MySQL language help needed

I'm working in DW3, and using PHP format for my database driven site.
The site draws on the database for points that have been inserted into the database.

What I am trying to accomplish is total the points by player_Id, and post their lastname, firstname, and rank it according to sum(points) in descending order.

My queery below, brings up the information I want...
But I just can't seem to come up with the right syntex to use to count() the records.

What happens is it ends up counting how many records it took to make the sum(points).

Here is the code I use to total the points. everything but the count is added.

SELECT sum(points) as 'points', lastname, firstname, player_id
FROM points
WHERE month = '02'
GROUP BY player_id
ORDER BY sum(points) desc LIMIT 0, 200

here is a link to the working page.
marchpoint.php

I just need some help getting the darn thing to "count" records so I can use it for the "rank". For example next to the player_id ...I need to add a "rank" column, which would go from 1 to 200.

Any help would be deeply appreciated!

SELECT sum(points) as points, count(player_id) AS idCount, lastname, firstname, player_id
FROM points
WHERE month = '02'
GROUP BY player_id
ORDER BY sum(points) desc LIMIT 0, 200

Just tried it...
It doesn't work...
It ends up counting how many times the player_id was used to sum the points...:(

I thought that is what you wanted. What table do you want to count from?

You can use count( DISTINCT ColumnName) and do the count based on any other field.

Tried that...
That didn't work either.

Because I need to use "group by player_id" to sum the points....

No matter what I seem to try...
It ends up counting how many entries were used to sum the points.

When I use "Distinct" it shows "1", as each player does have a unique "distinct ID".

Do I need to create a new blank field in the table?

I do appreciate all the help you are trying to give me so far! :)

Use a nested SELECT statement so you can have a separate where and group by clause for your count.