Turning a New Leaf

[PrayingMantis]

As a non-American, I sometimes feel that Americans, in general, have this obsession over stats, in many fields, poker included. For instance, stats are a very important factor in all the popular American sports, while in Europe (and Israel), you find that in the most popular sport, i.e, football (soccer for you...), stats won't usually tell you too much about anything, and people are rarely interested in them. Of course they have some meaning, but much much smaller than in basketball or american football, for instance.

I keep stats, but I try no to get obsessed about them. It is much more important for me to think about the games I play in an "abstract" manner, tactically and strategically, rather than simply trying to "improve my ROI/ITM/$H", as a "mission". Your stats are just a result of the way you play: they are the bottom-line information, but the tools you need in order to *improve* your game are very rarely there. In this sense, your stats are only the symptoms - they are not the disease (that's if you're running bad [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]).

[kyro]

To each their own. I personally like the spreadsheet. It's comforting to me.

[skipperbob]

I used to have a vanity plate that read "NEWBOB"...A friend got it for me because he said that I "turned over more new leaves than a Japanese gardener"....PS: the only stat that matters is bankroll

[dfscott]

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My solution is to autoload into PT and then at the end of each month (or a longer period, I haven't decided), just autoload them into the AM spreadsheet.

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I just downloaded AM's spreadsheet, and can't figure out how to do this. Could you please explain how you do this?

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It's not in there now -- it's a project I'm working on. Right now, I'm doing some final testing. I'll probably recruit a few people test it out before throwing it out there for general consumption.

If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you a copy when it's ready for testing (probably in about a week).

[The Yugoslavian]

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To each their own. I personally like the spreadsheet. It's <font color="red"> comforting </font> to me.

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See, this has been the whole problem for me.

Also, there shouldn't really be any like or dislike of a spreadsheet. You probably mean you think it's a neat tool - that is fine. The problem arises when one starts investing oneself (even a little bit) in a spreadsheet. There should just be a spreadsheet, which contains one's stats, which in turn gives one pseudo-useful information about one's results.

FWIW several times yesterday I had a *very strong* urge to look at my finishes and start entering stats somewhere, thankfully, there was nowhere to put them, [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

It certainly was a brand new feeling ending my playing for the evening and having no clue how my results impacted a spreadsheet or even what my results really were. I played fairly well and was called an idiot more than enough to know that I was playing the right way, [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img].

A great weight has been lifted and I am eager to experience more stat-free sessions going forward, [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

Yugoslav

[zaphod]

Will you keep us updated on how much your ROI has improved by not keeping track of your results?

[sofere]

Yugo...are you goin cold turkey or are you on the patch?

[SuitedSixes]

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Will you keep us updated on how much your ROI has improved by not keeping track of your results?

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This is the funniest post in this thread.

[Slim Pickens]

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F-U (in the nicest way possible). That is spoken like a guy who just spent a ton of time updating a spreadsheet to keep track of this kind of stuff. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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The last time someone said "FU in the nicest way possible" to me it cost me ten bucks, but it was well worth it.

It is refreshing to see someone placing too little value on statistics than the usual too much value. The ratio of "55-tournament stat freak-out" posts to "statistics are meaningless" posts is too many. A lot of people ask questions only because they want affirmation of their personal opinions, without a shred of objectivity. Doctors must see this all the time with patients that come in with a medical problem and then argue with the doctor about the diagnosis.

That being said, I still think it's negligent to give up on statistics while expecting to improve or even maintain a level of performance in poker. If it bothers you to look at ROI/ITM and such, don't do it. I look at mine every week or so, no more, and then usually only as a matter of interest. Now that the AM sheet will autorecord, I don't even have to watch all those pink boxes pop up. Yugo, if you're going to quit looking at your stats, fine. It's probably +$EV (at least in the short term) from the psychological factors. Just don't give up keeping them as I don't doubt you'll want them for something someday.

Slim

[Slim Pickens]

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Will you keep us updated on how much your ROI has improved by not keeping track of your results?

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gg