I decided to try to learn how to play poker because we're all going to die soon I guess, and I wanted to have fun with my life before that happened. It's another part of my initiative to get excited about living instead of waiting for the days to churn away inbetween moments when I feel like writing. This has happened partially because of my PTSD, and partially because I've gotten tired of day-to-day activities because I've suffered from a hazy, low-grade depression for most of my adult life that resulted in a complete burnout.
So, poker. I'd been interested in learning after watching Robert play Pokerstars tournaments and saw the level of detail that went into what looked at first glance, like a fairly simple game.
Anyway, I've never played poker before, online or off, and only have the barest idea of the game from watching my boyfriend play occasionally. Keep in mind a few hours of play ago I didn't know what a "straight" was so that's my level of noobishness.
Hour 1: I play an interactive tutorial on the PokerStars website and get the basic idea of how to play. Have a website open with a cheatsheet on what hands I should fold and which ones I should bet on based on position in regards to the BB. Okay, I got this. I'm thrown into a live-game on Pokerstars (Play money, obviously, I was able to buy 4 million for about $10 through Paypal) and immediately get super nervous that I'm playing live. I lose a lot. I raise thinking I have a straight when you need 5 cards for a straight instead of 4. Oops. I'm mocked by someone with a profile name "T1nahot" and a profile shot that is mostly cleavage.
Hour 1/12: Robert comes home at this point. I say, "I've been playing poker for an hour and a half. Why am I not the best yet?" and then "This guy is taking me to the cleaners!" in my best mob-like faux accent. I run off to go read up on some more websites. Most of the forum lingo is incomprehensible to me and reads like Clockwork Orange, but I manage to pick up a few things. The anxiety of playing against live people has mostly worn off at that point, so I'm more able to concentrate on playing the game.
Hour 4: I'm actually starting to win on a fairly consistent basis, I learned how to calculate odds in a super slap-dash way, and starting to pick up play-styles and why people bet the way they do. Keep in mind I'm playing for play money with the lowest buy-in possible on Pokerstars, not live, so I'm probably playing with a bunch of fish (I'm learning some lingo).
Hour 6: A player jumps into the room I'm in, goes all-in before the flop and when everyone else folds says "No balls" in the chat and then disconnects. I notice everyone goes on tilt for a few rounds, betting haphazardly to prove to themselves that they can play aggressively. Oh right, it's difficult to remember that everyone playing this game is a human being behind the screen. That's what this game is about, beyond the math of the cards - people. In another room I notice that one player keeps raising pretty aggressively through several rounds and actually call his bluff at one point to reveal that he has shit cards. Yay! I've graduated from "stumbling poker idiot" to actually being able to hold my own in probably some of the worst play-money rooms on the Internet.
So there you have it. I'm basically a master-level poker player now.
Okay, so I'm still a noob, but eventually after a few months of practice and reading I'd like to graduate to maybe playing with real money or going to a live game. I live in California so there are plenty of poker rooms to choose from. We'll see.