Why is my VPIP low? (PP 15/30)

[johnnycakes]

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How does your bb/100 compare to what it should be using Nate's formula for figuring out bb/100 using measures of VPIP, W$atSD, and W$WSF?

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Using Nate's formula my BB/100 should be 4.49 [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[johnnycakes]

Wow, if I follow that advice I'll be adding probably 20% - 25% more hands to my steal arsenal.

I'll give it a shot.

[skp]

That's basically why I asked. Don't get me wrong - your bb/100 is good but given the other parameters, I would have thought it should be much higher.

[jdock99]

I play regularly in a different game than the Party 15/30 where I do moderately well (I am not a professional player). However, I am replying to your post because a couple months ago I took a shot for about 30,000 hands in the Party 15/30 and my stats were eerily similar to yours in almost every regard, except I (unconsciously) made some of the adjustments other posters are suggesting you make, so that my VPIP was around 20%.

Position Stats

However, where you won $15,000 in about 30,000 hands my total was -$446. Like I said earlier, my stats were almost identical to yours except I played a little more in position and defended my blinds a little more. However my WSF% was only 34% whereas yours was 38%. So obviously, adding the extra hands is only +EV if you play well enough to win with them, which apparently I didn't. In fact, I am wondering if I got my VPIP lowered to 16% by playing less marginal hands in position and defending less if I could get my winrate out of the red. I guess the moral of the story is that increasing your hands will not automatically increase your winrate and make you an elite player. You have to be able to play them well also, which might not so easy.

[BarronVangorToth]

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I guess the moral of the story is that increasing your hands will not automatically increase your winrate and make you an elite player. You have to be able to play them well also, which might not so easy.

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The reason why many people experience such variance when first incorporating Small Stakes Hold 'em is because it takes you away from the "safe" weak-tight mindset (where you can easily makey money, but very little) to higher variance - and, with that variance, much higher potential ultimately. But if misapplied, many end up doing "worse" in the win/loss bracket than when they were PLAYING "worse" simply because their postflop skills weren't up to snuff.

Another reason why less should be talked about preflop and more postflop, as the arguments you sometimes see of "should I be at 20%?" "no, anything lower than 21.5% is insane" and then "I do X/100 at 22.1%, so eat that with a stick." That is an important discussion but if that's the sole focus, you miss out on the larger picture.

Anyway... those that said it above are right: not enough stealing and not enough defending. But JUST doing more stealing and more defending COULD put you into the deficit if not played correctly in those situations.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com