Many players track carefully for months and never look at the data again. A record does not improve your game by existing. Regular review does. This routine takes about 30 minutes a month and needs no advanced statistics.
Why once a month
Reviewing after every event is too often, since a single result is almost all variance. Once a year is too rare, because you will have forgotten the details. A month is a practical middle: enough events to look at, and recent enough to remember. Fixing a day, such as the first weekend of the month, is far more reliable than "when I have time".
Step 1: check the data is complete (5 minutes)
Before looking at any statistic, check the month's records:
- Are any events missing? Compare with your calendar or payment history.
- Does each cost include the fee and every re-entry?
- Do all the events where you did not cash show a prize of 0?
- Are any hours missing?
If the data is incomplete, none of the numbers that follow can be trusted. If you find you often miss entries, that is this month's most important finding: fix the logging habit first.
Step 2: look at five numbers (5 minutes)
| Number | This month | Compare with |
|---|---|---|
| Entries and total hours | How much you played | The volume you planned |
| Total cost | How much you put in | Your budget |
| Net result | What happened | Nothing — treat it as a fact only |
| ITM rate | How often you cashed | Your own six-month average |
| Bankroll balance | What you have now | Your move-down and move-up lines |
At this stage, just look. Do not rush to interpret. One month's net result and ROI are heavily affected by variance (see variance and sample size). The only item needing immediate action is the last one: whether your bankroll calls for a change of level under the rules you set in bankroll management.
Step 3: check your discipline (10 minutes)
This is the most valuable part, because it looks at what you can control. Answer each in turn:
- Level: did you play events outside your bankroll rules? How many? Were they planned shots or impulses?
- Re-entries: did any event go over your bullet cap?
- Stop-loss: was there a day you should have left and entered one more?
- Time: did you push on while exhausted?
Pull out the events that broke your rules and add up their results. Many players discover that a large share of a month's losses came from a handful of events they should not have played. That is more direct than any strategy review. For designing the rules, see tilt control and stop-loss rules.
Step 4: look for one pattern (5 minutes)
Take the last three months — one month is too small a sample — and split the data along a single dimension:
- By format: which has the better ROI and hourly rate?
- By venue: is anywhere especially good or bad for you?
- By day or time: do weeknights differ from weekends?
- By length: does performance drop in long sessions?
Use a different dimension each month. You do not need every answer at once. Over time you will understand better and better the conditions in which you play your best.
Step 5: write down one change (5 minutes)
The usual way a review fails is a list of eight improvements, none of which happens. Choose one thing each month, specific enough to be checked:
- Weak: "Be more disciplined."
- Strong: "Next month, at most two bullets per event."
- Weak: "Play fewer bad events."
- Strong: "Next month, no events where the fee is over 15% of the price."
Put it somewhere you will see it. The first item in next month's review is whether you did it.
A template you can copy
1. Is the data complete? How many events were missing?
2. Entries / hours / total cost / net result / ITM rate / bankroll balance
3. How many events broke my own rules? What did they total?
4. Which dimension did I examine this month, and what did I find?
5. Did I do the one thing I set last month?
6. What is the one change for next month?
One extra step each quarter and each year
Every three months, put the three monthly reviews side by side and look for problems that keep recurring. Once a year, review the full year's numbers. By then the sample is large enough for ROI and hourly rate to be worth discussing, and it is a good moment to revisit your bankroll rules and level targets.