Poker Tracker Stat Analysis (PS .25/.50)

[AtlChip10]

Let me start by saying hello. My name is Scott, I'm from Milwaukee, and I have been playing Hold'em for about four months now. I have browsed 2+2 for a couple months, but this is my first post. Anyways, I am a winning player over 15,000 hands at the micros, but I don't think I am playing nearly as correctly as I should be. I think I would consider myself to be almost weak/tight, and I was hoping some of you more experienced people could take a look at my Poker Tracker stats from the last month and point out some red flags. Thanks in advance.

10-Person $0.25/$0.50 Limit @ Poker Stars
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2,519 Hands
VP$IP 18.18, BB/100 2.21, WtSD 26.98, W$SD 56.50, PFR 1.03

Position Stats (Position/VP$P/CC%/PFR%)

B 22.3 0.35 0.71
1 20.1 2.88 0.72
2 15.1 0.36 1.44
3 17.7 0.71 0.35
4 17.0 0.37 0.74
5 15.2 0.00 1.90
6 10.1 0.00 1.59
7 14.3 0.00 1.02
B 10.4 0.00 1.34
S 34.9 0.00 0.72

When Folded

9.37 NF, 77.8 PF, 9.85 F, 4.57 T, 2.46 R

And I check-raised 0.69%

Personally I think I am still seeing too many flops from the early positions. I also don't PFR much at all. I think the reason I am timid to raise before the flop is the fact that I like to see the flop before making a decision to be aggressive or not. Would I be correct in assuming I can get away with this at the micros since the raises usually don't get respect anyway, but once I move up to 1/2 or 2/4 I will need to be a lot more aggressive pre-flop? I think my BB/100 is solid, it is actually a little higher over my 'career' at 2.9. Should it be higher at these low limits?

Anyways, thanks again to anyone who takes the time to read through this and help yet another n00b on his quest to bring in as many 99 cent cheeseburgers as possible. Peace.

Scott

[dfscott]

Hey Scott-

Welcome to the forum!

Wiser heads than I will give you a lot more info than I can, but what jumps out at me is that 2,500 hands isn't a lot of info to draw conclusions from. You need about 10,000 to 15,000. So I wouldn't worry about what you're seeing from what position -- I don't think you have enough data yet.

That said, while most of your numbers look good, I do think you're PFR% is too low. Mine is over 7% and I consider myself weak-tight (I'm working on it, though!). I'd like to see it closer to 8 or 9. Don't worry so much about people dropping due to your raise -- you want to put money into the pot with the best hands. By the same token, kiss that money goodbye as soon as it hits the pot and don't get attached to it.

[Illininate]

Welcome to the forum!

Just a couple quick comments:

2,519 hands is a miniscule sample size. All the position stats are pretty much useless with this small of a sample.

Also, your PFR % is way too low. Somewhere in the range of 6-9% is where you want to be. It's important to raise with your premium hands, whether you're getting called or not. A mindset of "nobody folds anyways, so it's not worth raising" is one of the first things you'll need to overcome.

[holeplug]

You really do need to get that PFR% up there to the 7-9% range. Your opponents at this level will gladly play 1 more bet to see the flop, so make them build that pot when you got the goods.

[MaxPower]

Learn to raise pre-flop. In general you don't want your pre-flop raises to get respect. You want them to make a big mistake and call your raises. If they fold they are playing correctly, you don't want them to do that.

[dfscott]

I forgot to mention that I have found that occaisonally my raises will get too much respect at a table as well. When that happens you have two choices:

a) find a different table (usually the easiest)
b) change gears (harder, but often more profitable).

The latter strategy involves raising almost anything you'd play otherwise from middle or late position. Eventually, people will stop believing your raises and you can go back to regular play.

[MicroBob]

agreed with what everyone else is saying here.

a PFR raise of 1.5 indicates that you only raise with AA or KK (and maybe with AKs).

PFR of 7-9 would be much better....and, yes your VPIP could be a little bit lower...but if it's always a field of limpers then there are many hands that you are probably able to play from LP.


here's a situation....
you're on the button with AQs or AJs or even KQs...3 limpers before you and it's your turn to act...what do you do??
answer: raise-away!!!
reason: you probably have the best hand here PF.

your low PFR indicates you are probably just calling in these situations (and lots of others where you should be raising).


yours is certainly not the worst crime in the poker universe.
the bottom-line stat is that you have been winning....so don't make drastic changes to your style of play that you aren't used to.... try to implement them gradually.

also...start posting some hand-histories here as well...particularly hands where you thought about raising (pre-flop..or on any street) but decided not to.

also feel free to read through some of the discussions of the other hand-histories to get some ideas from some of the other discussions taking place.
welcome to the forums...happy learning.

[AtlChip10]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just put 300 hands in, tightening up a bit (to handle the mistakes I'll no doubt make) and playing much more aggressively. In this short time frame my VP$P was 13 and my PFR was at 6 (overall aggressiveness was 1.4 with pf, usually around 0.45). One thing I noticed right away was the fact I always got action due to people not believing I had hit, which was nice because the trips and two pair were paid off very generously. I am still timid about raising, but I keep telling myself it's "the right thing to do". Anyways, I'll check back when I've put together a much larger data pool. Thanks again.

[MicroBob]

sounds like you're on the right track.

i found it amazing how much easier the post-flop play is when i raise more pre-flop.

my win-rate as risen in correspondence to my PFR-rate as i've been gradually inching my PFR from 5 up to about 8 now.