Tournament Post-Mortem Analysis

[Win.by.TKo]

Greetings...As a chess player moving over to poker, one of the biggest differences I have noticed, and am struggling with, is post-mortem analysis.

In chess, my opponent and I often review the game move by move, telling each other the thought processes behind moves during critical moments in the game. In poker, your opponents do not finish at the same time, so there is no analysis with players you played against.

I am then left to doing the analysis on my own. I do have Poker Tracker to record my hands, but I am not sure how to sort them. I also have no firm idea on how my opponents view me, my style of play, how they adjust to my style of play, improvements that can be made, etc.

My first question what is the best way to do analysis? I have seen threads where people share a few of their hands. I shy away from those because I'm not confident in my analysis of my own hands. How could I analyze somebody else's hands.

The second question I have is how can I use Poker Tracker to sort out hands where the post-flop play can be analyzed? PT didn't come with an instruction manual. I have yet to see one on their site. Here I have seen a few threads regarding specific situations. I am hoping to find a broader series of analysis ideas that can be aided by PT.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge.

[WJL]

All of the topics you discussed in this post are addressed in the 'stickies' at the top of the various forums, including this one. The ones in SSNL and Micro-Stakes are particularly relevant to your questions.

[Sherman]

[ QUOTE ]
My first question what is the best way to do analysis? I have seen threads where people share a few of their hands. I shy away from those because I'm not confident in my analysis of my own hands. How could I analyze somebody else's hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, the first step is to read the post of other people whom you respect or who have proven results. See what they say in their analysis of hands.

Second, just get in there are post your thoughts. Someone will tell you if you are wrong. If you get flamed, just take as a lesson learned. I for one have been flamed many times in the past for giving what was frankly bad advice. Just get in there and mix it up. That's the best way to learn IMO.

[ QUOTE ]

The second question I have is how can I use Poker Tracker to sort out hands where the post-flop play can be analyzed? PT didn't come with an instruction manual. I have yet to see one on their site. Here I have seen a few threads regarding specific situations. I am hoping to find a broader series of analysis ideas that can be aided by PT.


[/ QUOTE ]

Go to this page on PT's website. There is a PT help file that you can download. I'm sure they have advice in them (although I never read them myself).

http://www.pokertracker.com/patch.html

Also, I sort hands by game number. But if you are looking for advice on your hands, post the hands that gave you trouble here.

This is what I do:

While playing, if I get in a spot where I am not sure what to do or if something interesting occurs, I click on the instant HH option. I copy the entire HH for that hand and past it into a text file. I save the text file to my desktop. I also add other pertinent info. (like where I am at in the MTT, reads on villain, etc.) in this text file.

Later, I go back and look at the raw HH in the text file. I try to decide if there is something I could have done better. If I still feel confused or lost, then I post it here.

Hope that helps.

Sherman

[AC-Cobra]

I think Soulman does a job with talking about hand history analysis in this thread and the one he links to and talks about within as well.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...;gonew=1#UNREAD