Time to ask the experts/ Trying to take the next step

[stealthtt385]

Warning: Long

I feel like I should already know these things since I've been playing poker for a couple years now, but I need some help. It seems like I've known certain things at points in my poker career, but after thousands and thousands of hands I tend to forget/disregard things that I probably shouldn't. Here's a little list of things I feel I need work on.

1. My river aggression is too low and I know this. Here are the numbers by street.
flop- 4.99
turn- 4.18
river- 1.41
Total- 4.09

It seems like when I get to the river I usually go into check/call mode if I'm not holding a monster. If I truly think my hand is the best I will bet. I will also bet big pairs depending on the opponent. Other than that I call value bets depending on the texture of the board. My question here is what are you guys betting on the river to have such a high AF?

2. WTSD and W$SD
WTSD 17.31%
W$SD 53.30%

These stats are only in a database of 7,500 hands at $100nl, but I can assure you that this is what the numbers have always looked like. This is the one that’s always sort of perplexed me I guess. I have been a winning player now for two plus years, but shouldn’t this be a lot higher? I was reading APerfect10’s journal and his was in the 60’s and I think I read somewhere that Ice’s was higher than that.

3. Betting Streets
A) Preflop and Flop
After I raise preflop I almost always follow up with a CB. Depending on the number of players that call my PFR I bet the flop differently. For example; if there are two limpers in front of me I will raise it to $6 and they both call I usually follow up with a $15 CB. If I raise it to $4 and get one caller I will continue with a full pot sized bet. I’ve noticed that if I bet full pot when the pot is already large people will usually fold. That;s not a bad thing, but I can't only bet full pot when I have a monster otherwise I would never get action.

B) Turn
Depending on my opponent and my hand I usually make it a ¾ pot bet. Does that sound about right?

C) River
This is the one that always gets me. When I bet the river I like to do it for value. Look at this hand to see what I’m talking about.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?439436
The pot there was $72 and I bet just under half pot hoping he would call. If the pot is only $10 I try to bet $5 or $6. I’ve been told I need to bet more on the river, but when I think I’m ahead I try to get a price where I think they will call. I think this works against me when I bluff at the river. Any advice on this would help a lot.

4. VP$IP PFR and PTBB/100
VP$IP 13.57
PFR 4.74
PTBB/100 5.27

A) I’m always trying to get my VP$IP up. Today I was up to 14.57 and I’m trying to get it to at least 15. I don’t know why this is such a struggle for me. When I was playing at $25nl I was at 18% after 100k hands. From the CO and the Button I’m over 20%, but from positions 7 to 4 I’m under 10%. An example of why my VP$IP is so low is that I fold AQ and AJ from EP.

The only upside to playing so few hands is that the Party tables are so bad right now. The average table VP$IP at the $100’s is right around 30%.

B) My PFR is 4.74. I don’t only raise monster either if that’s what you’re thinking. A lot of the times I will raise suited connectors or Ax if I’m the first in from LP. Should I be raising more? I remember when I was a 7% or 8% PFR, but that was a long time ago.

C) My PTBB/100 is 5.27, but I feel I could get it much higher. This is basically the one thing I want to improve before I jump to higher stake games. What is a good number for this to be before I jump to $200nl? I was thinking 8ish.


I would really like BTP’s suggestions on these topics in order to help me take my game to the next level. I really feel if I could get some of these things tweaked in my game it would make a world of difference.

Thanks
Stealth

[rdale]

[Triple B]

1. River aggression is over-rated IMO. A lot of the times a check-call is the right play. The thing you probably have to work on (as I do) is identifying when a raise is better than a call on the river.

2. those numbers look fine to me. Why do you need to win 60% of your hands. Win the big pots, don't worry about losing some of the smaller ones. Keep in mind a lot of the time you are callinga river bet getting 3-1 odds. You only need to win one in 4 to break even, not 50 or 60%.

3. Vary your bet sizes! Turn bets don't need to be 3/4 pot all the time. Maybe with some big draws possible, but a half pot bet is fine a lot of the time too.

4. Your win rate is not the determining factor in moving up, your bank roll is. But also keep in mind as you move up there will be less players willing to pay off a rock like you. Loosen up or you will get no action from good players.

[platypus]

I'm certainly no pro, but I just recently plowed through sklansky and harrington, here's the advice I've gleaned from the books.

River Agression: When should you be more aggressive on the river? Probably not too often if your goal is to have high VPIP and agression. These stats make it seem more and more as if you are bluffing on the river, and most newbs won't be able to disect that you're loose early and tight on the river. If you're looking for when to bluff on the river consider sklansky's optimum bluffing strategy, where you have to bluff often enough according to the other players pot odds. Adjust for reads and skill. Personally I'm not to the level where I can incorporate that sort of stuff.

For a discussion on when to check call on the river or when to bet, either book has something to say that is similar. If you think you're beat but its worth a call, check. This adds the chance your opponent will bluff. He most certainly won't if you bet. If you think you've got the best hand, bet if you think he's more likely to call a bet than fold, or check if you think he's more likely to fold than call. Bleh, I'm not sure if I'm regurgitating that right, but check TOP to be sure.

Won at showdown is deceptive. Its also tends to get hurt as you go to showdown more often. This isn't a bad thing. If you win 60% of a hundred hands your doing about the same as if you win 55% of 200. Its also possible you win 25% of 100 hands and make more than you do winning 60%. I don't know how much credit you should give these stats.

Don't always CB just to inflate your numbers. A CB where 4 people see the flop and you missed it is useless. I recently got chastised for this by one of the pros on this site.

Your bet sizes should be varied upon the specific situation. You can guess at what your opponent has and link your bet to break his odds. Leave a cushion for when you're wrong. If they are drawing to a flush, give them worse than 3 to 1 odds, it will break their odds and their implied odds. They talk a lot about randomizing your bet size, but I don't know how much this serves in a game like party where you only catch glimpses of your opponents.

As for VPIP, I'm struggling with it myself. I find that pumping it up puts me in uncomfortable situations. Can't help you there really.


Please keep in mind I suck at poker, so you should take all this with a grain of salt.