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Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
An important question for all you Mobsters out there. Do you have a poker journal? If you are answering this question in the negative, then I think this is a good spot for you to start if you are looking for ways to improve your game. The following is an entry from my personal poker journal.
------------ Journal Entry: Jan 24th, 2012 Journaling helped in calming me down.(Fight with gf) Got sat at a table with an aggressive old timer. The first pot we got involved in, 2nd hand of the tournament, he raised my SB & I 3-bet with pocket fives & he laid down. He was also in the prior raised pot & folded to the c-bet. A few hands later I was in the cut off with A10 off. Old timer min-raises, i 3-bet to 600, he 4-bet to 2200. In hindsight I think he was testing me & if I 5-bet shove he may fold his Ks Qs. What I did do however was flat call the 2200. We went to the flop both with about 50% of our stacks in the middle. The flop came 10s 8c 7s. The old timer ships it, I snap call, & the deuce of spades hits the turn making his flush draw. Maybe if I 5-bet shove pre-flop he lays down, I have seen players make these kinds of moves before. He may have just liked his hand and wanted to play for stacks. Alas my streak of bad luck or bad play continues. Until next time poker journal.
------------ Journaling helps me to find leaks in my game. For example in reading this entry you may notice I tried to pick on an opponent I felt to be playing too many hands. I however made the mistake of over playing a very weak hand, very early in a tournament, & getting my stack in as a slight underdog actually on the flop. I did a lot of over playing in Jan. I also did a lot of work "off the felt" journaling, keeping records( Jan-1700, Feb+650), and working hard to correct the leaks in my game. I also found that blogging helps a lot as well. Really talking to any serious player can help you to be objective about your game. Hope you Mobsters find this thread interesting. Until next time. Good luck on the felt.
------------ Notice the work payed off a little bit in Feb.
I don't, but I use Hold'em manager, which saves all hand histories.
When I say "use" I mean, it's running while I'm playing, but almost never replay any of my games...
Also, when I first started out, I used to take notes on players, but then found there are too many players for it to be useful... Later, it occurred to me that the notes I was taking, were useless; I marked the players I thought were good, rather than taking notes on who the fishes are...
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I've never considered keeping a journal since I only play for fun for the most part, but even with that since you mentioned it, it may be worth doing so. Although I don't play for big money I still like to win once in a while and with that in mind it might be worth while down the road.
I'm really surprised there's not more replies to your thread. After reading the pointers it seems like there would be several pl;ayers that would keep a journal. Good post hoodi!
Joined: Aug '08
Location: Canada
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 658
Super huge big on putting things on paper as a way to work things thru. So much happens just in the process of recalling and writing its impossible to list all the pros. I use a blog to help me with this but a journal is even better as i wont have to censor for content or personal info.
I concur with GM. great post. Please dont stop posting. I always read ur threads i just dont post in many because:
+1
Is usually all i have to add. or Great thread. Which makes me look like a point whore
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
Call me a sissy then i guess. I hope to sit across the table and show you how sissy's take your money someday. Who knows maybe we americans will be joining the rest of the world on the virtual felt sometime again soon.
Joined: May '09
Location: Spain
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 1331
Hi guys!!
I don´t have one about poker. The entries wil be something like 'Today I smash the PC, ty (choose site)' or 'Wow, i don´t believe that someone call my 4bet/allin with J6o...'.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
I don’t have one because I play so few that I don’t think it would interest anyone to read about my game. Besides, that would work like a diary and those are for teenagers without life experience. So I am not considering creating one, I like to read and write about some plays, that is why I use BRM, to know what each other think about a certain hand or game.
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
I was going to be a sissy for my live games, but by the time I get home shower its time for beddyEboos, besides I start mixing the whole game up, was I in position, I raised he re-raises, no he raised I re-raised WTF was the board ahhh screw it good-night. If playing on-line just get a HUD for the love of Jebesus. And I swear if I spot any one at the felt with a dictaphone I will rip him so bad...and he will get to hear the ripping again whist playing it back.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
I don't currently play online really guys. Its been a rocky year in the states. I've been doing a lot of live playing though, & there are no programs keeping track of my hands. I get much more than just what I hand,stack size, ect. I had from my poker journal. I try to fill it out as soon as getting back from a session so its fresh in my mind. So that I can remember exactly what I was thinking during the hands. It makes it much easier to find leaks in my game. Just going back and re-reading what I was thinking after the fact helps sometimes. Live poker is a bit of a different monster than online. It's a much slower pace, so making correct decisions becomes that much more important. Don't worry though I will be returning to the virtual felt soon enough. All of you Mobsters can have a shot.
Posted by hoodi420: I don't currently play online really guys. Its been a rocky year in the states. I've been doing a lot of live playing though, & there are no programs keeping track of my hands.
Ah, you were talking about live play...
In that case I usually just wait for it to be televised, that way you get to see the opponents hands as well...
Joined: Aug '10
Location: Germany
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 2219
I dont like and use tracking software to play poker. I think this is a irregular kind and not all players at the table have them. And so it is not OK that some players get informations from other side.
