Analyzing a session.

[Entity]

When you're having a bad session, what do you usually look at? Normally looking at my VPIP seems to help, but I'm having a losing session right now (20BB, no huge deal), and I'd like to take a look at it from an objective standpoint. With my W$SD at a miniscule 28%, I'm not sure if I've taken hands too far, simply had bad hands, or what. Any pointers?

The session was shorthanded (5-handed mostly) for about 20 of the 51 hands. My VPIP is at 21.57%, WtSD 43.7%, PFR 11%, and Tot-a a monsterous 6.82.

Those numbers are probably meaningless, but I'm not sure what it means for how I've played the session generally. What do you guys usually look at when analyzing a session?

Rob

[Entity]

Here's an example hand from the session, for whatever it tells you. Opponents are both calling stations:

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, MP folds, CO calls, Button folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, BB calls, CO calls.

Flop: (6 SB) J/images/graemlins/heart.gif, T/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls, CO calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB folds, CO calls.

River: (6.50 BB) 9/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, CO checks.

Final Pot: 6.50 BB

[Jaran]

Hey Entity,
I'm no expert at analysing a session, but I look at my aggression factors and my VPIP. I also will look at my biggest winners and losers for the session and use the playback feature to see if I made any mistakes or, for losers, if I just got unlucky. Hope this helps.

-Jaran

[Entity]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey Entity,
I'm no expert at analysing a session, but I look at my aggression factors and my VPIP. I also will look at my biggest winners and losers for the session and use the playback feature to see if I made any mistakes or, for losers, if I just got unlucky. Hope this helps.

-Jaran

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks. I'm sure that luck has something to do with it, but I want to make sure I'm playing my A game as much as possible. I probably should've left the table when it got shorthanded, as shorthanded with a LAG is not a good place to be.

Reviewing everything, it looks like misplaced overaggression did me in. Most of the players I was up against were either LAGs or calling stations, and I wasn't catching flops to help me against them.

Fortunately, they are still at the table and it's no longer shorthanded. Let's hope luck shifts my way. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Rob

[Entity]

Here's a KK hand I played. One of the first good hands I've had at the table.

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO folds, Button calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP3 calls, Button calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 9/images/graemlins/club.gif, 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP3 calls, Button calls.

Turn: (9 BB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls, <font color="CC3333">UTG+1 raises</font>, MP1 folds, MP3 folds, Button folds, Hero calls, BB calls.

River: (15 BB) 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks, <font color="CC3333">UTG+1 bets</font>, Hero calls, BB folds.

Final Pot: 17 BB

[brettbrettr]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's a KK hand I played. One of the first good hands I've had at the table.

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO folds, Button calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP3 calls, Button calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 9/images/graemlins/club.gif, 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP3 calls, Button calls.

Turn: (9 BB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls, <font color="CC3333">UTG+1 raises</font>, MP1 folds, MP3 folds, Button folds, Hero calls, BB calls.

River: (15 BB) 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks, <font color="CC3333">UTG+1 bets</font>, Hero calls, BB folds.

Final Pot: 17 BB

[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing wrong with this, I hope, cuz I play it the same way.

[uw_madtown]

Fold preflop. Standard. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

I seem to always go down about 20-30 BB when I start a 4-tabling session. I just look at my beautiful green 4 BB/100 PT stat and trust that it'll even out as long as I keep playing my game -- I save serious analyzation and adjustment to my strategy for after the session.

[Entity]

For the record, eventually a few other loose-passives joined the table, and I dragged a few VERY large pots (55 turned a set, a flopped flush and a few other big hands), and ended up 5BB for the session (after dropping around 35BB).

Nothing to see here folks.

The question does still apply, though. I realized I was being too aggressive with marginal holdings and seeing showdowns HU when I felt there was a good chance I was beat. I stopped doing that, started building pots, and was ok. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Rob

[detruncate]

I haven't found any useful way of analyzing a session on the basis of stats. There's just no context to any of the numbers. Like you'd expect, it comes down to replaying hands and posting the ones you're not sure about.

Nothing like a helpful reply, huh?

