Friday, June 05, 2009

Keeping Records is Key to Winning Poker

And the more records you keep – the better! I cannot stress this strongly enough. And playing on-line allows you to record notes and review stats – while playing! Advantage – record keeper!

I have always been a stat guy. I know how many base hits I hit in my softball career (more than Pete Rose by the way). How many runs, home runs, doubles, triples and errors I made. I know what my average was in every league I played in – season and total.

I know what month I hit the best in (April – probably because the fielders were not in mid-season form yet and did not reach as many grounders and line drives as they do later in the year) and which month I hit the worst in (June – played so much, out of gas and many little aches and pains), and when I got my second wind (after 4th of July weekend break).

I used the data to improve my game. For instance, I rested more, ate better and cut back on beer to stay fresher in June. I knew I had a tendency to burn out once the adrenalin of being back on the diamond wore off and the hot weather arrived. So it was time to rest as much as possible. My June stats improved!

When I took up golf, I used the same strategy. I kept track of not only every 9-hole score – but fairways hit, greens in regulation, up and down percentage, drops and putts. I could see where I ‘screwed up’ and where I needed to get to work practicing.

The number of DROPS screamed out at me. Having to take a stroke when you never really hit the ball – even I could see – was not good for your score. Where was I taking the drops? Why mostly off the tee box. That was the first thing I had to fix. So I worked on keeping the ball in play – FIRST!

Back off that swing. Find a club that corrects your natural swing errors. Read on how to – stand, grip the club, aim and swing to minimize your errors. Ok – now I am on the course. What is next? And so on.

Why would poker be any different? But unless you have data to review your results, how do you know where your problems are?

For instance, do you know what your Sit-N-Go record is? Wins – 2nds – 3rds, per start? Do you know if you play better on the weekends or on a week night? What day seems to be the best? What time? What entry fee level?

If you record your play, once you have a sufficient amount of data – things might start jumping off the page at you. Let’s say you notice, you never seem to do very well on Monday. Let’s say, you can’t even fathom why that is.

Well, the first hole to plug is – don’t play on Monday. Or drop down in stakes. At least you can start to look at what is going on there.

Finally the question may come up – can you over do your record keeping? Uh……no.

7 comments:

TresStooges said...

Faldo I agree with your comments regarding recording keeping. Here is a list of fields I collect in my personal record keeping. Any suggestions for additional fields???

Tournament Name
Date
Buy-in $
Rebuy $
Add-On $
Total Invested
# of Participants
Finish Position
Day of Week
Registration Time
Start Time
Pay Out

Matchy said...

I find that my hourly rate is way better when I don't drink thirteen beers and two shots of Old Crow during the game, yet I do not stop this practice. Staring at a double bed of Omaha Hi-Lo with blurry vision trying to calculate my possibilities can be a daunting task. I guess that makes me a recreational player (I keep no records). I still feel I have arrived in the poker world as I have been featured as the butt of an NPP joke in the prior post.

I am willing and ready to host some good 'ol limit poker in my basement in the near future. How many of you guys would be interested. One possible date would be the evening of 6/13.

Matchy

Nik Faldo said...

Tres, I like your list, but you need to cross - reference many of these things.

For instance, a $5.50 NL Holdem Tourney on Monday at 6pm on PokerStars with 3221 entries - could to be added to many lists:

Monday
NL Holdem Freezeout
PokerStars
$5.50 entry
3000+ entry tourney

Also a grand total money tally by poker site or location played.

I would start with one wide Excel spreadsheet or notebook, with all types of headers. Then wait until you had 100 entries before even worrying about analyzing the data.

Just recording it makes you notice stuff - which is the point. Once the obvious stuff stops jumping out at you, then organizing things will help you find the little nuggets you had not noticed before.

Nik Faldo said...

Matchy, you have not only arrived, but are legend. We miss you on Tuesday.

The 13th is not good for Faldo because of the UFC fights - of which I am a HUGE fan.

But, if you get a game, I may have to change my mind.

Anonymous said...

Good point Faldo. I happen to know that dave (fourputt) the dog keeps stats. For instance: He wore a green apron on monday and used a stainless steel spatula. On Tuesday he wore a pink apron and stuck w/ the stainless steel spatula. On Wednesday he wore his green apron with the caption "I DONT WEAR THE PANTS IN THIS HOUSE" on the front. And he swithed to a platic spatula. This combo seemed to produce the best results! Good job Dave!

BeerHog......

Fourputt said...

Nik,

One of your NPP posts ever.

For NPP readers without (or even with) access to Micro$oft Excel I suggest Open Office

P.S. I'm going to kick Beersmog in the ballzz the next time i see her.
!@#$%$#! ;-)

Nik Faldo said...

I think Dave has been hitting the cooking sherry again. I think he meant, "BEST post ever."

In order to kick Hog in the balz, one has to be on a golf course or a poker table. So - no chance for 4Putt there.

That's a shame.