Why Have a Poker Journal?
Poker is just a long-term game. It's really not too different from investing, except you can't have someone else get it done for you. You have to really make the money yourself. Nevertheless you wouldn't invest with no a plan, keeping records, tracking results, analyzing new opportunities, and exploring new options. Right? The exact same will also apply to poker. Bad players (fish) never record anything. They never track anything. They don't make decisions today based on historic realities. They don't know the difference between playing the website they are on (or the table) and another sites in the poker world. They just sit back, 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! If they win they are thrilled. If they lose they are depressed. They are... in a word... VICTIMS!
You strive to be much more than that, obviously. However, many players who strive to be much more miss out on the Most Powerful Tool poker provides - HISTORICAL REALITY. Historical the reality is what HAPPENED. How it happened. Why it happened. Because, guess what... It'll happen again!
In the event that you don't keep records then you can't learn as quickly as you ought to from your mistakes. Maybe you won't learn from them at all. Maybe you'll learn for a while and then forget about any of it again. Your poker journal is the manner in which you tap probably the most powerful poker tool that exists.
In the event that you don't keep records then you miss out on the Most Powerful Tool poker provides - YOUR BRAINPOWER. Your brainpower is what is going to get you into the future. It's what's going to create the trail for your future success or failure. Because... As a person thinketh... so is he! The Bible: Proverbs
You may spend hours staring at a screen, playing hands, making reads, learning lessons (good and bad). You read articles and books, keep in touch with other poker players, and observe others who are more skilled than you. Where does all these records go? It can't just go in your head. Your mind is just a horrible record keeper. It's manipulated by emotions, it has tons of non-poker work to accomplish, and it will fail you at the worst times in poker. So, rather than depending on your head, rely on your poker journal. A poker journal never forgets. You ought to review it often. And the fact that you have recorded things, will prompt you 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 that a poker journal will really add value and leads to your poker game. Basically the HOW is simple. Just start carrying it out! But, here are some things I've done for years with my poker journal. Hopefully you need to use a few of them.
As you can keep a poker journal electronically on your computer, I don't recommend it. And while any old spiral notebook will do, I would encourage you to get something more substantial. Your following time out, have a shopping trip for a journal. About electronic journals, consider it in this way; just how many computer files can you find from 3 years back? Not many. Just how many pictures are you experiencing from your childhood? Probably quite a few. Physical things are permanent, electronic files are typically lost, forgotten or damaged. So choose the physical thing.
I work with a refillable leather journal cover I bought at Barnes and Noble. Here's why. Leather is good! It gives your thoughts importance and heft. Leather is permanent and comforting. When you write in this journal it draws you to become better. It's also refillable and it features a place to help keep a couple pens. This is very important to me because I need my journal to be all set and hold as much as my lifestyle. I undergo about 1 refill every 9 months or so and I obviously keep the old journals for reference. I carry my journal with me almost constantly, and I make notes in it often.
So, what would you write in your journal?
Take note of whatever involves mind. I personally use my journal for personal notes and goals along with poker goals - in my experience they are one in the same; because, poker makes many areas of my life possible and my life affects my poker. I start every journal with my life goals and concepts that help me succeed at whatever I'm doing. This way I know exactly where to go to get my mind right if I start to waver.
After that I recently write whatever I think is essential since it involves mind. These include such things as:
- 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 - This one is important.
Poker features a great power to tie us up in knots whenever we have bad sessions or make mistakes. The simplest way to sort out the negative energy that gets built up in times like that is to create a word 50-100 times. That helps me workout 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 several sessions of breaking my own good advice and playing such as a fool.
So those are some ideas of everything you could keep. I've notes by what poker articles I need to write, time management actions, and even questions I personally use to approach life in a confident way. It's all good!! Since the act of writing focuses your brain, it generates permanent many items that you'd lose in the event that you tried to keep in mind them in your head; it clarifies; and it provides you with something to appear back on and see your achievements.
If you're thinking about seeing inside my journal, here's a sample. Many of these things don't seem poker related, but they set the foundations for my poker success.
LIFE GOALS:
1. Time, Flexibility, Independence - I am an unbiased human being 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 own time and activities in ways that brings well-rounded fullness for me and for my family.
3. A Transforming Force - I am a confident force to transform those around me for a much better and happier life.
4. Kaizen - I will improve and grow in large or small meaningful and positive ways in a few facet of my life each and every day before the day I die.
"We're what we think. All that individuals are arises with this thoughts. With this thoughts we make our world" The Buddha
"Things don't 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 willing to DO to create it the way in which I are interested?
4. What am I willing to no further do to create it the way in which I are interested?
5. How can I love the method WHILE I actually do what's necessary to create it the way in which I are interested?
Those are just some snippets from my poker journal. Those don't say "poker", however for me they are vital to continued poker success. Many of my journal entries are the basis for chapters in this book, because they have turned into full articles on the topic in question.
Conclusion
I hope you're convinced that 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 long term results with out a journal. But giving your ideas, thoughts, frustrations, and observations a DESTINATION can provide a completely new degree of calm and balance for your game.
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