Now I know a lot of our more experienced players now value reviewing how they’ve been playing, but this is something I’ve only just realized the importance of. So I thought I’d share what I’ve learned with others.
Since I started playing for money online I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m way ahead of where I started. But recently I finished second in the $10-$1 tournament we had, which put my bankroll up quite a bit. So I decided that I had enough money to level up. Since then I have been on a losing streak. At first I thought, well, maybe the level of play was better at this level and I wasn’t ready. But I knew that I know how to play and that this should not be a problem.
So I decided to request my stats from Pokerstars, something I hadn’t done before. I noticed an alarming trend. Take a look at my tournament and hand histories (just one as an example, but they were all pretty much the same).
They played 200 hands and saw the flop:
– 26 times out of 45 in the small blind (57%)
– 27 of 42 times in the big blind (64%)
– 34 times out of 113 in other positions (30%)
– a total of 87 times out of 200 (43%)
Pots won at showdown: 12 of 28 (42%)
Non-confrontation pots won – 32
PokerStars Tournament #6834758, No Limit Hold’em
Admission: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Fund: $45.00
Tournament started – 2005/04/08 – 17:26:02 (ET)
Tournament Ended – 04/08/2005 – 18:35:55 (ET)
1: kacknit (Renton), $22.50 (50%)
2: Bugsy 99 (Toronto), $13.50 (30%)
3: ayrtonsantos (Vila Real), $9.00 (20%)
4: neo4u (North Huntingdon),
5: Nasty4321 (Midland),
6: the teacher (Price),
7: Kerosion (san diego),
8: yursharkbait (san diego),
9: stupid133 (cullman),
You finished in sixth place (eliminated in hand #1491748850).
53 hands played and saw flop:
– 6 times out of 8 in the small blind (75%)
– 6 times out of 8 in the big blind (75%)
– 9 times out of 37 in other positions (24%)
– a total of 21 times out of 53 (39%)
Pots won at showdown – 3 of 5 (60%)
Non-confrontation pots won – 7
I noticed lately that the rate of failures seen was too high. I think 20% is fine. Also in table games he only had about 50% of the pots he was involved in, and only 42% of those that had gone to a showdown.
What this told me is that I was seeing a lot of flops, so I was playing hands that I shouldn’t have. Also, since I only made 42% at the showdown, I realized I must have been chasing too many projects.
I think it all comes down to since I leveled up and the pots were bigger than I was used to, I was getting greedy. I was getting involved in a lot of pots and I was trying to win everyone who got into me.
Looking at these stats and evaluating my game, I was able to contain myself. And here are the stats from the next tour I played on.
Admission: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Fund: $45.00
Tournament started – 2005/04/09 – 17:23:42 (ET)
Tournament ended – 04/09/2005 – 18:21:45 (ET)
1: The Professor (Price), $22.50 (50%)
2: Redrick25 (Grand Rapids), $13.50 (30%)
3: chris3-1-3 (Bahamas), $9.00 (20%)
4: edge1234 (Copenhagen),
5: sharibear21 (Springfield),
6: RoBear113 (Chicago),
7: jgpoker (forest side),
8: frekas (lulea),
9: b_dogg66 (Upper Darby),
You finished in 1st place (eliminated in hand #1497308329).
They played 98 hands and saw the flop:
– 8 times out of 24 in the small blind (33%)
– 14 times out of 24 in the big blind (58%)
– 8 times out of 50 in other positions (16%)
– a total of 30 times out of 98 (30%)
Pots won at showdown – 7 of 8 (87%)
Non-confrontation pots won – 15
Here, I saw the flop less (30% is high because when it hits 2 0r 3 you have to see more flops). But the big key is that I won 87% at the showdown. I wasn’t chasing giveaways. I also won 22 of the 30 flops seen. So I wasn’t playing junk hands.
So, as you can see, it really pays to evaluate your stats and try to determine how you’ve played. Since then I have been back on the winning side of things.