Quote Originally Posted by Galapogos
At which point did you become cash game elite? And by that I mean what level did you have that indescribable grasp of the game? And was there any kind of revelation that came to you at some point that kicked up your game a gear?

Assuming this is your well thread...?
it might seem like i have this great grasp of the game but to me, i dont. everytime i have a losing session i start thinking of reasons why i lost. was i playing bad (tilting?)? were my lines not optimal?

there are 3 points of my poker upbringing that stand out and they all deal with aggression. i might not be able to convey what i learned in each but they might help.
1. when i was playing tournaments, rippy coached me in a couple. he was always wanting to raise and bet to steal pots even when my cards were bad. doing this and having it pound it in my head started me on the point to being aggro (and spewy alot i guess)

2. when i was moving up limits, i was asking alot of questions of old FTR member Allinlife, who was playing 5/10 at the time. when i finally got close to having the roll to play 5/10, i ended up on a table with him. the table broke and we were headsup. i didnt quit because maybe i would learn something or own him or get owned myself. a few hands in, i open KJ in the SB (this was the old party structure where BB=button), he reraises AJ to 100 on button i call. flop was 772 with two hearts, i check and he bets 150, i INSTANTLY min check raise, he pushes, i fold and he shows. to some it might just look like another bluff, but it really got me thinking what makes good bluffs. when i talked to him about the hand later on, i asked him how he knew. he said something like "you check minraised, what were you representing??" this seems like a stupid point but it got me thinking ALOT more about handreading and what makes good bluffs.

3. there was a hand on 2p2 posted where board was something like AQxxy (where the x is a low paired board). someone ended up on the river with AJ (or something similiar) and made a poll whether they should call or fold to a large bet. durr responded something like, "my favorite option isn't in the poll..."

this was another one that got me thinking about bluffing in a whole new way.