Poker IQ Test - Results & Discussion

[Manomanman]

The other thread on www.donkeytest.com as expected, turned into a discussion of the questions themselves.

What I would like to do is discuss your results, and see if as a group we think the test is valid.



Me:

I scored a 104. I'm a break-even player over my lifetime. I started playing poker in 2004 casually, I took 2 years off, and I'm just now getting back into the game. I primarily play micro limits right now, and I am definitely not beating them atm [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Baby Mantis]

I made a 112, and I think they are pretty accurate. I have a made a few scores in mtts, but not played a lot of ring games though. I have never played for a living, just off and on. I usually played anywhere from .10 - $30 buy-ins with mixed results. I held my own though, but by no means a pro.

[Manomanman]

In case you're wondering what the "official" interpretation of a score is, I'm reposting this from the other thread:

IQ Score Skill Level
60 - 74 Donkey (Expected to lose quickly in all games)
75 - 89 Donator (Expected to lose in all games)
90 - 109 Average Player
(Expected to lose slowly in raked games, break even in homegames)
110 - 119 Low Stakes Winner (Wins at 100 NL and lower)
120 - 129 Medium Stakes Cash Pro / Tournament Pro
(Wins at 200-600 NL and tournament poker)
130 - 144 High Stakes Pro (Wins at 1K NL+)
145 - 159 Poker Genius

[Baby Mantis]

i was a little dissapointed I would of like the confirmation that a 120 score gives you instead of 112. It would help psychologically if nothing else.

[philfan05]

I got a 122 which is about right. I generally play 1/2 NL live and do very well. I have played 2/5 before and have come out ahead, however the swings are too big so I stick to 1/2 for the most part. I think the test does a pretty accurate job, however I'd prefer an essay test to a MC, even though that isn't very feasible for a free site like this. A few questions I feel are debatable and there may be 2 correct answers depending on how you interpret things.

[ev_slave]

I got a 121, but I knew time played a factor and was hurrying through the best I could. I'm currently starting to build a bankroll, so I'm at 10NL and am winning that slightly, (6PTBB/100 so far this month, but I've run slightly bad at the start of this month, and last month I donked off too much, so overall I'm only slightly ahead). BUT, lately I have been playing well and most of the beats I've taken are bonified bad beats, so maybe I really can beat 100NL and lower as the results say. We'll see if/when my bankroll grows to where I can give it a go.

Overall, I think it's a good test since it deals mostly with tough spots. As your score improves, you're able to deal with more tough spots, which is where your winrate is going to be start jumping upwards. If you're scoring low, try to play as straightforward as possible and plan out hands to avoid tough spots. As you get more experience and can start to get a feel of what factors are important and when, your score on this test would probably improve, and you can loosen your game up and expose yourself to the tougher spots.

[Manomanman]

I kinda wonder if the test is designed such that it takes into account what is known about low stakes games; it seems a lot of the questions take the form "what would you do in this high-stakes situation?" (i.e. "you have a ton of aggressive players at the table, most of them are sharks, blah blah blah).

I can't recall the last time I wasn't playing against 5+ donks.

[Manomanman]

One last thing to add:

I'm going to retake the test after studying the forums and polishing my game a bit. I'll respond in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if my "IQ" improves.

[Baby Mantis]

That is a good idea Manonmanman, and I think I will do the same in about a month of studying here and posting, and playing since I am still a learner and a novice (in my opinion).

[jackaaron]

I got 115, which according to the above means I could play in no limit cash games.

That is completely false. I can't even play .25/.50 no limit cash games. I have absolutely no chance to win in cash games (I don't like them anyhow, so maybe that contributes, I'm often on boredom tilt while playing them).

In fact, I have so far to go in terms of improvement I don't even see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm a low limit MTT player.

I've won a 1730 entrant tournament, final tabled a 2200+ entrant tournament, final tabled a 350 entrant HORSE tournamet, and had a few other final tables in higher entrant tournaments. I've also won a 4.40 180 man, and had many final tables in those. I don't do much volume though, and I think that affects decision making at times (e.g. you may be more risk averse if you're playing one tournament a day or every other day, that's up for debate I suppose).

I'm lacking in the mathematical side of the game. And, my emotion (although getting much better) is a hinderance.

I don't analyze my game enough...I had pokerxfactor which was AWESOME for hand history analysis, but I cancelled because I really didn't use it for anything else.

2007 has been profitable for me (not highly...about 27% ROI in MTTs). So, I've actually improved since I started. But, again, I have SO far to go, and cash games are SO FAR away for me (I realize they are the most profitable poker game to play, AND I also realize that cash games are the toughest, and have the best players in poker). I just love tournaments too much still.

One thing about this test was that I told myself that I wanted to go with my initial thought on each question rather than trying to overanalyze it. Don't know if that helped, or made it worse. On about five of the questions I had to reread it about three times. I didn't guess on any of the questions, I at least had a reason for making each choice.

Thanks to the OP for this thread, it's been fun!