Andrew Neeme is a local grinder with whom I have played at the Palms Pokerati game a few times. We were both there again last night. A short time ago he tweeted a link to something about a report of his session. I was blown away when I checked it here. As you can see, it's an iPhone app that lets you generate a poker blog post consisting of hand histories, photos, and your commentary while you're still at the table playing the game. I had not known that any such software existed. (I apparently didn't do anything worth being featured in the post.)
While it's technically impressive, I'm personally not feeling inclined to adopt the practice, even if the same or a similar product is available for Android--and I don't know if it is. I think it would take too much of my attention away from the game. When there's a hand the details of which I want to remember, I still just pull out a pen and the piece of scrap paper I always stick in my pocket before leaving the house, and jot down a few notes.* Then, if it's something worth blogging about, I can later write up what happened as carefully and colorfully as I'm capable of, taking whatever time is required, without my attention being diverted by trying to make money simultaneously.
But even if it isn't my cup of tea, I'm glad to know the product exists. I suspect we'll all be seeing more posts composed this way in the future.
*I keep a stack of printed-on-just-one-side paper next to my computer printer to be used as scratch paper. Before I leave the house for poker, I grab one sheet, fold it up, and put it in my pocket. Its primary purpose is to record buy-ins, cash-outs, and playing times, which I then enter into spreadsheets when I get back home, as I detailed long ago here. I know that there are smart-phone apps that I could use for this, but this system works just fine for me, and I don't feel like investing the time it would take to transfer more than five years of session data to something different.
Addendum, February 26, 2012
Here's another example of the genre from my friend Dave: http://www.pokerchiptracker.com/game_reports/933a4f717f5f90f6760ac13980df77ac-4.html
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7 comments:
Like you, I find the software interesting but I will not take on the practice of using it.
Well, maybe i'll try like a drunken 2/4 session if there is an android app just for the hell of it.
However, I do hope that we have some opponents who use it so that we can track their pages as the game is going down. They post and reveal a hand that we never saw and some logic and we can view it just a few moments after the hand is over --- maybe, but probably too much effort.
Instead of using paper I just write an email to myself during the course of each session. Just a thought....
Dang -- I clicked on the link. Very nice!
use the boogie board rip
I use Poker Session Logger by Ryan Oswald. It's free and better than scrap paper. I just start it when I sit down and log out at the end of session - no fooling around while I'm playing.
Hi Grump! Thanks for the mention and links. Pokerati Dan showed me this tool originally. I wasn't sure what the point was at first either but gave it a whirl anyway.
You're right that it takes a certain amount of attention away from the game, as you'll be typing away while hands are in progress. I'd like to think I'm a pretty quick typist on my iPhone and can bang out each post kinda quick, but you're definitely gonna miss action. If you're only writing for your own note-taking purposes it's probably unnecessary.
While it could use some design and aesthetic upgrades, I do think it's a very cool tool if you have an audience in mind and really want to bring them into the poker room with you. I really enjoy taking photos, and I like writing, and I (sometimes) like playing poker too, and this lets me do all three at once. It kind of helps me create something for other people to take in and enjoy (albeit just a blog post/thread) while playing a game that is mostly self serving.
Also I promise to include you in the next one if we're playing together! I don't think we tangled in any super-interesting hands this time around...
I tried it at the Bellagio yesterday. Kind of fun. Thanks.
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