I was told that if I can go from idle to WOT without a problem, it will sort of act like a higher stall converter compared to revving it a bit with the brakes on. Does that make any sense? Would that also help the car hook?
Well it won't make it stall higher, but it may work better for you. Or it may not. No reason not to try it. It's called "driving through the converter". Doing it that way is often less consistent than revving against the brakes. Starting line technique is always a variable you can experiment with. This would be a valid experiment if you get a higher stall converter too. Variations on that would be to vary what rpm you leave against the brake. Another similar set of variables is introduced by using a transbrake.

There is no pat answer to this, you can only find out by experimenting.