Continually learning :-)

[ND1991]

I am still learning, and sometimes cannot figure out if I made the "right" play or not. I try to play Tight and Aggressive, but seem to have stats slightly above that range.

For Dec. 2010:
~12,000 hand
VPIP 23.05, PFR 16.43, WWSF 40.87, WTSD 48.43, WSD 51.84
(willing to provide others if needed)

I was playing in a $50 + $5 (meant to join a $5 + $0.50), but did not watch the confirmation screen closely enough.

Lost 515 chips with J9s on board of 7hQs5cQdJh to pocket 7s. I raised pre-flop, continued, checked turn, bet river and was called each time.

Won 375 chips with 2d2h on board of 3h3sAd4cTh against 7d5d.

Lost 150 chips with AcJs on board of QsQh4h9c5s against AsKs.

56 hands of single table tournament and the above three were the only ones I showed down.

Hand 57:
PokerStars - $50+$5|75/150 NL (9 max) - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP+1: 2,658.00
CO: 2,093.00
BTN: 459.00
SB: 1,260.00
BB: 1,260.00
Hero (UTG): 2,320.00
UTG+1: 1,105.00
MP: 2,345.00

SB posts SB 75.00, BB posts BB 150.00

Pre Flop: (225.00) Hero has K A

Hero raises to 475.00, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 1,260.00 and is all-in, Hero calls 785.00

Flop: (2595.00, 2 players) T J Q

Turn: (2595.00, 2 players) 3

River: (2595.00, 2 players) Q

BB shows 9 9 (Two Pair, Queens and Nines) (PreFlop 55%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows K A (Straight, Ace High) (PreFlop 45%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins 2,595.00

Hand 58:
PokerStars - $50+$5|75/150 NL (9 max) - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG+1: 2,658.00
MP: 2,093.00
CO: 459.00
BTN: 1,185.00
Hero (SB): 3,655.00
BB: 1,105.00
UTG: 2,345.00

Hero posts SB 75.00, BB posts BB 150.00

Pre Flop: (225.00) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 1,185.00 and is all-in, Hero calls 1,110.00, fold

Flop: (2520.00, 2 players) 4 9 2

Turn: (2520.00, 2 players) T

River: (2520.00, 2 players) Q

Hero shows Q Q (Three of a Kind, Queens) (PreFlop 71%, Flop 83%, Turn 89%)
BTN shows K J (Straight, King High) (PreFlop 29%, Flop 17%, Turn 11%)
BTN wins 2,520.00

Hand 64:
PokerStars - $50+$5|75/150 NL (9 max) - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP: 3,108.00
CO: 1,868.00
BTN: 618.00
SB: 2,211.00
Hero (BB): 2,470.00
UTG: 1,910.00
UTG+1: 1,315.00

SB posts SB 75.00, Hero posts BB 150.00

Pre Flop: (225.00) Hero has 8 8

fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 618.00 and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 468.00

Flop: (1311.00, 2 players) K 8 5

Turn: (1311.00, 2 players) J

River: (1311.00, 2 players) 2

Hero shows 8 8 (Three of a Kind, Eights) (PreFlop 55%, Flop 98%, Turn 91%)
BTN shows T A (High Card, Ace) (PreFlop 45%, Flop 2%, Turn 9%)
Hero wins 1,311.00

Hand 67:
PokerStars - $50+$5|75/150 NL (9 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: 3,108.00
UTG: 1,868.00
MP: 2,361.00
Hero (CO): 3,088.00
BTN: 1,685.00
SB: 1,390.00

SB posts SB 75.00, BB posts BB 150.00

Pre Flop: (225.00) Hero has J 9

fold, fold, Hero raises to 450.00, fold, SB calls 375.00, fold

Flop: (1050.00, 2 players) 4 6 J
SB checks, Hero bets 1,050.00, SB calls 940.00 and is all-in

Turn: (2930.00, 2 players) 9

River: (2930.00, 2 players) T

SB shows Q K (Straight, King High) (PreFlop 63%, Flop 25%, Turn 9%)
Hero shows J 9 (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines) (PreFlop 37%, Flop 75%, Turn 91%)
SB wins 2,930.00

Comments and insight welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance.

My thoughts:

Hand 57: worst case he had PP and I was racing. Best case he had A and I was dominating.

Hand 58: QQ is tough to lay down. Figured I was in dominating position unless he has AK.

Hand 64: figured I was racing, but he was very short and only other player in hand.

Hand 67: thought my top pair was good. was hoping he was not on flush draw and willing to put tournament life on line.

[Logan]

Playing hands like J9s is the reason why your Vpip is so high (for tight-aggresive), is ok to play those hands in early levels for cheap but need to have in mind you are playing those hands for flush/str8, our kicker will be really weak when just hit our pair.

I will suggest to lower your raises, 2.5x-2.6x all game, someone suggest this to me and is great to maintain pot control and save chips.

About stats, i end 17/11 in november and still need to tight a little more, in december end 15.9/10.9, some times see regulars as high as 18/15, but to be true i don´t usually see tight aggresive above 20 in STT unless are loose or fish (remember the 22/12 is for Mtts).

This numbers are for 9man standards, in turbos or 6max should be higher.


About other stats WSD 51.84 looks ok, anything above 50 is fine ( i have 51.7)

Other important stats for STT are 3bet/ CB / AF (aggresive factor) / Steal / FBB (fold BB versus steal) / FSB (fold sb versus steal).

