Understanding W$WSF & W$@SD

[Poker Cat]

I've used PokerTracker for about 100K hands.
I need help in better understanding these two values.

What do they really tell you about your play? For ring play, I understand 38-40 is good for the 1st, and 50-55 for the 2nd. Exactly why is murky to me.

The more I think about them, the more complex they become. The regression formula described by a poster using these two values (plus VP$IP) states they are 1) somewhat correlated, and 2) can result from either luck or skill. Raising one often lowers another, etc.

Can anyone suggest a way to more intuitively grasp their significance?

Thx

[AceHiStation]

I myself was going to post a thread asking the same question and also wondering exactly how VP$IP is calculated(I'm sure this is common knowledge to most of you) and how to interpret these numbers in limit, NL, tournaments, etc.
Thanks

[flair1239]

[ QUOTE ]
I've used PokerTracker for about 100K hands.
I need help in better understanding these two values.

What do they really tell you about your play? For ring play, I understand 38-40 is good for the 1st, and 50-55 for the 2nd. Exactly why is murky to me.

The more I think about them, the more complex they become. The regression formula described by a poster using these two values (plus VP$IP) states they are 1) somewhat correlated, and 2) can result from either luck or skill. Raising one often lowers another, etc.

Can anyone suggest a way to more intuitively grasp their significance?

Thx

[/ QUOTE ]

Specifically they don't tell you much about your play, however within a certain range you can draw some general conclusions.

W$WSF:

-This is going to vary according to your level. Specifically when you are playing in games where multi-way pots are the norm. You are going to see this number be relatively lower than, when you play in tighter games. For instance I think when I play .5/1 my number was around 33%. At 5/10 this number is between 39%-41%, this is a product of less multi-way pots.

- This number could also be affected by playing to many hands. If you see more flops with weak hands, this number will tend to decrease. So a big departure from the norm at your level could indicate playing to loose.

- Conversely an abnormally high number for your level could indicate playing to tight.

- In general running good/bad will also result in a short-term departure from the normal range.

W$SD:

- To simplify, if this number was in the 60%s I would probably be safe to conclude that you fold too many hands, or that you are too tight PF.

- IF this number were in the low 40%s, I would say that you call down too much.


So basically they are related as if you are losing many showdowns it will affect your W$WSF.

[memphis57]

I agree with flair in general, but we've had several posts here where people put up their stats and it's kind of amazing the wide range that can go with a winning player. I think it's largely a matter of style and so it's difficult to compare between players.

However, once you have settled on your preferred playing style and get in enough hands so that the ratios stabilize, I think these ratios are a good indicator as t whether you are running hot or cold over a short segment of a few thousand hands. The theoryis that if your playing style has matured, you tend to make the same decisions in terms of what types of hands/situations you see the flop with and go to showdown with. You make these decisions based on the expected long term outcome of the hands and opponent reads in a given situation, but we all know the short term outcome can vary significantly. Thus, if your W$WSF is unusually high for a session, it might mean you were hitting your draw more often than ususual. And if your W$SD is low, you may have had an unusual number of suckouts.