I'd like to say/add a little more to my post about long run considerations.
The math is only the math. You can't argue with the math. You can argue with the validity of the application of the math and what you can and can not infer. Those are different things - math is not wrong but it can be wrongly used.
Sorry - I digress - that's not really the point of this post.
Math ignores a whole other side. That other side is your personal qualitative evidence that you are a winning player. This is where your own objective\ity could give you a leg up on understanding if you're a winning player or not.
I believe everyone is results oriented. There's just no way around it. You're more likely to analyze hands you deem (at game speed) are noteworthy and deserve careful thought about how you played it and how you could have played it. We're all merely mortal.
But those who lean toward objective and pragmatic are probably in a better position to understand how well they're playing. Some things are obvious and they happen frequently; you get sucked out on = you got your money in good, or you suck out = you got your money in bad. But there's a multitude of things that just aren't obvious; how large/small should your stack be to push ai with JJ from the small blind when ep raised 4x and got 2 callers? If you push and win or lose, did you make the right decision? Can you argue that it's better to see a flop first and push if no over cards come? Does it depend on your stack size and/or the types of players who have already entered the pot? And if you push pf and lose when a K comes on the turn (this happened to me recently), are you more apt to think about it later? The answer is yes for me. I now think calling pf and pushing otf would very likely have won me the hand (I was short stacked, 20bb).
Oh well, I just want to say that if you've played thousands of hours, you probably know how good you are or aren't.
btw, I took another look at that page where it says you need a 100 billion hands and I'm confused on whether or not whoever did it knows what they were doing. And I don't care enough to figure it out because it's really just mental masturbation at this point in my poker life.
peace - I'd still rather not see any of you at my table! But, if I do see any of you (that includes all y'all <--- redneck for everyone), I'd love to take you out for a meal and talk shop (most likely that's me learning from you).
I'm the cheapest guy I know. But the meal is on me. I like "The Loft" at The Orleans. You get a lot of bang for your buck there unless it's changed in the last couple of years. Now I'm thinking about food! I like sushi too and a great fantastic burger sounds good as well. Or may be mediterranean (schwarma or gyro) or vietnamese or Thai. Seafood = yum. Damn, I'm gonna get on yelp and figure out what to eat now.