Don't have Poker Tracker, unfortunately (yet). Am gonna pay for the license once I earn enough winnings, but that means it'd take me longer to move up in limits (not that I'm in any hurry anyway).

I'm going to convert all dollar figures here into BB values (which is what you guys prefer to evaluate, I gather ). For reference, I play in the .25/.50c limits.

After 1608 Hands:

Fold Percentages:
Pre-Flop: 69%
Flop: 9%
Turn: 5%
River: 3%

Round:
Saw The Flop: 31%
Went to River after seeing Flop: 48%
Folded to a River Bet: 34%
Showdowns won: 48%

Outcome:
Average big bets per hand: 0.04
Total playing time: 29h 14m 22s
Win/Loss per hour: +2.02BB
Pots won: 129
Pots split: 12
Pots lost: 1466
Total won/lost: +59.2BB
Hands Played: 1608

This works out to be about 3.68BB/100, right? (It was 5.55BB/100 last night, up +89.2BB total but it fell down to +59.2BB, but that's another story)

So I'm doing fairly well so far? I know that I need to have some stuff here fine-tuned badly (ie: I probably play way too many hands?) so fire away!

Without the familiar PT stats, it's a little difficult to see where you are. Your VP$IP could be as high as 31% or as low as that number excluding any BB hands. You're probably playing too many hands.

Those stats are really confusing to me but my recommendation is to DEFINITELY buy PokerTracker. It will make any analysis much easier---what site do you play on to get those stats or are they self-compiled?

Hi,

I'm playing at the same level as you and your stats are pretty common there. I do believe that you play to many hands. My "read" on you is that you probably play any pair, any two cards bigger than ten, any ace and quite a few suited hands. Not all but probably connectors and things like Kxs and Qxs. Thats my guess. Your win-rate is good but I don't know if it is sustainable with this style of play. Some of the players with numbers similar to yours in my PT database have good win-rate though. However I don't have very large samples on them, the biggest about 2000 hands.

I think you need to work on your selection of starting hands. You probably will get into trouble already at the 25c/50c level in the long run playing that many hands but as you move up I am certain that this will be a big leak in your game. "Small Stakes Hold'em" is probably a book that would help you tighten up.

When you do get PT don't make the mistake that I have done sometimes. Don't focus too much on the stats. PT is good for identifying leaks like playing to many hands and so on. But you kind of knew that without PT, right? One should focus on playing good and the stats will follow from that. This is something that the experienced players always says but it is so easy for us beginners to forget.

/CipherJr

LoL!

My bad tib! Ya know, your post hadn't appeared yet when i was writin mine....swear!

If it had, you KNOW my post would've read something like

'Tib is right as usual on this point...'
'Tib makes a particularly cogent point HERE...'
'Tib, ever the innovator, leads us to an epiphony nothing short of groundbreaking here...'

etc!

Bar exam? Doesnt anyone read my journal anymore?!?!

Just kiddin. yeah i took it, or rather it took me. We dont know if we pass till november though- My chances of passing? Openended straight draw with two overcards probly. Hehe. SHoulda studies more and played poker/drank less eh?

I believe the "saw the flop" is self-explanatory - it means just that, the % of times i get to see the flop out of all hands I play, which includes blinds.

Thanks for the tips - originally I started with the advice from PM's sticky thread - multitabling and playing only pairs and raising hard with big pairs (AA, KK, etc), plus play suited Axs in LP.

I did sustain a win rate, but it felt slow though, so I loosened up my play somewhat. A lot of my biggest pots was from playing more hands in LP and blinds that I would not play otherwise from an earlier position. If I hit a good flop or have plenty of outs, I go for it to the river, especially if the pot is big.

I can see where PT would be valuable here - seeing if I win money on average when I decide to loosen up a bit from LP and chasing hard with bigger pots.

Since the 30% stat includes blinds, I would estimate that roughly 20% of the 30% are blinds.. so that means my VP$IP is probably somewhere closer to 24%.

With 24%, what kind of hands tend to be played? I want to see if it matches up to what I know I would play (just so I can marvel at your statistical whizness ).

I do have SSHE here, with that new book smell - I bought it 4 days ago. I have not quite incorporated anything I read into my playing yet.. I would do it at first but quickly forget and go back to my roots. But I do think a point sticked in my mind though from the book - it is to try to go for draws, especially multiple draws (ie: flush and straight), chase them hard and especially with bigger pots. I think that worked for me lately, but I need a bigger sample of hands to see if it really does have an effect.

I think I need to work on my postflop play also.. I think I have the preflop thing pretty much nailed down (maybe). I'm going to read up on that in the SSHE in the next few hours.