[Glitchh]

I find it helpful when analyzing a session to replay hands I was involved with in Pokertracker. You can spot mistakes in your game and this helps you think about the game when you're not playing.

[kiemo]

On the AQ hand, I play it the same. I might even bet out the river, but since you said he is a calling station your check is fine.

On the KK hand, I 3 bet the turn and check/call if he caps or lead out the river if he calls.

Of course over the last 2 days my aggression has me in a 40 BB slump, so maybe I am wrong.

[GrunchCan]

Personally, I don't think you can give much credence to your stats for a single session. If you can't evealuate your skill overall by evaluating your stats with even 5000 hands becasue the sample size is too small, what does that mean for a sample size of 100-200 hands? The stats for a single session have to be almost worthless.

There might be an exception to the invalidity of session stats. I like to compare my VPIPSB to my VPIP for the session. If VPIPSB is more than about 2 x VPIP, it usually means I was playing loose from the SB, and losing chips there. But it also often means I was probably playing a little loose from every position. Its not a totally correlated relationship, but the two do go hand in hand often. Its something to look at.

What I like to do after any session (good or bad) is review the hands I played by replaying them in PT. First I look throught the hands where I lost the most money. If the session was a loser, or not as big a winner as I thought it should have been, this is often enough to identify the biggest reasons why. CC LP with QTs? A big clue. I'm just playing bad.

Next I like to go through the hands where I won the most. Why? Becasue I think it actually helps me find the hands where I went a little nuts, but got lucky and sucked out or scared everyone away. On these hands, I made a bunch of bets. But in the long run, if I made the same play 1 million times, it might be a loser.

Finally, it's a real grind, but every now and then I like to look through my small wins &amp; small losses. This ends up being most every hand I play, so I don't do it often. But it's like taking your car to the shop for a check-up. You never know what kind of craziness you'll find.

Finally, any questionable hands I find where I'm not sure what the right play was, I take here. You all are usually real good at helping me find my holes.

So, that's what I do. Hope it helps.

[DrBob]

I get a lot out of looking at my big losses. But I'm concerned that this tends to identify only certain types of mistake. There are probably many hands where I fold early, and maybe shouldn't. The problem I have is that there are so many hands you don't play at all, or play and quickly fold the flop, that it's excessively time-consuming to look them over later. And I may not even realize at the time that I'm missing a positive EV situation.

Any suggestions as to how to more easily find "wimp hand" candidates?

[GrunchCan]

I would have bet the river. The opponent on the river probably had a hand similar to yours, but unsuited. Other than that, played perfect.

[Entity]

[ QUOTE ]
I would have bet the river. The opponent on the river probably had a hand similar to yours, but unsuited. Other than that, played perfect.

[/ QUOTE ]
He actually had 34o. Don't know why he checked behind on the river. In the KK hand, I was up against QQ, who flopped their set.

[GrunchCan]

He checked behind becasue he is a passive fish. Very frustrating sometimes. I believe in the long run betting the river in this situation is a money maker. Give an opponent with only a high card hand an opportunity - and a reson - to fold. If you plan to make this play, it might be a good idea to check the flop, to cut in to river odds and make the fold even more appealing.

[Student_Of_Games]

I would've bet the river...looks like the CO might've been on a heart flush draw and missed... I'd put it at least 50/50 he'll fold it.

[detruncate]

You might try just randomly replaying a certain number of hands from each sessions. Turn on the 'only if I saw the flop' option and pause the hands you fold. You can easily jump to the flop/turn/river to help you evaluate the hand in more detail. Count your outs, think about what would have happened if you had made a different decision (not necessarily in terms of the outcome of the hand... but more along the lines of, "Would I be better leading this flop or going for the c/r? What was I trying to accomplish by my action, and did it turn out the way I thought it would?").

I also try to request hands on the fly that I'm not sure about. It's much easier than trying to dig them out of PT when you've had a long session. If nothing else, you can convert them and have a look in 2+2 post format. You don't have to submit them afterwards if you don't want to, but chances are there'll be one or two you can't figure out.

You don't necessarily have to analyze a large number of hands for it to be effective. If you learn one thing that can be applied many times you are getting some serious benefit out of it. There are always holes to close, and the best you can hope for is that they end up being different ones each time.