Okay... Some days I'll win a couple hundred bucks, think I'm on top of the world, freakin Chris Moneymaker reincarnated, then I start to read this forum, and feel like "boy did I luck my way into winning anything"... I mean, I love the forum and get tons of info from it, but boy do I feel dumb sometimes when Ice or Kenny say something like:

"What I meant by deep stacks is this: I have 65s in the cutoff in a $2/$4NL game. Its folded to me. If the blinds and button all have $400, I might raise to $16 and see what happens.

If they have $150 each, I fold. If the BB has only $60, I fold. See what I mean? I need to get paid big when I hit big because it doesnt happen that often.

If i raise to $16 and the BB goes all in I have to fold. If I raise and he calls I cant really bluff the flop because he doesnt have enough behind to fold if he hits anything."

Holy crap!!! Man do I have a lot to learn... I guess my main question is: How long do I have to play before I not only think about my cards, his possible cards, and position, but also figure other things into it, like opponents bankroll, etc... Also, what else to experienced players look for in an online game...

Thanks...MVP

It becomes second nature. Just like keeping a count on everyone's stack sizes in a live game becomes easier the more you do it.

I think it took me about three months of playing before I started using implied odds, position and player tendency somewhat correctly. At the six month mark of playing a lot I got a grasp applying it correctly the majority of the time. A year later I recognize that if I'm playing badly I'm not most likely not paying enough attention to these fundamentals for cash games.

It takes your game from ABC playing hand strength, to understanding when and why some draws may be more powerful than they first appear.

It should come natural to you the more you play.

Funny thing is there was a live game I got invited to a couple of months back. Most of the people were fairly wealthy, and not terrible (for live home game players. Granted all home game players aren't going to really compare to the average experienced online player)

But I was in my LAG mode, blinds 1/2 10 handed and seeing about 75% of my hands, raising about 50% of them to $7-12. The table was so tight after the flop it was an incredibly profitable game. I started off the game stuck about 6 buyins, losing 3 to having worse cards and 3 to getting sucked out.

However, at the time of this story I had been on my comeback and had about 10 buyins in front of me.

I held something like a Q9s and raised, and the player after me made a hefty re-raise. I stated that if he had $500 in front of him I would have called, but he only had like $150 in front of him, so it certainly wasn't worth it for me to call. My comment at the table caused a lot of players to say "what the heck are you talking about" and they didn't understand how on earth I could think that way. They were in the train of thought that you'd want to gamble more with the shorter stacks, because they couldn't hurt you as much.

This game has a website and rotates 20 people in and out, keeps records of wins/losses, etc. Needless to say, despite breaking the record for most buy-ins and being stuck more than anyone in the history of the game (by 2x) I also set the record for most won in a session. And I haven't been invited back =)