Apologies for not responding fast enough. It is also clear to me, that I wasn't clear enough with my inquiry. Tracking financial ups and downs per hour is simple. Bankroll management is simple.

I was asking if there is a much more simple way of tracking the actual hands I play, outside of writing them down mid table. I am sure everyone here gets s little complacent and loosenes up from time to time. My favorite tool to fix this, is to actually look at those specific hands, and realize how much they actually cost me. There are some rather large swings, in what can be considered just a handful of hands.

So my question to you, is there a better way to track these hands live, instead of simply writing them down. I have even toyed wth the idea of texting myself the hands.

nope, not that i've seen/heard of. most live players i know (all?) write down or remember and write down after the session each hand that is of interest. nobody i know or have heard of keeps a record of every hand played.

welcome to the forums and good luck!

Do you also keep track of how much you win on hands you "shouldn't play." Sure, you lose $400 playing 78s UTG, you write it down, realize you do something like that 2-3x per session and you see a way to save $1,000. But she you win $600 with the same hand, do you also note that? The size of swings from hands you shouldn't play will end up smaller.

You need to keep a record of all "sessions." At the end of the year, add up all your winning sessions to get your gross winnings, and add up all your losing sessions to get your losses. Not doing so can cause at least two problems.

The first is that the IRS has something called the alternate minimum tax. That is the minimum tax rate you must pay regardless of your deductions (and gambling losses is deducted as an itemized deduction on Schedule A). So you could have won $10,000 net one year computed as $260,000 in winnings and $250,000 in loses. But your additional taxes caused by the gambling winnings is going to be way more than if you just claimed $10,000 in winnings--in fact, the federal taxes might increase more than your winnings.

The second is that if you normally take a standard deduction, your itemized deductions will have to make up the difference of what your itemized deductions would be without gambling and the standard deduction amount, before it impacts your taxable income. For example, in New York the standard deduction is $7,500, which I always take, as my itemized deductions would be less than $500. If I win $1000 gambling one year computed as $9,000 is winnings and $8,000 in losses, my gross income will increase $9,000, but my deductions will increase only $1000 (to $8,500, assuming only $500 in other deductions). So I would be paying state tax on $8000 in additional income even though I actually only had $1,000 in additional income.

The fair way is to report net income, but the tax laws are written to screw the taxpayer--especially if your doing something as socially horrible as gambling. But if you don't file your taxes correctly, the impact on the amount you pay can be much more than you might realize (fair or not), and the additional tax you have to pay, and the late fees and fines, could be much more than anticipated. Just be aware of the pit falls.

Having said all of that, I think the OP was more concerned with tracking the hands and how he played them, percentages and all that. Not keeping track of wins and losses which is easy to do with a pen and paper after a session.

Yeah, "must of" is grammatical incorrect, but does it really file you up in the way the W saying "nucular" or people aborting your/you're or their/they're/there does (or should)?"

Trying to keep track of every hand you play is completely unrealistic, and for the most part distracts from what's really important (like picking up on patterns from your opponents).

Like is it more important to remember if the turn put up a straight draw when you bet/folded second pair, or is it more important to know if your opponent gives anything away about his hand by his mannerisms?

DanS, your first phrase is also "grammatical[ly] incorrect"

As is much of your post lol. Use a laptop imo.

Bah, you dicks. It was a typo.

Make a poker bank account

Have a weekly bank visit

Either deposit or withdraw

Keep track of the # of sessions and hours each week

Review your bank statements

I'll give you that if you're going to criticize grammar, you should do better yourself (and ideally do it from a laptop rather than a falling apart iPhone)!

-Dan, posting from his laptop

I am usually a grammar nazi, especially when it comes to my own writing. But even though I hold my self to high standards, I'm sure I still miss stuff. And yea I post from my phone quite often.