it looks like you're being way too passive preflop. you probably need to steal blinds more often and be a little more ready to 3-bet.

steal more, run better in position #4

Open up more in LP, this is where you make money. Cold call a little less in EP. Looks like you are loosing all the money you win from the blinds, read post #489 ITT.

value bet, value bet and value bet to get max value, don't slow play.

I would recommend you read the Master Sticky and the Concept of the Week thread.

Micro FR Digest - Winter '09 Edition also has lots of good stuff.

Finally, post hands so you can get feedback on how others would have played the hand.

March 13 I started playing nothing but 5NL.

I just wanted to post some stats and see if there's any spot that people think needs attention just from the stats.

7616 hands
$made = 84.41
bb/100 = 22.17
vpip = 17.6
pfr = 10.7
3 bet = 3.8
postflop agg = 2.11

WTSD% = 27.2
W$ at SD = 50.4

I think I'm just running good, but I'm not sure. I try not to get into 2 many preflop flips.

5nl results from a while ago



no analysis needed

If you haven't moved up, I would do so

^^^^^^^^^

yeah, he is up at $25 and doing really well and should be moving up to $50 soon.

I used HEM for a free trial so I only have about 5k hands here and I don't have any positional stats but I'm not really worried there since I'm positionally aware and I don't complete with junk in the SB. My winrate clearly isn't meaningful over this volume, but any input would be cool. These hands consist of 2nl and 5nl, as well as some 10nl CAP games (30bb max possible loss per hand). To be clear, the only capped games were the ones played at 10nl.

Limits, Winrates, Basic Statistics:


List of sessions, can compare what I earned to my EV here


Graph of Winnings and EV in $


Red and Blue lines for the same graph


The graphs in terms of bb instead of $ (not sure if it means anything, but I have it, so I'll post it)




And finally, some interesting stats

after 5k hands, the only stats that mean anything at all are vpip/pfr and af, and yours are fine. keep at it.

your position stats are an important analytical tool for his thread, so make sure to post them when you have purchased tracking software and have a decent sample.

Blind play. I looked at my recent position play for the past month and my blind play has me concerned. Its at 2NL for 47884 hands.. The problem is soooo often Ill be in the SB with 7-1,9-1 and even better odds to complete that I do without even caring what my cards are at that point. Is this bad? What things should I be looking for to tighten my blind play up? For instance I see that I have a 8% coldcall at SB for the highest %, bad?

Well, I'm going to post an extendedtldrtextwall update here. The original numbers were from mostly 10NL, I think (posted below, side-by-side, you don't have to search back for them), and these new ones are my 25NL results to date. I have theoretically improved overall, I think, although my blind play still needs work and I've loosened up a bit there, which might account for the lower win rate. But then again my overall winrate has plummeted since moving up so that might not be the cause (it's fairly in-step with my lower win rates in every other position). How do the actual VPIP rates look like for the blinds? I'm just not sure how many hands I should be playing there and how often I should be calling the extra 2bb from typical raises. Same with the SB.

Also I think my 3betting is too tight and 4betting too tight (basically never), especially since it's gone down now. Regarding that, what are good call 3bet rates? I'm calling a lot less now, which I think was a fairly large leak previously. Looking at hands where I call 3bets and I'm still -EV so I guess I could put a little work into either calling less or playing better postflop in those pots. Or calling more and playing a lot better? At any rate my 3bet hands need work. I just feel like I'm getting 3bet a LOT more often at 25NL than I was at 10NL, hence the lower call rate.

On the plus side, my W$WSF is right where you said it should be, and I'm floating more on the flop, plus my VPIP:PFR ratio has tightened a good bit, I'm playing even more positionally aware, and I'm stealing a lot more out of the SB and overall. Then again, my steal rate was already good before and I think I'm getting a little ridiculous with my steal rates now. That in conjunction with my c-bet rate and overall increase in aggression has me thinking I'm getting played back at a lot more than one supposedly should at this limit. But then no action with my good hands! What's a guy to do?

I'm making more plays, but I'm worried I'm getting some FPS. I'm also thinking my c-bet rates are too high, but I might just be not c-betting large enough lately (success rate is 49.1%, if that's good or not? It's only a couple % points down from 10NL, and I guess that's expectable).

