Records Are Made To Be Kept

Let me ask you two questions. First, are you a winning player? Second, how do you know? If someone tells me she's a winning player, I expect her to be able to back it up with evidence... cold, hard proof. I expect to see data sheets and printouts, or at least hand-scrawled entries in a notebook, indicating her performance and results in every session she's ever played since, ah, well, the dawn of time.

A lot of people claim to be winning players, and a lot of them are lying. They have anecdotal evidence about the time they crushed this game or destroyed that one, but they conveniently forget all the little (and big!) losses in between. It's bad enough when they lie to others, but it's murder when they lie to themselves. Honest records are key to success in poker; you simply can't call yourself a serious player (or even an anecdotally successful one) unless you keep them.

Look, no one says you have to be serious about your poker. You can be totally frivolous for all I care, or the universe cares. You can play when you want and how you want, and then forget your results as soon as you're done with the game.

But if someone insists that you're a capital-L loser, wouldn't you like to be able to prove him wrong?

There's just one problem. Honest records require, well, honesty. If you keep track of your play, sooner or later you come face to face with your own flaws or limitations. My records reveal, for instance, that while I do very well in low buy-in ring games, I get killed in tournaments, and killed again when I try to play large. My worst mistake is playing over my head, and thus playing tight and scared, and absorbing over-large losses in over-small blocks of time. This is especially true when I'm playing online and get into a negative frame of mind: The truth is, I can lose a phenomenal amount of money in a pitifully short period of time, leaving myself a large hole to dig out of... again.

It hurts to face a truth like that, but how can we fix a problem if we won't even admit we have it? Hard information may be hard, but it's information just the same. Just be man enough, or woman enough, to face the hard truth that your records reveal and you're well on your way to improving your game.

How you keep these records is up to you: You can grab one of the many pieces of record-keeping software that's out there. You can set up a spread sheet if you're Excel-inclined. Even a ratty notebook and pencil stub will serve. Just remember: If you're not keeping records, you're not serious about your poker, and all your other efforts to conquer the game must necessarily be met with failure -- not a failure of skill, but a failure of honesty and will.