Why Have a Poker Journal?
Poker is a long-term game. It's really not that distinctive from investing, except you can't have another person get it done for you. You've to help make the money yourself. However, you wouldn't invest without having an agenda, keeping records, tracking results, analyzing new opportunities, and exploring new options. Right? The same will additionally apply to poker. Bad players (fish) never record anything. They never track anything. They don't make decisions today centered on historic realities. They don't know the difference between playing your website they're on (or the table) and the other sites in the poker world. They just sit down, blind in, and start playing. Fish don't play poker for the long-term. They play for the Right Now! This hand! This moment! This session! When they win they're thrilled. When they lose they're depressed. They are... in a word... VICTIMS!
You strive to be more than that, obviously. However, many players who strive to be more miss out on the Most Powerful Tool poker has to offer - HISTORICAL REALITY. Historical the truth is what HAPPENED. How it happened. Why it happened. Because, guess what... It'll happen again!
If you don't keep records you then can't learn as quickly as you should from your mistakes. Perhaps you won't learn from them at all. Maybe you'll learn for some time and then forget about this again. Your poker journal is the method that you tap the most powerful poker tool that exists.
If you don't keep records you then miss out on the Most Powerful Tool poker has to offer - YOUR BRAINPOWER. Your brainpower is what is going to take you into the future. It's what's going to set the path for your future success or failure. Because... As a person thinketh... so is he! The Bible: Proverbs
You may spend hours staring at a computer screen, playing hands, making reads, learning lessons (good and bad). You read articles and books, communicate with other poker players, and observe others that are more skilled than you. Where does all this information go? It can't just go in your head. Your face is a horrible record keeper. It's manipulated by emotions, it has a lot of non-poker work to do, and it will fail you at the worst times in poker. So, rather than counting on your mind, rely on your poker journal. A poker journal never forgets. You should review it often. And the truth that you've recorded things, will prompt one to expand them and consider them more.poker88 slot
The how's and why's of keeping a poker journal.
Hopefully I've convinced you a poker journal will really add value and leads to your poker game. Essentially the HOW is simple. Just start doing it! But, here are some things I've done for years with my poker journal. Hopefully you need to use some of them.
As you can keep a poker journal electronically on your desktop, I don't recommend it. And while any old spiral notebook will do, I would encourage you to obtain something more substantial. Your next time out, have a shopping trip for a journal. About electronic journals, consider it in this way; just how many computer files can you discover from 3 years ago? Not many. How many pictures have you got from your childhood? Probably a serious few. Physical things are permanent, electronic files are typically lost, forgotten or damaged. So go for the physical thing.
I work with a refillable leather journal cover I bought at Barnes and Noble. Here's why. Leather is good! It provides your thoughts importance and heft. Leather is permanent and comforting. Whenever you write in this journal it draws one to become better. It's also refillable and it has a place to help keep a few pens. All of this is essential for me because I need my journal to be ready to go and hold up to my lifestyle. I undergo about 1 refill every 9 months or so and I obviously keep consitently the old journals for reference. I carry my journal with me almost all the time, and I make notes in it often.
So, what do you write in your journal?
Jot down whatever involves mind. I personally use my journal for private notes and goals along with poker goals - to me they're one in exactly the same; because, poker makes many facets of my entire life possible and my entire life affects my poker. I start every journal with my entire life goals and concepts that help me succeed at whatever I'm doing. Like that I know wherever to visit get my mind right if I begin to waver.
From then on I simply write whatever I think is essential as it involves mind. These include things like:
- Starting Hand Charts
- Poker Session, SnG, and MTT notes
- Poker ideas I read in books, magazines and online
- Summaries of what I think helps me accomplish my poker and life goals
- Personal Improvement concepts and notes
- Repetitive Sentences - That one is important.
Poker has a great ability to tie us up in knots whenever we have bad sessions or make mistakes. The easiest way to work out the negative energy that gets developed in times like this really is to create a word 50-100 times. That helps me work out the negative emotions and refocus my efforts. Randomly opening my journal I visit a couple pages of "I will follow my rules 100% when I play." That's from a couple of sessions of breaking my very own good advice and playing just like a fool.
So those are some ideas of everything you could keep. I've notes in what poker articles I have to write, time management actions, and even questions I personally use to approach life in a positive way. It's all good!! Since the act of writing focuses the mind, it makes permanent many issues that you would lose in the event that you tried to keep in mind them in your mind; it clarifies; and it offers you something to look back on and see your achievements.
If you're interested in seeing inside my journal, here's a sample. Many of these things don't seem poker related, however they set the foundations for my poker success.
LIFE GOALS:
1. Time, Flexibility, Independence - I am an independent individual who has 100% control of my time and actions without financial restrictions or pressures.
2. Discipline, Desire, Control - I've the discipline and desire to manage my very own time and activities in a way that brings well-rounded fullness for me and for my family.
3. A Transforming Force - I am a positive force to transform those around me for a better and happier life.
4. Kaizen - I will improve and grow in large or small meaningful and positive ways in some aspect of my entire life each day before day I die.
"We are what we think. All that individuals are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world" The Buddha
"Things do not change. We change." Henry David Thoreau
Problem Solving Questions: (from Anthony Robbins)
1. What's great about this dilemma?
2. What's not perfect yet?
3. What am I prepared to DO to make it just how I are interested?
4. What am I prepared to no more do to make it just how I are interested?
5. How do I love the process WHILE I actually do what's necessary to make it just how I are interested?
Those are a few snippets from my poker journal. Those don't say "poker", but for me they're imperative to continued poker success. Many of my journal entries are the cornerstone for chapters in this book, because they've converted into full articles on the topic in question.
Conclusion
I hope you're convinced a poker journal will infuse power, focus, and long-term vision into your poker life. Any fish can post a blind and play a hand. Many players have longer term results without a journal. But giving your ideas, thoughts, frustrations, and observations a DESTINATION can create an entirely new amount of calm and balance for your game.
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