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.