I have to really work at my game but for him it's just natural.
I have not had my " it just clicked day "...not sure if I ever will. I will have to grind it out and learn and study hard to acheive the goals I have set. Hopefully I will!!

Hope this helps answer your question, Supermoves

lilphil

Yes, for me it was certainly a "lightbulb" scenario. Other than fooling around with poker for 5 or 6 years in HS and college, and online for a couple of months before my 21st birthday, once I turned 21 I decided to get serious. I played ring games, 3/6 and 5/10 mainly, grinding out decent weekly amounts, and would always play a tournament or two a day because I found them fun. Once the monotony of grinding low limit games got to me in a few months, I gave up ring games and played only tournaments and SNGs (since I didn't have that income anymore, I went back to my part time job). I pretty much languished in the tournaments, barely break even for a few months, while continuing to try to get as much knowledge as I could about the game (I basically only played NL and PL hold em tournaments back then). For some reason, and I still to this day have no idea why the thought all of a sudden popped into my head, late last summer I was sitting around thinking about the game and realized "Hey....it doesn't matter what cards I have, all that matters is what cards THEY have, and what cards they THINK that I have." Since then, I quit playing strictly my cards and the %s that such-and-such would hit, and concentrated on reading others and figuring how to play any hand to make it look like whatever I wanted to advertise. Tournament poker at the high levels is very much psychological, and the day I realized that is the day I started to become a winning player.

Super,

I can remember exactly when the lightbulb came on for me.
If anyone here can remember the kitchen table game baseball otherwise known as 7 card no peak. Hers the jest of the game. You are dealt 7 cards all face down. The person to the left of the dealer starts by turning over a card. Betting round. The next guy then turns cards until he beats the high hand. 3's and 9's are wild and you can buy another card for whatever.

I started calling this game because by the time it got to me I know most of the other peoples hands and what has been exposed. If there are 10-15 cards exposed by the time it gets to you and neither a 3 or a 9 has come up the chances of you having one is much higher. Knowbody else really understood keeping track of this and I would crush the game.

anyway, thats when I started and now I suck.....F me

For me it was easy since I have played chess regularly in 25 years and as there is almost impossible to make a decent living out of chess unless you are top-100 in the world the poker boom really came as a rescue for me.

To me the most important thing is to have an enormous inner drive to be best,...During my years as a chess player I developed an enormous self control and discipline to do what it takes to win, meaning that I am sickly objective about my own play. Every day is a new learning day!

I am not saying that I have any truths about anything that is related to poker as I am just a beginner compared to the best so it would be interesting to hear what other players think!

Good luck with your poker!

M

ps...sorry for my poor english =)