But despite my seeming improvement, I've only managed to break-even over the last 15K hands, which has been extremely frustrating, especially since I was doing so well there for a bit... Is 25NL just that much tougher than 10NL or something? I wasn't expecting this significant of a WR reduction (it was 5.5 before at 10NL, 8.5 lifetime over 52K), especially not as my skill has been improving since I moved up. At least I feel a lot more aware and better, but I'm not showing it at all. I still spew a bit, I know, but at least I'm more aware of when I'm spewing while I'm spewing. That's an improvement of sorts I guess




One last thing I've noticed is my all-in EV isn't very significant ever really. I mean, yeah I'm running below EV right now, but it's not a big part of my game - I rarely get it in really ever. I seem to have a near-impossible time getting that sort of action. I mean, in this ~21K hand stretch I have 159 hand where I'm all-in on the turn or earlier, or about 0.7% of the time. I don't know if that's standard or what. Maybe it's not an issue.


and the #s (new numbers on top) - I put red around numbers I think are improvements and green around the ones I am not liking. Yes, that's completely bass akwards but I'm sticking with it.




Semi-edit: I'm limping/calling a LOT less in LP now, particularly on the BTN.


Thank you again in advance for the help. I'll be sure to ship you a nice pot if I ever catch you at the tables

Move up to NL5. 50k hands at NL2 should be enough to beat the higher level.

The problem with completing because you are getting direct odds is that you most of the time you complete you are offering significant reverse implied odds.

Suppose that 2 people limp ahead of you and you are in the small blind with 75o. You complete and the BB checks. The flop comes down 872 Where are you? Do you have the best hand? Can you play this aggressively? Suppose you lead at the pot and get a caller. The turn is a 6. Where are you? Did you improve or are you now drawing dead? What do you do?

Here's another example: suppose 2 limpers and you complete A4o. The flop comes ace high. You check/call the button's bet. Now what? fold if he bets again?

When you complete with two trashy cards in the small blind you are really hoping to flop a monster, because lots of your one pair hands are going to put you in tough spots. But you rarely flop a monster--you flop two pair something like 1 in 49.5 times you see a flop with two unpaired cards. You'll flop an open ended straight draw with one gappers about 1 in 12 times; so now, those 7 to 1 and 8 to 1 odds you are getting aren't looking so great.

For these reasons, I am not a big fan of completing trash in the blinds. Some people can make it work, but I consider it a significant leak for most players. I think you should raise or fold most of the time. I complete low pocket pairs and low suited connectors, and that's about it; I will usually raise or fold anything else.

What I would like to see you doing in the small blind is raise a lot more and fold a lot more. If there is only 1 limper ahead of you, you should treat his hand as basically a random hand and raise top third-ish hands which rate to be ahead of, or at least play well against, the limper's practically random hand and the BB's random hand.

Right now, your SB stats are 17/5; I would like to see that change to something like 14/9.

You need to read post 489 in this thread and apply it to both your big blind play and your small blind play. A word of caution, though--at $2NL, people tend to call very lightly postflop, which is not good if we are just barreling at an orphan pot with a gutshot straight draw. So you may find that you need to adapt the advice in post 489 to the game you are in.

2NL

Would defending the blinds at those limits mean defending only with better hands? Made hands? Only completing and not reraising?

Meh, how do I upload stats? I have PT3 and when i open and click "export" it's saved as a "excel" file, not as an image. Therefore i can't host it. Help! (Btw graphs are saved as JPG files and can therefore be uploaded...)

A simple print screen + microsoft paint to select your stats and make an image of it!

ps : if you never did a print screen it is on your keyboard (~ top right) it copys your screen, so you just have to paste it in paint.

Thank you. I went and found #489. Is the following what you are referring too?

Now to your blinds, which is where your big problem is. It's my problem, too, so I am not really the best person to be advising you on how to plug this leak. Here are some things I have looked at or are on my "to do" list for plugging this leak.

