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One of the paradoxes of poker is that it's extremely difficult to tell if you're "good". You can make a mistake, and make a lot of money. For example, let's say you have a raise and a re-raise in front of you. Most people would say that if you're holding, say, a jack of hearts and a ten of hearts, you should fold. But if you do call, you might hit your flush or straight and win a pile of money. (The problem is you won't make a big enough pile often enough to counteract all the times you would lose.)
On the other hand, you can do everything right and lose. In the same situation if you had two aces instead of J-10, most people would say you would be right to raise again or maybe go all-in if it's no-limit. You could then lose the hand. But in this case, over the long haul, your wins from making this play will more than counteract your losses, and overall you are reducing your winnings by not getting your money on the table in a situation like this.
So just because you came away with more money than you started with, doesn't mean you played well. And vice versa.
I basically spent a lot of time reading poker books and, more importantly, forums, where everybody would pick apart each other's play. So I didn't just play, I got feedback on my play. It's sort of like music. Lots of people dabble, but not a lot actually practice and make a systematic effort to get better.
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