Commission Coach Play - A Full Report (long)

[Michael Davis]

I don't know, I think you would have to be running really, really dry to have an aggression level this low. This is a problem.

But looking through your numbers, I agree that it just looks like you are running real bad. Your loss over 7K hands isn't really all that unlikely, although the chance you are a long term winning $$ player has gone down from a purely statistical point of view from when you started.

-Michael

[Blarg]

From my stats, it appears I have a terrible problem with aggression. I have no idea what everyone else is raising with all the time, or how I can get my aggression anywhere remotely near what others take for granted except by perhaps consistently raising with middle pairs no matter what cards are on board, and chasing people out with my draws instead of keeping them in, etc.

But...be that as it may, my woes aside...even I have more preflop aggression than you do. Mine's 0.75, significantly higher than yours, percentage wise.

Are you doing a lot of limping preflop?

Or surrendering your blinds too much? From what I hear, there's a lot of money to be made in stealing blinds in that game. Which means there's also a lot of money to be lost by not handling blinds well. Are you too intimidated by the amount of money involved, since you're new to that level, to defend your blinds enough? How about stealing blinds? Are you doing enough raising to take advantage of your position to steal blinds when you get the chance?

I'm giving you advice I could take more of myself here. Including -- could you benefit by playing more short-handed games, to get your preflop aggression and blind play improved?

P.S. -- your flop aggression is the only stat you have that's extremely dramatically better than mine, and like I say, I seem to be perpetually stuck in a non-aggressive nightmare I don't know how to get out of without playing total garbage and betting the farm on it. Whatever's screwy in my head about all this appears to be almost as screwy in yours, and you're playing at five times and more the stakes that I do. If it's a major flaw in my game, I'm guessing it's a major flaw in yours, and perhaps it would be better to work it out at lower levels first? Sounds like a horrible thing to say maybe, but I don't mean it to be -- it just honestly occurs to me. I would never be playing 15/30 with my horrible aggression stats...and yours are unfortunately not too far from mine.

[Blarg]

Ir occurs to me -- I also actually have a lower VPIP than yours and a lower PFR, yet still my preflop aggression factor is higher than yours. I'm guessing this must mean you are doing a lot of limping.

[SA125]

Sorry you're taking a hit, but I've played against you and you're good. I'm sure you'll beat the 15 game soon enough.

You're winning at every position but the blinds. That's proves something. But the blinds. I never really understood what Sklansky meant when he said poker was just a battle for the antes. Playing thousands of hands and having Tracker shows you why.

I think your play out of the blinds will have a bigger effect on getting into the black than collecting more on your AA. I could be wrong though.

P.S. - how is the calculation done for figuring how much EV is lost on those pairs?

[O Doyle Rules]

[ QUOTE ]

Are you doing a lot of limping preflop?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm using Miller's SSH on starting hands as my guide.

[supersub]

I don't know if this is of any value to you but here is my 2 cents.

I have played quite a lot 3/6 with you and from what i can see your agg factor is a little low there also. Especially on the turn and river.

I can also see that you are playing a couple of more hands now (unless my stats are off). Going from 13-14 to 16+ is not an easy task. there is a lot of marginal hands there that you have very little experiance playing. Trying those at the higher level may not be EV+ at this moment.

Good luck, i am sure you will be doing better soon.

Edit: also, your blind stealing is way up now. i guess this is good but so many changes in your game can take some time to adjust to.
Ps. I hope i dont sound like a whining jerk. You are a very solid player in my PT.

[stoxtrader]

[ QUOTE ]
I can also see that you are playing a couple of more hands now (unless my stats are off). Going from 13-14 to 16+ is not an easy task. there is a lot of marginal hands there that you have very little experiance playing. Trying those at the higher level may not be EV+ at this moment.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like what you you say in the rest of your post, but disagree slightly here... I would argue that 13-14% is slightly to tight in th 3/6, but definitely too tight in the 15/30.

I would further argue that 13-14 is pretty similar to 16ish in the 15 as the difference in blind structure promotes looser play. you will be playing more marginal hands (at 16% though how many are marginal?), but you are correct in doing so.

[ResidentParanoid]

how do you use SSH and end up with 16% VPIP? unless your tables are hyper-aggressive, your VPIP would be much higher

[supersub]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can also see that you are playing a couple of more hands now (unless my stats are off). Going from 13-14 to 16+ is not an easy task. there is a lot of marginal hands there that you have very little experiance playing. Trying those at the higher level may not be EV+ at this moment.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like what you you say in the rest of your post, but disagree slightly here... I would argue that 13-14% is slightly to tight in th 3/6, but definitely too tight in the 15/30.

I would further argue that 13-14 is pretty similar to 16ish in the 15 as the difference in blind structure promotes looser play. you will be playing more marginal hands (at 16% though how many are marginal?), but you are correct in doing so.

[/ QUOTE ]

ahhh, the blind structure [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]. sorry, forgot about that.
i agree, of course.

but he is still playing hands that he usually mucks. Even if they are +EV for someone that has always played them, could the "rookie-factor" turn them into loosers? Not stating a fact, just asking.

[IlliniRyRy]

Hey O'Doyle, you and I have talked a bit at the tables, I know we're kind of in the same boat. I gave the 15-30 a shot as well and lost a little over 200BB just like you before I moved back down to 8-tabling the 5/10, which I've been beating fairly consistently. I think the 15 game is more loose aggressive than 5/10, but the two levels are really similar otherwise. I think I can beat the 15 too right now, but it may be very marginally, and I'm just not willing to deal with the swings. Anyway, here are a few thoughts on your post: you're losing money with 1 pair because the turn gets raised so frequently that it becomes more difficult to toss your TPTK, whereas in 5/10, you can give people for having a better hand. I lose all of my money calling LAGs down on the turn and river because I just can't give as much credit to the 15 players, since there's so much more turn semi-bluffing in the 15 than 5-10. I know this has been covered at length, but just fyi. I also tend to lose a lot of money in the blinds too, probably because you get raised out of position so much more often. I find myself just spewing more chips by attempting to play more aggressively with AQ, AK, etc in those situations. I don't know what kind of bankroll you're working with, but I definitely wouldn't play the 15 with anything less than 20k. I hope we get to talk a little more about this since it looks like we're on the exact same timeline. Good luck out there, PM me if you get a chance.