A short post on something I'm doing these days

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This seems awfully weird coming from somebody who makes his money in games that tend to run short, where how a guy plays seems even harder to define in specific numbers.

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It depends on what type of player (even human being) you are. statisical types will favor the data and the incredible amount of information contained therein. The opposite type of person will favor more specific reads acquired from a few observations. Analytical types will tell you they get a better picture out of 1k hands than those that aren't do. This is because of the encapsulatory nature of their statistics.

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What exactly is a stat? It's a direct observation of a player's tendencies converted into a meaningful number. In a lot of these stat fields, the conversion distorts the actual information it was intended to convey. A great example is the "aggro factor". We all know that a high agg factor could mean two different things: the player is very aggressive, or he folds too much. If you just look at the stat you have no idea which case it is. Even over a large sample you may be receiving data that is misleading. If you were observing the player yourself, you may notice that he is laggy, or he folds too often and take the appropriate action.

And what differences in hand range calculation do you make when a 1.7 and a 2.1 agg factor opponent raises you? I don't see how you could really make a distinction between the two and translate that into a concrete difference. And if you do, how do you know it is accurate? The numbers really can't tell you that. If you observed that player, you would be able to find with what range a player takes a certain action.

I think an analytical type will gain more INFORMATION out of observation than from stats. Why does everyone suggest posting hands instead of stats posts? Because they just don't mean much.

Stats won't tell you if a player goes nuts on the flop with a draw, bluffs too often, calls with insufficient odds, always checkraises sets on the turn, always bets out with a draw, etc. Stats won't tell you a player's range when he donks the flop into you or calls your thin turn bet.

Until pokertracker becomes sophisticated enough to compute and convert this information into understandable data, direct observation of player tendencies will remain superior to "stats".