New to the game but just won a tourny on GG

Hey folks,

New guy here.

So, I just started playing online poker a couple of weeks ago for no reason other than boredom and a random urge to give it a go. My only experience of poker before now was a single home game between friends around 18 years ago and the annual game of 5-card stud with the in-laws at Christmas in which I have had to ask for reminders of the rules and how each hand ranks. Needless to say I always go out early!

This time, I wanted to give it a proper go so started playing low stakes cash games online, €2 buy-in .01c/.02c blinds kind of stuff. I would win a few hands, build a small stack, but then blow it all.

Eager to learn and improve, I read a bit about the game, watched some online tutorials, listened to Phil Hellmuth's audio book, found a pre-flop chart, and studied some diagrams about EV, outs, and basic poker math.

So, studied up I went and set up an account on GG and started playing some low stakes tournaments, mainly $1 or $2 buy-ins. I did play a bit recklessly in the beginning and went out of a few games at the early stages. But since I've started playing with more discipline and patience, I've gone deep in a few, going out in 11th place in one, 2nd in another (only beaten by a flush on the river), and tonight I won a $2 buy-in with over 1600 players taking $402 for 1st place. I was 17th of 17 in chips at one point, 6th of 6 at the final table, and went into the final H2H with a 13M chip deficit. This is all way beyond what I expected!

I've been a gambler for years, mostly betting on horse racing so I do have a fair understanding of variance and don't expect to win tournaments every week. However, these results would seem to be not normal for a beginner, no?

For now, I'm not getting carried away and will stick to the low stakes stuff and keep trying to learn the game.

Does anyone have any good pointers on how to advance my game further? Favourite tutors, books, podcasts, or any other recommendations?

Thanks in advance!
KW