I had not updated this OP in over a year, so it was about time that I do so. Also, to apologize for my post-Black Friday hiatus that probably inconvenienced some people looking for coaching.
I'm estimating, but between the stats thread and database analysis coaching, I am sure that I have now reviewed the stats and databases for over a thousand players. I can say without either bragging or false modesty that I have become the world's leading expert on using tracking software to detect leaks in the games of NLHE 6 max and full ring cash players, and that there is not even a serious contender for second place.
In the last year to eighteen months, I have performed my database analysis for probably one hundred midstakes players, both at 6 max and FR, playing and winning as high as $5/$10 online. The remainder of my clients have played at all levels from NL $2-$10 (free coaching) up to $3/$6.
Nobody has ever expressed dissatisfaction with my analysis either in this thread or after the session privately to me, and many of my midstakes clients have told me that it is the only valuable poker coaching they have ever received.
The reason for this universal acceptance of my methods is simple: I do not deal with opinions. I do not say, “I think this is a better line for you to take against this villain,” in a spot that is so marginal neither of us really knows what the best line is. Instead, I simply offer objective and empirical evidence of where your game needs improvement. I say, “Here you are calling river shoves in a spot where you need to win 40% to break even, and you are actually winning only 15%. This suggests you are putting villains on too wide a range.”
Having done hundreds of analyses of winning players' results, I can not only do an analysis of where you are losing, but I can compare your stats and win rates to the results other winning players have achieved. Thus, I can identify situations and starting hands:
1. Where you are losing and could be winning;
2. Where you should be losing less; and,
3. Where you are winning less than what other winners are regularly achieving.
Basically, my database analysis consists of detective work. We will use the empirical data in your database to find the spots where your mistakes are concentrated.
As the games have gotten tougher to beat at all levels, my database analysis has continued to evolve to address the increasingly subtle leaks players have that survive the filtering down through the stakes of technical proficiency. In 2008, when I began doing database analyses, it was pretty common to find players who were, for example, losing money cold calling. I rarely find such glaring leaks these days; instead, it is far more common to see a sub-optimal, but positive, cold calling win rate, and to conclude that the player needs to change his floating frequency a bit.
The analysis consists of:
I. Review overall stats: VPIP, PFR, AF, Afreq%, ATS, 3-bet, fold to 3 bet, WTSD, W$WSF and W$SD, cbet flop, cbet turn, cbet success, river call efficiency (Hem users) and other stats focusing primarily on:
1. Effective aggression;
2. Effective showdown strategy; and,
3. Effective strategy for winning in marginal situations.
II. Review of your stats and win rates by position focusing primarily on:
1. Maximizing your button winrate;
2. Minimizing losses in the blinds; and,
3. Maximizing EP win rates with range adjustments.
III. Review of your stats and win rates by situation including:
1. Stealing;
2. 3 betting;
3. Facing 3 bets;
4. Cold Calling;
5. Set mining; and,
6. Isolating Limpers.
IV. Review of stats and win rates by individual starting hands by comparing your win rates and strategy to that of other winning players to find missing value with:
1. Premium hands;
2. Middle Pockets;
3. Small Pockets; and,
4. Suited Connectors and One Gappers.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, this process detects all of your significant leaks. In the rare cases in which it doesn't, I continue the analysis by analyzing the frequency and profitability of the various betting lines that you take post flop.
Database Analysis Packages
1.
Comprehensive Database Analysis. This is a four hour session designed to identify and address all major leaks in your game. It is the fine tooth comb. Most clients prefer to split it into two sessions of two hours each. Available to players playing from NL $25 to NL $1000, the price is based on the highest stakes in your database:
NL $25: $110
NL $50: $225
NL $100+: $330
I KNOW these prices are low. Many of my midstakes clients have said they would have paid $1000 for the information they received during a four hour session. My goal with my pricing has always been to keep my prices at a point where NL $25 and $50 players can afford to pay for it out of their bankrolls without doing too much damage.
Caveat: If you are a winning player at NL $200 or $400 $600 $1000 or higher,
you should understand that the body of knowledge you are paying for is primarily database analysis,
not poker coaching. I can guarantee you that I can detect your specific leaks, but our discussion about how to plug them will be more of a discussion between equals.
2.
Major Leak Detection. If the idea of shipping 4+ buy ins causes your blood to run cold, and you play $25 or $50, you can sign up for this 2 hour session. We won't go over your entire database; there won't be time. Instead, I'll look at your win rates on a a bunch of different situations, make a judgment as to where your biggest two or three leaks are, and we will work on plugging those. Fair warning: if your biggest leak is blind play, we'll probably spend ¾ of the session working on that.
NL $25: $65
NL $50: $125
3. Free coaching. If you are playing up to NL $10, you are eligible to request free coaching. I will do one or two free 1.5 hour Major Leak Detection sessions per week for NL $10 players. The wait list is usually very long, so be prepared to wait a while.
Also, and I'm just using the honor system on this: I was recently doing a free session for an NL $10 player. About halfway through the session he mentioned his “patients,” and it turned out he was a doctor! My intent in free coaching is to offer it to up and coming grinders who can't afford to pay for coaching yet. If you can afford to pay for coaching, please consider hiring a coach who charges NL $10 players. Alternatively, if you have your heart set on a database analysis, please make a donation to the charity of your choice in the amount you would be prepared to pay for coaching.
My Results:
Despite the fact that I do not consider myself primarily a poker coach, some strategy talk inevitably comes up in all of my sessions. Even the midstakes players who come to me mostly for leak detection solicit my advice on how to plug their leaks. This is natural, but I have always been wary of offering strategy advice to my clients who I consider to be better poker players than I am. But, because it does come up, and I will offer my advice if asked, it seems only fair that I post my results in this thread. This is especially true in view of the recent uproar in NVG about coaches who were marginal winners, because that's what I was. For my non-Rush results, you can just check PTR (mpethybridge on Full Tilt and PokerStars). I haven't looked at it in over a year, but I recall it being reasonably accurate—toward the end of, I think, November 2010, I had a pretty bad downswing at $200 FR, and decided to try Rush. I'm pretty sure I played 95% Rush from that point forward as a marginal winner:
Nothing special, for sure, but I'm certainly not ashamed of those results, either. I bounced back and forth for years between $50 and $100, so I was pretty happy to go from $50 in March '10 to being even a marginal winner at Rush $200 until Black Friday.
Contact Information:
I still have not updated my website since my hiatus, so if you'd like to schedule a session, shoot me a private message here on 2+2
Two Plus Two
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