In the small blind, when it is folded to you, raise almost any 2 cards.
In the big blind, when there is only a LP limper, raise a lot of hands.
In the big blind, when the action is only the small blind completing, raise almost any two cards (but be careful and respect 3 bets, because people often limp big hands here).
In limped pots, Hu or 3 way, bet any pair or draw you flop if the texture of the flop is bad.
It's an oldie but goodie--consider betting with any two cards in a limped 2 or 3 way pot when the flop is paired.
In the big blind, HU against the SB, if he checks, bet. always. seriously, always. If he calls, bet a lot of turns, too.
Analyze your 3 betting. make sure you are 3 betting hands you want to felt and hands that are just barely not good enough to call a steal with--flat call with everything in between.
Carefully analyze your 3 bet hands that see a flop. This is a HUGE leak, because these are big pots. Losing too much in these spots is KILLING my blind play. If you are negative in hands you 3 bet out of the blinds (excluding your monsters) you would be better off for the time being folding these hands while you crack the code on how to play these pots (most villains will not notice your temporarily unbalanced 3 betting range).
Avoid getting into ego-driven pissing contests. I lost a $30 pot a few days ago in the big blind with 82o. Yep, true story! It folded to the SB, who completed, and I raised to 2. He called. Flop had two spades. He checked, i bet, he called. Turn completed the flush. he bet $10, I RAISED, lol, and he called. Common sense eventually returned, and when he checked the river I checked behind (and saw his flush). lol, oh well, meta-game. But really, $30 of absolutely mindless spew, just bound and determined to WIN THIS POT. lol, don't do it.

Hello!

I wondered if you could take a look at my stats and see if there are any obvious leaks that I could work on. Thanks in advance! (My stats for 25NL are not very reliable since i have only played around 2k hands of it) I've played 15k out of 22K hands at 10NL, so they are the most reliable stats.

General stats:


Positional stats:


Graph:

Ive been playing for about 3 years, and ive been stuck grinding at 1/2 for quite awhile. Im break even at 2/4, although I havent messed there this year.
Ive had some great bursts, and Im up in 2007,2008, and this year, just not as much as I should be. A side note, I do take money out regularly, so that does keep my bankroll in the 1/2 range....although my total winnings are about 30K.....
My dilemna is im unsure if my redline on this graph is what is keeping me from being a much stronger player...

My Basic Stats:
AF: 2.5
Cbet Flop: 70%
Cbet Turn: 34.77%
Cbet River: 29.2%

Fold to Cbet: 55.5%
Call Turn bet: 29.82%
Call River Bet: 27.08%

Im thinking maybe I am calling too much on all streets which is causing me money...perhaps I should be raising more and calling less? I also dont want opponents to just bet into me and I fold either....ANyway, here is the graph, let me know if this is normal, average, or horrible. Its all of 2009.

So these graphs are after a month of playing 25NL, fresh off a long break from poker. When I started back up again - I definitely was committing careless mistakes the first couple of weeks.I feel that my winrate does not accurately reflect how well I've been playing recently.

I'm really looking for some feedback on my positional stats.



I feel that my button and CO VPIP may be too low, should I be opening up my range? How are the rest of my stats? Am I bleeding too much from the blinds?



I definitely think I can improve my ATS and 3bet% when I move up to 50NL, but for 25NL I think the 3bet% is fine as most people don't squeeze at 25NL.



Finally, is the red line even worth thinking about? I have read on 2p2 that there really shouldn't be any concern for it being so low, but I guess it bothers me knowing that I am losing money by perhaps folding too much postflop? My style is pretty weak-tight at 25NL, trying to make it more TAGgy for 50NL when I move up.

Any comments and help would be appreciated!
Thanks guys

Hello everyone.
Hope u can help me in improving my game.
Here are my stats.
Thanks to everyone

kudos to mpethy for the great work he's doing. I should come in for my yearly check-up, but I'll collect some more data first

Obviously I am no mpethy or anything close to it. But you really need too loosen up, especially from early position. Being OOP sux but I run at least ~8/6 from EP, trying to raise all pocket pairs and maybe a few suited connectors if the table will let me pursue my draws profitably. You don't want to only be raising big hands up front as this is a dead giveaway and most people assume it anyways. When you raise crap like PP's and SC's, you have a high probability of getting paid off when you hit. This is, of course, assuming you are a good OOP player. You should also definitely increase your flop and turn aggression, as these are IMO the two most important streets in Texas Hold Em'. Get fancy.

Remember: aggressive poker is winning poker, passive poker is Guy Laliberte.

hi dudes,
i had beat 5nlfr for 8ptbb/100 over 20k hands.
Now i am playing the last 2 weeks 10NLSH at partypoker and i have some problems !
It's so swingy i think i have too many leaks postflop with the non sd winnings.
I am playing mostly 4 tables, sometimes 6.
I know 10 k hands isn't a samplesize but maybe somone could give me some help, necause playing like this, dowsnt make any fun to me :-)





Ty :-)

yep,that's it.