As I've mentioned, I'm experimenting with Poker Tracker. I have done nothing with the data it is accumulating. For now, I'm just getting used to the heads-up display (HUD), getting a feel for the range of normal for the various stats shown, learning to make mental correlations between those numbers and what I can expect from the players they're attached to.
Today was the first time that I made a crucial decision differently than I otherwise might have because of the HUD. Six players left in a SNG, I had 11 big blinds remaining and was in the small blind with suited K-10. Player to my right raised to 3x after everybody folded to him. It could easily be just a blind steal. It's a spot in which I have to think about shoving. I play tightly enough that I tend to get a lot of respect when I raise or reraise, and this would have been my first all-in of the game, which should command even more fold equity.
I was thinking about what to do, when it occurred to me to check the raiser's stats. I had three games running, which is the maximum that I can manage so far, and one of them was tricky and demanding most of my attention, so the other two (including the one in which this story occurred) were sort of on autopilot. For that reason, I didn't have a good sense of what the raiser's tendencies were from having observed him.
But the HUD told the story. His VPIP (voluntarily put money into pot) was 7%, and his pre-flop raise was 2%, over the course of 48 hands. Whoa! This is not just tight, this is Rocky McRockerson. Sirens started going off in my brain, and I clicked the "fold" button as quickly as the implication of those numbers registered with me.
The big blind either didn't have a HUD or decided to ignore it. He shoved with something like Q-J, and got insta-called by Rocky with his A-K, and exited the game when the board improved neither of them (and would not have helped me, either).
I ended up rallying and coming in second. (I would have won, but when our stacks were nearly even, we got it all in pre-flop with my A-Ko versus his K-Qo, and he caught a four-flush to win, leaving me with 2 big blinds, and I couldn't recover. Grrrrr.) That's $15 I likely would have lost had I shoved in the earlier spot.
Score one for Poker Tracker.
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2 comments:
Shhhhhhh!!! Do not tell the sharks you are doing this!!!!
You might just convince a guppy - mired in the sea of poker school inadequacy- to actually pay (yes pay!) money to get a better edge, to get a better ROI girlfriend.
It's down right blasphemy!
-JP in Philly
I find the HEM/PT even more valuable for tracking my own hand histories/patterns/etc. It def got me to stack completing in the SB and/or calling open raises light in the blinds... LEAK!
I almost need someone else to review from a distance to find my other leaks.
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