How to Improve by Reviewing Your Play

Step 1:

Record your play.

You can do this in live poker by carrying around a notebook and writing down all relevant and interesting hands you play. I make a point to write down every single hand I play in major live poker tournaments any time the hand consists of more than a raise and continuation bet (c-bet). This leads to a lot of writing but once you get used to it, it will become second nature. I also make a point to note my opponents’ tendencies so I know which adjustments I should make. Be sure to write down your hand, the effective stack, the blinds, and your position as well as all of your opponents’ actions. Writing down “I had A-Q, he raised, I reraised, he went all-in, I called and lost to A-J” will not be useful to learning as you are missing numerous important details.

Online, you can download various poker tracking programs, such as Hold’em Manager, Poker Tracker, or Poker Copilot, to record your hands and your results. This makes for extraordinarily simple hand reviewing, making your job much easier.

Step 2:

Review your play.

In order to discover your mistakes, you must review your hands after you have played them with a clear mindset. Quite often, you will not be thinking soundly at the poker table which will cause you to make errors. Very few people commit major blunders at the poker table on purpose. After you are finished playing and are no longer actively involved in the game, you should review your hands and think about all of your possible decisions. Try to figure out if the outcome could have been better if you played the key hands differently.

You must realize that quite often, when you bust or lose a large pot, you did nothing wrong. Some players think that if they get A-K all-in and lose against their opponent’s Q-Q, they made a mistake. Most of the time, that situation is unavoidable. You should not be worried about the fairly standard spots and bad beats where everyone goes broke. You have to be concerned with the situation where some people go broke and others do not.

For example, one situation where amateur players go broke frequently when professionals do not is when both players have top pair but you have the worst kicker. Amateur players typically raise and reraise the flop only to find out they are crushed when all the money goes in. Professionals call their opponent’s c-bet on the flop and then evaluate the bets on the later streets, electing to either fold or call down, losing a small pot. Sometimes what appears to be a standard setup is easily avoidable.

I suggest you not only review the large hands you lose but also the somewhat mundane pots. Quite often, players will discover they are butchering a standard situation that comes up frequently, such as not c-betting enough or always calling with a draw on the flop instead of occasionally raising. Make a point to review all of your play. You must understand this will not be a quick process. I would estimate I spend around an hour per day reviewing my play. I suspect most players would be much better off if they study and review their play an amount of time equal to the amount of time they actually spend at the poker table.

I also suggest you find a group of peers to review your hands with. You will find that discussing concepts with other players will help all of you grow as poker players much faster than if you only study alone.

Step 3:

Recognize your flaws.

Once you have figured out what you are doing incorrectly, you must make a point to not commit the same errors in the future. It can be quite difficult to force yourself to drastically change your default playing style once it has become ingrained into your mind. You must realize that every time you make an error, you are giving your hard earned money to someone else. Seeing how most people want to hold on to their money, this should be motivation enough to improve. To help me recall my leaks, I carry around a list that outlines my personal flaws. For example, I tend to not give players enough credit when they are willing to put a lot of money in the pot in an overly aggressive manner. While I think their play is only good as a bluff, because why else would they put in so much money that their opponent must have a premium hand to call; they are putting their stack in because they are afraid of getting outdrawn. Once you know your leaks, you can constantly think about them and recognize the situations you typically mess up before they occur, allowing you to make the correct decision in the heat of battle. ♠

Jonathan Little, 2-time World Poker Tour champion has won more than $6 million in tournaments since 2006. He is sponsored by 3bet.com, Instapoker and BlueSharkOptics and teaches poker at FloatTheTurn.com and www.JonathanLittleSecrets.com. Follow him on Twitter @ JonathanLittle.