Leaks: What are the warning signs?

Hoi Polloi · #1 08-09-2005, 02:30 PM

What needs to happen for you to think you may have a leak in your game? Is it a hunch or more systematic?

Borno · #2 08-09-2005, 02:46 PM

the best players are those that consistently try to improve their game.

You should always be a student of hold 'em. Replay hands, or review your stats. The most important thing is to make sure you are in the green.

Webster · #3 08-09-2005, 02:53 PM

The other question is . . .is there a person in the world WITHOUT a leak.

Sometimes you will be watching a game on TV and the "expert" makes a play that you just do not understand. Well - "experts" make mistakes all the time. They just make less of them.

HOWEVER - in a simple form - I REALLY look for leaks when I have a stretch of cards that do not win. I'm always looking but there are times that you can tell that things are just not playing out as they should. That 74o is not winning as often as it has in the past for instance.

[img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Hoi Polloi · #4 08-10-2005, 08:14 AM

How would you define a leak?

I would say it has to be a mistake you make consistently in certain situations. Weak blind defense, say, or over aggressive blind defense. Maybe getting aggressive with less than top pair in small pots. And as Ed Miller suggests in SSHE with his excellent check/folding flopped straight-flushes example, it pays to focus on high-frequency situations.

What I'm trying to find out is whether anyone has a systematic approach to leak diagnosis. Clearly most everyone here regularly thinks about improving their game.

crunchy1 · #5 08-10-2005, 08:36 AM

[ QUOTE ]
How would you define a leak?

[/ QUOTE ]
From the classic NPA post:

[ QUOTE ]
The importance of a leak is determined by the product of two quantities:
1. The average magnitude of the error (in expectation) when you make it
2. The FREQUENCY with which you are presented the opportunity to make the error.

[/ QUOTE ]

SeaEagle · #6 08-10-2005, 09:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
What I'm trying to find out is whether anyone has a systematic approach to leak diagnosis. Clearly most everyone here regularly thinks about improving their game.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm really anal about my PT stats. I'm always comparing them to "norms" and wherever I'm off, or whenever I drift off, I search to see if it's being caused by a leak.

I posted several months ago about how PT helped me identify a leak in the way I played KQ.

More recently, I saw my aggression slip. Over a 10K hand stretch, I was more aggressive on the river than on the flop. As it turns out, I'd gotten into the habit of taking off a card more often the I should have. So I was calling too much on the flop and by the river I had either made my draw or missed it, so I was either betting or folding.

Both of these items were pretty big leaks that I wouldn't have discovered without having PT point out that maybe I should be looking closer at certain aspects of my play.

I have to give a huge caveat here, though. You have to be very careful that you don't use stats to cure "leaks" that aren't really there. In my case, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of friends who are very good players. I'm able to say to them "PT says this. Can you look at some of my hands and tell me if you think PT's on to something?" More often then not, they'll take a look and say "No, your play looks fine. It's probably just variance."