That’s where I was, during the poker boom. It was probably August 2012 when I learned about Black Friday. Going into that summer, I couldn’t have told you if three of a kind beat two pair. I knew nothing about the game, and couldn’t click past those channels fast enough.

In June 2012, I learned how to play NLHE. We played a couple of times at home, my wife and I and a friend or two, and then we saw a local bar advertising poker on Monday nights, and we decided to show up and see what it was all about.

Since then, I have played a ton (~700 tournaments? wow) of bar poker, largely because it is convenient, my wife and I go together, it is free, and we have lots of friends there. And I have books on my shelf, books on Audible, books on Kindle, maybe 30 books. I have not digested them all, haven’t even read every page of some of them, but love to learn. I am considered one of the best players in my league. But yeah, it is bar poker.

I do go to casinos occasionally and love it. Chopped a small $120 tournament four ways a week ago. Min cashed another small one the week before that. (And I am a small winner at 1/2. A month ago I left a session with almost three racks of reds.)

I feel like I am playing pretty well but I certainly know I have a lot to learn. I have read enough to know most of the terminology and concepts but have not quite put them all together and implemented them in my play. I get to spots where I think the right move should be obvious, and I know how to think about what to do, but I occasionally struggle to come up with the right answer.

For the first year, after most sessions, I would come home knowing the one or two big hands where I made mistakes. I would think about those hands, beat myself up about them, and learn from them. But at this point, after most sessions, I come home feeling like I played well. I know my hands could have been played better by a better player, but I don’t know how.

I love poker and I badly want to improve my game.