Getting the most out of Poker Tracker

[droolie]

I've had Poker Tracker for about a month now and am wondering what features I'm not using.

What should I be doing with it that I'm not?

Currently I'm keeping track of my stats and the stats of my opponents. I add horrible players to my buddy list and have been trying to classify players with the appropriate symbols once I've played a significant number of hands with them. Sometimes I use the External Game window if I've been at one table with the same players for at least two revolutions. This is a pain in the ass though and causes me to lose focus on the game.

I'm not really sure what stats I should be focusing on when it comes to monitoring and altering my own play. I understand the stats on the general info page such as VP$IP but am not sure if my numbers are good, great or bad. According to what others have said about other player's stats I'm slightly passive .99 AF including preflop with a loosish VP$IP of 20.87.

Currently through 4600+ hands I'm winning at a rate of 9.2/100BB. Though I know from the posts of others on this site that this rate is unsustainable I honestly feel like I've had average cards through this run. That being said I also think I've seen a HUGE number of terrible players which accounts for most of my winnngs. I take my time in finding the right tables every time and only play if at least 5 players are seeing the flop on average. I leave the table if I find there are tough players who put me on the defensive or if I find myself getting tilty. I try not to play more than 2 tables at a time and have been amazed at how easily I've acheived success at this level (.5/1 at Party after a few months at Pokerstars which was much tougher)

I realize that my sample size is too small to draw any solid conclusions about my play but I would like to try to get my stats more in line with what successful players report having. I also think I could gain a greater edge if I understood Poker Tracker a little better.

[davelin]

.99 isn't slightly passive, it's just plain passive. It's been re-iterated here many times that the way to get better isn't to stare at your stats until your eyes water, but to post hands that you're finding trouble with or not sure if you extracted maximum value from.

[k000k]

[ QUOTE ]
.99 isn't slightly passive, it's just plain passive. It's been re-iterated here many times that the way to get better isn't to stare at your stats until your eyes water, but to post hands that you're finding trouble with or not sure if you extracted maximum value from.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's including preflop with that number, so it's not that passive..

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
.99 isn't slightly passive, it's just plain passive. It's been re-iterated here many times that the way to get better isn't to stare at your stats until your eyes water, but to post hands that you're finding trouble with or not sure if you extracted maximum value from.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's including preflop with that number, so it's not that passive..

[/ QUOTE ]

I stand corrected.

[NoChance]

I have always included preflop in my aggression number as well. However, the more I think about it, VP$IP and PFR are better measures of pre-flop play. What are the general guidelines for Total Aggression factor if preflop is not included?

For passive?
For average?
For aggressive?

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
I have always included preflop in my aggression number as well. However, the more I think about it, VP$IP and PFR are better measures of pre-flop play. What are the general guidelines for Total Aggression factor if preflop is not included?

For passive?
For average?
For aggressive?

[/ QUOTE ]

See Bison's notes on notes thread. He advocates uses 1.5 AF to determine the cut-off between passive and aggressive although for his Tight-Aggressive icon, he uses a 2 aggression factor.

[k000k]

[ QUOTE ]
I have always included preflop in my aggression number as well. However, the more I think about it, VP$IP and PFR are better measures of pre-flop play. What are the general guidelines for Total Aggression factor if preflop is not included?

For passive?
For average?
For aggressive?

[/ QUOTE ]

In his ruleset, bison defines >1.5 to be aggressive, and <1.5 to be passive. I suppose 1.5 is about avg.

[droolie]

Thanks for all the great advice so far!

I have posted a few hands and certainly will post more in the future. (There was one from yesterday that still bugs me where I attempted to steal but then folded heads up to a flop check-raise. I haven't been able to get an erection since!)

This may sound obnoxious but when you're winning at the rate I'm winning at it's very difficult to be critical of your own play. That being said I really am critical of my play but just don't understand the stats the way I should. I realize that I'm not the best player in the world and need much improvement but it's been hard to adjust my play without risking losing the momentum I have going and suddenly find myself completely in the tank. Some of you may remember a post of mine when I blamed SSH for causing me to loose my mojo a few months ago, as I altered my weak tight style that had been winning to fit the aggro style that SSH recommended. I really took a beating being too aggressive. After posting a few hands it was pointed out to me by many of you that I wasn't applying those concepts correctly. My game has improved considerably since then and I hope Poker Tracker will prove to help me even more. The numbers show I've reverted back to a weaker/ passive style but damnit I'm winning with it! I know I shouldn't be results oriented and want to be more aggro but in the right spots.

I was hoping to get some good advice on benchmark numbers to aspire to within the players stats. What about folding on the flop, turn and river? How about winning $ when seeing flop? All of them really? I would love to see anybody with HUGE hand numbers from .50/1 Party who are big winners benchmarks. I have this gnawing suspicion that .50/1 Party requires a different playing style to get the maximum BB/100 than what most of the tougher games require.

[k000k]

What should I be doing with it that I'm not?

Get the patch that allows you to read HH's from the hard drive. You can now import OBSERVED games as well as the ones you play in. I have 2 PC's with 4 games open 24/7 just watching players. Good way to build data fast, I have a LOT of players in my database, when I sit down, I have hand history on quite a few of my opponents. That and the autorate, with bison's rules, you can tell how good/bad/tight/loose/aggr/passive your opponents are without ever having seen em before.

I'm not really sure what stats I should be focusing on when it comes to monitoring and altering my own play. ...I'm slightly passive .99 AF including preflop with a loosish VP$IP of 20.87.


Watch VP$IP, keep it below 20%, 20.8 isn't that bad, just trim off a couple of the weakest hands you call.. Keep PFR about 7-8%, and keep your aggro factor above 2 without including preflop aggr. Make sure you arent including preflop when autorating players with bison's rules.

Currently through 4600+ hands I'm winning at a rate of 9.2/100BB. Though I know from the posts of others on this site that this rate is unsustainable I honestly feel like I've had average cards through this run. That being said I also think I've seen a HUGE number of terrible players which accounts for most of my winnngs.

Ya, you won't keep that up. You might be getting avg cards, they're just holding up more than usual.. 2-3bb/100 is considered very good.

[stlip]

I think 20% VP$IP may be too tight for the .50/1 and 1/2 games at Party, though I think for the 2/4 and 3/6 below 20 makes sense.

I've only got about 2000 hands on PokerTracker since I adjusted my game to come down from 30 % (Thanks 2+2ers for helping me see the light). The results seem good. I'll look for some sample hands that highlight where I think I'm profitably deviating from the 2+2 party line.

Though I'm new online and to PokerTracker I've got B&M experience in the Bay Area card rooms all the way back to the 1970s and I just think that in the main the micro limit players are more than bad enough and passive enough that you shouldn't lay down the additional hands that it takes to get VP$IP to 20 percent or under.