Advice on my stats vs. hand selection, &c.

imported_adhoc · #1 06-06-2005, 01:55 PM

Hey guys, these are my pokertracker stats after about 12,000 hands. I'm not new to poker (I've been playing for 5 years now; I started playing online last summer, didn't play during the school year, and am now back in the thick of things) but I did change my hand selection criteria a lot after reading Small Stakes Hold Em. Specifically, I loosened up a lot and, because Ed Miller recommends using the "loose" chart (p. 82-83) as a default ("follow the loose game guidelines until proven otherwise. ... at the small stakes ... failing to play the extra hands could prove far more costly those times when you should play them than they will save you those times you should throw them away," p. 93), I pretty much go by the book on that one for online play since I multitable and I think most of the players are horrible.

I thought it was about time to get pokertracker a little while ago and it's fascinating. These numbers represent only my last two weeks of play or so, but they are really typical of my results lately - I usually play about 1,000 hands a day now. What I am wondering is, is this play optimal for .5/1 on Party Poker? I am starting to get the sinking feeling it isn't. 0.84BB/100 doesn't feel like I am doing the best I can.

Maybe I need to go back to being tighter. Do you think I would see significant changes if I used the tight chart as a default, since I don't think I ever really see 6-8 callers to the flop online (although I do when I'm at a casino). I suspect I already know the answer to this question, but I need some confirmation and I don't think there are any big holes in my stats. Thus I figure my failure be optimal is a result of being too loose. Maybe I am wrong about my assumptions or my take on these numbers; let me know.

shadow29 · #2 06-06-2005, 02:11 PM

Looks like you're running a little cold.

With a 20 VPIP (which is good), your pfr needs to be >10.

Also, you're street by street aggression factors are inverted. Flop should be highest and river should be lowest. To me, this indicates that you aren't playing your draws aggressively.

You also could loosen up a bit in the SB, but I think you're about right.

grjr · #3 06-06-2005, 03:40 PM

Looks to me like you're not winning at showdown enough. There are 2 things I see. You're folding too much on the flop and not enough on the river. This means you're throwing away a lot of good draws on the flop. Study up on pot odds and implied odds in relation to drawing hands on the flop. Make sure you count outs correctly and don't forget to add in the back door straights and flushes.

imported_adhoc · #4 06-07-2005, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the comments, although I still wanted to get an answer to my original question as to whether I would see significantly better results - in the long term - by using the tight chart or the loose chart as a default on Party .5/1 tables. What I take from your comments is that I can actually be looser preflop from the small blind, and that I am folding too much on the flop. I don't think the latter is the result of not following through with draws; I understand that concept. It might well be that I am folding middle pairs to single raises too often, which I will do sometimes. Thanks for making me think about it, either way.

But, to reiterate my question, do you guys think I would fare better if I alter my hand selection crieria preflop, or is there something else I'm not seeing in the stats? What I really want to know is whether or not I am playing too loosely.

Delphin · #5 06-07-2005, 05:43 PM

The stats you've posted do not indicate that you are playing too loosely, but they don't convey the whole picture so it is impossible to be sure. If you post a screenshot of your position tab, it will be a little easier to say.

Don't agonize over whether to use the tight or loose chart. You are using the loose chart and ending up right where most people agree you should be at $.50/$1 as far as VPIP goes. You might find a bit more value using the tight chart and looking for situations where it is appropriate to loosen up (ignoring the chart) in order to increase VPIP and EV. But most of the value is probably going to come from getting better postflop.

xLukex · #6 06-07-2005, 06:13 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the comments, although I still wanted to get an answer to my original question as to whether I would see significantly better results - in the long term - by using the tight chart or the loose chart as a default on Party .5/1 tables. What I take from your comments is that I can actually be looser preflop from the small blind, and that I am folding too much on the flop. I don't think the latter is the result of not following through with draws; I understand that concept. It might well be that I am folding middle pairs to single raises too often, which I will do sometimes. Thanks for making me think about it, either way.

But, to reiterate my question, do you guys think I would fare better if I alter my hand selection crieria preflop, or is there something else I'm not seeing in the stats? What I really want to know is whether or not I am playing too loosely.

[/ QUOTE ]

The way you play at Party cannot be determined by a chart. Party has a humungous amount of players. It depends on the table you're sitting at. If you're sitting at a loose table and 6 players on average see the flop, use the loose standards. If only 2 or 3 see the flop, use the tight standards.

And it is VERY important to simply get a feel for it after awhile and decide on your own what hands should and shouldn't be played.

MadMike · #7 06-07-2005, 06:32 PM

I'm new to this forum, so I'll defer to others on most of the advice, but I will add this: I play using the "tight" chart, since most of the time there are 3-5 people taking the flop at the 0.5/1 tables I play at. My VP$IP is around 18. IMHO, I don't think changing from the loose to the tight chart is really going make that much of a difference.

Miller was right on in his SSHE book, once your pre-flop play is reasonably sound, focus on post-flop play to bring up win-rate. Then maybe come back to the pre-flop side to find an extra fraction of a bet later.

Good luck.

imported_adhoc · #8 06-08-2005, 04:46 AM

Delphin, Here's what my position tab looks like. Can you elaborate for me?

MataWispar · #9 06-08-2005, 05:10 AM

raise more pre flop, especialy when 0-1 have entered, and play the flop more aggresivly. know when you are beat after that.

Delphin · #10 06-09-2005, 12:07 PM

Looks like you do a relatively good job of raising more as you get closer to the button, but you could be raising a bit more often, especially in later position. Look for loose limpers and raise to isolate them with more hands.

You seem to have the same VPIP in early and middle position. Try tightening up a bit more in EP. 17% is decent for middle position, but you don't want to be playing 17% of your hands from UTG. I'd stick pretty close to the tight recs in SSHE for UTG and UTG+1. I think the hands recommended are AA-77, Suited Broadways, AKo-AJo, and KQo. Don't play smaller pairs or Axs in EP unless you are at a loose and passive table where lots of people limp and never raise.