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(1 votes) 
April 23, 2014
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Hi my name is Ken and I am an alc…., sorry wrong night.
I am Ken and I want to be a better poker player. I am TheDukeVA on Carbon and Bovada. Also @TheDukeVA (Moonlight Graham) on twitter but I have tweeted 4 times in 3 years and do not plan on increasing that hourly. I follow about 100 poker players on twitter and enjoy that.
I have been playing poker since I was 14, and started playing hold 'em in 2003 with everyone else. I helped make many of you wealthier with my $100 deposits every few months on Stars/FTP/Party from 2005-2011. I started to get more serious about a year ago. I have played live tournaments around my area for 11 years and done pretty well playing TAG but we were all awful!
I play 30 man $100 or $50 tournaments in my town about 3 times a week and try to play online about 900-1000 hands a day when not playing live.
I have read 20-25 poker books in the last year but have hit a wall in learning. None of the books I have read dive deep into ICM practical application and the idea of Range vs Range (G-Bucks)discussion. So, that's why I am here. I have listened to every TPE podcast over the last month and get a lot from the hand review. The idea of TPE University also was a big factor in deciding to join because I now have a road map of sorts.
I read somewhere (either Tendler's book or Haseeb Qureshi's book) that learning poker is like an inch worm moving and for the whole thing to move foward you have to move the bottom part of your game forward to move the top end forward. That really makes sense to me and I am looking forward to plugging leaks.
I hesitate in revealing this but I am 47 years old and I really want to be the “old” guy in the game that none of the young players thinks has a clue about leveling/ICM/RvR/+EV/VPIP… and Crush.
Goals for joing this site:
1. Crush the local games full of people playing (like Carlos said about Binions) like it is 1989.
2. Be ready and prepared for when online comes back in full to US and Rec Players are jumping back in and Crush.
Sorry for the long Hello but what the hell, might as well jump in with both feet.
January 27, 2013
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Hey Ken, Been a member of TPE for about 2 years now. Been thinking about posting in the “Introduce Yourself” for quite sometime. Your post has made it real easy for me to post in this part of the forum. I can just say “Ditto”.
Play the same sites, read the same books, firm believer in inch-worm, started playing same time, twittier use is the same, same age, goal #2, and even your first sentence.
Differences… Have a casino 15 minutes from the house, very rarely play live (kids, job, wife), just dont have the time.
Many of the pros have commented that being a part of poker community has really helped their game. That is major part of my game that I am missing. None of my friends or co-workers work at their game. How about starting an “old guy” studying/sweat group?
April 3, 2014
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I am new here as well , name is also Ken and 43 😀 and only read about 10 poker books but sounds like I have another 4 years until I am 47 to catch up 🙂
I have spent a lot of time with ICM for the sng grind I used to do a few years ago but as far as MTT's outside of ICM I am a lost child. Only been digging into them the start of this year when I couldn't get any traction going in my old grind.
Sounds like we all might be able to help one another. If you find out which book the “inch worm” came from please post so I can track that one down.
IF RL doesn't get in the way and I am not too far removed from the skill level I am down for a study group.
Shades42 @ stars if you want to check my stats and see if I might fit in.
January 27, 2013
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Sounds good Ken 2. Inch worm is from Jared Tendlers Book. I too was a big SNG grinder a few years ago until Black Friday. Lets see how many other 40 plus TPEers would be interested in a study group.
April 3, 2014
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Thanks Nat for the book info, how does it compare to Theory of Poker? Sounds like a similar mental path and a book I will highlight as much as I did with ToP.
January 27, 2013
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Never read Theory of Poker. Tendlers book is about the mental game. Deals with handling variance and tilt. I purchased the audio book. Listen to it when driving to work. Big help.
April 23, 2014
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NatSel & TheFinkey,
That sounds great!
What you were saying about not being able to talk with your poker friends is EXACTLY how I feel and a big reason why I have joined this community. A lot of the guys I play with are good players for $50 Tournament home games and 1/2 casino play and underground games here in Richmond but look at me like I am from mars when I start talking about ICM and what their percentage is agaist a range, etc.. It is funny, for the past 9 months I have been on this quiet mission as I play to try to find someone I can study with and talk with about poker and I have been unsuccessful. When I find that consistant winning player and I drop a couple buzz words to see if it something they understand I get the same cross eyed looks. They are happy to talk all day about 1998 style play and what the people on the WPT did but there is NO next level conversation to be had. The topics I mentioned in my first post (GBucks/leveling/ICM/RvR/+EV/VPIP) are completely foreign to them.
As for the books, Theory of Poker and The Mental Game of Poker are not at all alike. Both fantastic. Looking back I wish Theory of Poker were the first book I read. IMO it is one of the PreReq's. But seriously, don't listen to me, I am here to learn, hopefully a vet can chime in on the books.
So how do we get this study group going? I am in!
Ken
TheDukeVA
April 23, 2014
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Meant to ask, have either of you started going step by step through TPE Univ?
TheDukeVA
April 3, 2014
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I loved ToP and it was one if not THE first book I read, as it was recommended the starting book when I found a smallish poker forum to start the learning process many mnay years ago. I wish I had wanted to be as serious about it back then as I am now 🙂 I used a yellow highlighter alot in ToP and some of the comments I still find myself repeating in my head when certain things are happening while I am playing.
I would assume we should try to find a reasonable time we can all get together and get a get a skype group, I think that would be the most fluid way to start. We can get a feel for each other, get more into history, goals, what we play etc etc.
I am working through TPE U and I am not yet complete Step 1 “Getting started”
January 27, 2013
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I hear ya Duke, been on the same mission.
Watched some of the vids on 3 and 4 betting. Also vids on using a HUD. My main videos that I watch are Andrew Brokos. His theory videos have been a big help to me. He’s a good teacher.
Skype sounds good. How about times? I am good after 9pm est. What time frame works for you guys.
April 23, 2014
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Thanks for the Vid recommendation. I may skip ahead a little but back to the inch worm idea, I want to fix my basic mistakes before I jump too far ahead. So I am working through the first “class” of TPEU right now.
After 9 works great for me.
I play live Wed, Fri, & Sat and sometimes Thur. so those days generally won't work. That gives me Sun-Tues and some Thurs. Also we travel on weekends so actually those nights are good. Spring and fall we travel most weekends to watch my daughter (college athlete) play but I am good at night those weekends just hanging in hotel.
TheDukeVA
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