For most of my career I wanted the pride and glory of doing it all on my own. I had a big ego (and still do). We all want to be the hero, to be the best and have everyone say how awesome we are. I thought that I actually did succeed on my own, but I realize now that I actually had a ton of help along the way.
There were obvious ways like 2p2 (back when people on there actually helped each other), books, videos, but also the people who made programs like HManager, SngWiz and Pokerstove. I had no clue about push/fold back then – nobody did. I remember this 1 hand where I felt like a boss because I hero’d a 8bb sb jam with K7s. The HUD and hand replayer function in HM was priceless for learning about opponents and studying my game.
Also I didn’t realize the people/friends I was helping to get better and the videos I was making were actually helping me too. I improved my fundamentals, learned new perspectives and even new ideas sometimes. As they got better they were better able to make me better and vice versa. To be fair though, there was only a handful of people who had a big impact on my game and they were players who were near my skill level.
If you don’t have people on an equal skill level, strong competition is a great way to learn as well. To give a really old (about 7 years ago) example I remember asking Shaun Deeb why he jammed such a weak hand from the CO & he replied with “std” which just blew my mind at the time. He was the best back then and I had to understand why he was doing something I wasn’t. So the very next day I woke up at 7am and pounded push fold calculations for hours on end.
When you really think about it, it took a community of people with vastly different skills to have the success I did. I think this is true of anyone in any profession. What does your team look like? How can you make it bigger and better? How can you help the poker community?
Well you can pretend to be a hot chick (not mentioning any names) so all the great players want to talk to you or you can do obvious stuff like join forums and Skype groups. You can’t do what everyone else does though. You can’t go through a HH and say “standard” every hand. You can’t even talk about what to do on specific hands.
You have to really think and make others think by asking deeper questions. For example, what should you’re overall strategy be here, under what circumstances would you change that strategy, what about doing X instead of Y with XYZ range etc.? Questions like this help you understand the game better not just one specific hand.
You can’t do this if you’re 20 tabling and replying to hands on Skype. Everyone likes to do this because it’s efficient but they don’t realize how ineffective and boring it is. Respond to hands when you aren’t playing and really give them your time, help people out if you think they need it, or ask people to send you a HH.
If the guy sucks don’t be a dick when you point out his mistakes. Some people just haven’t put in the same time and effort to learn this game, that doesn’t mean they’re dumb.
I was playing live a few weeks ago and all the regulars at the table were making fun of this amateurs plays. It was so ignorant, if they actually talked to the guy they would know he had an awesome job that he loves (works for Barrett Jackson auction), has more money than probably all of us combined and happens to be a pretty nice guy.
I probably would’ve done the same thing a few years ago before I realized there was more to life than being good at poker. When Black Friday hit I decided I needed to learn how to do something else which eventually led me to the idea self development.
As I became a “better” and more knowledgeable person I was able to meet and connect with people, whether strangers or family in a deeper and, in my opinion, better way. I noticed that any improvements I made to myself enhanced the lives of people around me too.
If you want to go on this path you’ll have to figure out where to start on your own. There are infinite paths to self improvement and it isn’t just about learning new stuff, it’s about learning about yourself and having experiences too.
I am glad I did it, and I am grateful for the people I’ve helped and been helped by (members/owners of TPE this includes you) in my life and in my career. Thank you, peace.
TheChimp
Great read that.