About the hands, hand 64 will find it often, just recently ask about this one and our mark should be 88+/77+ so was a good call. Hand 58 is a snap call he only have around 8-9bb so you go to your calling range there, you also have 3 times his stack. hand 67 becareful with those hands, a raise caller in sb with only 9bb when blinds are so high usually means have a strong hand or is ok to go all the way ( or is a fish). Rest looks ok.

* just look how big all pots go raising 3x/3.5x when blinds are high.

How many tables are you playing?.

[ND1991]

Thanks for the in depth reply. I am trying to learn more about stats and use them to not only find leaks in my game, but better understand my opponents also.

Other stats you asked about:
3B....... 6.27
CB...... 48.71 (flop)
CB...... 58.82 (turn)
CB...... 56.25 (river)
AF....... 1.58
AFq..... 39.20
Steal... 30.22
FBB..... 78.85
FSB..... 88.21

I try to play usually 1 table, and I never play more than 4.

As for the VPIP, this includes all hands during the STT so I need to break down ones with full and those later after people have been elimnated. I will try to do this and post again.

So VPIP/PR around 16/11 should be target?

And last question, the smaller raises I have found almost always get called. I am willing to try and experiment, but many of the online books and forums I read have said 5x, but I dialed down from there to 3x to 3.5x.

Please elaborate more on what you have found with 2.5x? I would think the range of hands you play against would increase with this type of raise online.

Thanks again!

[Logan]

The thing about stats is that is dependable on each one, is not a rule for how much your vp/Pfr should be, but is a guide to how a player play (tight/loose), if you search regulars or winning players you will find that most are under 20, to put some examples on regulars wich i have around 1000 hands on each one (wich are multitabling around 8-15 tables).

12/10
14/10
15/8
14/11
19/12
15/11

Some of them are in the month S&G leadearboard in Fulltilt, all of them are winning players, how low you should go, it depends, if you find losing because your range is to wide then tight more until you feel confortable, for start at least focus in get under 20. when you play more tables you should see your vp get lower because play less hands naturally, but with 1 table it is harder because get borred and start to play more trash hands.

3B....... 6.27

3B give us the range a player reraise with, this help to put players in a range of hands we could be facing. 4 to 6 is ok, 5.5 is the avg (i have 5.7)

3B:2= reraise with only AA/KK
3B:4= reraise with QQ+/JJ+
3B:6= reraise with AK+/TT+
3B:8= reraise with AJ+/88+
above that, player is reraising very loose.

CB...... 48.71 (flop)

CB:45 to 55 is ok
CB:30 or less is betting only when hit
CB:70 or more is betting really loose.

AF....... 1.58 (Calculated by Bet% + Raise% / Call%)

AF: anything above 2 is ok (avg 2.5) (i have 2.7)
AF:>3 very aggresive (bet a lot with marginal hands)
AF:<2 is passive (raising and betting with something or just calling)

Steal... 30.22 (i have 18, still working on this)

S:15-30 is ok
S:<15 very tight
S:>40 very loose

FBB..... 78.85 / FSB..... 88.21 (i have 79/88)

This helps to see how much we can steal blinds (very helpfull for late levels).

above 70 we can try to steal.
lower than 60 is a coinflip (a lot of times player will not fold)

Stats are great help but not get that dependable of them (even more if are playing only 1 table), also remember to stats have any value need to consider #hands, i pretty much not consider any stats if don´t have at leasts 100 hands on villains. For some stats need more hands than others, for example you see some one with 3bet:18, this don´t mean he is reraising with anything if only have 20 hands on subject, but stats like FBB/FSB if player have FBB 100 and you are in sb even with 50 hands you could try to steal with any 2, so keep that in mind, more hands more accuracy on stats.

About lower raises will try to eloborate more tomorrow, but basically if a player going to call a 2.5 raise still going to call a 3x-3.5 raise, but with lower raise we maintain pot contol because we invest less, so when we don´t hit we could make the cbet and still save some chips if get action, example we raise 2.5 then we make cbet (if we get a call then is 2.5x2=5 plus blinds in pot, so we could cbet 3bb more and if need to leave the hand we only invest 2.5 plus 3, (5.5) if raise 3.5 and get call, pot is 7bb plus blinds, so you cbet 4-5bb and if leave already invest 7.5-8.5bb (so we save 2-3 bbs each time we raise) and keep pot low if have a not that strong hand.

But this is for when we open first, if limpers are there already still we can make the 2.5x plus 1bb for limper., so if we see 1 limper already we end raising 3.5x wich is the same you are using (also this help for times when we have a big hand, we raise 2.5 and some one 3bet us behind wich is what we want, but if we raise 3.5 instead then most of times people will fold).

This is a strategy some S&G coachs are using, a friend suggest this to me and to be true at first was thinking same like you that our hands will be call all the time, but the thing is in early levels our hands are still call if we raise 4x or more, but importance is that late levels when our stacks are around 10-20 bb´s any raise 3x or higher will hurt us if we cbet and later have to lay down the hand. (you will see some players also raise only 2bb in late levels)

This not mean we going to raise small all the time, some times we still can raise bigger early if we see a lot of limpers or table is loose.

Also it will depend on your stakes, for $3 or lower this will not work because you will be called no matter how much you raise, but in $5 or $11 (probably in higher too) works better because start to see more regulars and people respect a little more raises (again we are talking only about STT 9 man standard)

Try it some games and see.

Wich stakes are you playing?, you don´t want to play more tables?.