A different sort of stats question

[Aaron W.]

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Solid simply means that relative to my stakes and newbie status I'm not doing a lot of super stupid things to cost myself money pre-flop. My stats are reasonable - can 16/9 be that far out of line?

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"Out of line"? Nope. "Passing up spots to loosen up"? Yes.

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I rarely get bitched at in reviews except for missing an occasional situation or playing occasional hands from the loose chart in EP. I'm not doing a lot of cold-calling, I'm playing off a decent chart, etc. One thing that does worry me about my pre-flop play is that there's not enough variation in VPIP from early to late position. My button VPIP is just over 14% and that sucks. I think it was over 20 at .05/.10. Yet when I review my hands (and I review every single hand I play) I'm not seeing how to increase it without getting myself into a lot of marginal post-flop situations I'm not ready for.

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That's because you can't loosen up beyond 16 VPIP without sometimes running into marginal postflop situations. Actually, you probably can't get much past 12 without some marginal decisions. The question of whether you're "not ready" for them, because if you *ARE* ready for them they're probably not going to be that marginal.

14 VPIP on the button is very very tight. If it's folded to you there, you should be raising more than 14%; if there's one or two limpers in front of you, you should be playing more than 14%; if there are three or more limpers, you should be be playing more than 14%; if it's raised and there are two or more coldcallers or limpers, you should be playing more than 14%. You should only be running that tight is if it's consistently raised when you're on the button.

14 VPIP = 186 hands

Pocket pairs = 78 hands
Suited aces = 48 hands
Offsuit big aces (AK-AJ) = 36 hands
KQ = 16 hands
Total hands listed = 178 hands

Start throwing in hands like QJs-98s, offsuit broadway, and larger suited kings, and you should get over the 14 VPIP mark quite easily.

[OrigamiSensei]

Okay, I just looked at the button hands I folded that fell into the following group:
AA-22, A2s+, ATo+, KTs+, KTo+, QTs+, QTo+, JTs, JTo, 98s

41 folds, all were raised ahead of me, all but two had at most one limper or cold caller in conjunction with any raises ahead of me. There was one limp-raise-coldcall sequence when I held 77 and one raise with two coldcallers when I held 33.

If my button VPIP was to be raised it would need to come out of the other 459 hands I folded on the button and those are some pretty ugly hands.

[bennyhana]

Why don't you throw away your chart and try something. Take 50 bb and buy in at a table. Every time you think you have the best hand, either bet, or raise. EVERY TIME. Concentrate and use your judgement. If you think your hand is best, bet that mutha. Do this for an hour or so, then go back to your normal game. Really dig in and read hands, and use your stats and reads, and see how it works. Have some confidence. Know when you are putting money in the pot, you are going to win, cause you have the best hand. Spot the suckers and take advantage of them.

Confidence man. Since you started posting, it's been nothing but, I suck, or i'm lost, or I don't know what I'm doing, Or I fold too much. You are good enough!!! Most of us here are.

I want you, OrigamiSensei, to go out and play the best poker of your life, on your very next session and just flat out own the game. You are better than you think, and you need to realize that!!!
[/halftime speech]

[bravos1]

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Why don't you throw away your chart and try something. Take 50 bb and buy in at a table. Every time you think you have the best hand, either bet, or raise. EVERY TIME. Concentrate and use your judgement. If you think your hand is best, bet that mutha. Do this for an hour or so, then go back to your normal game. Really dig in and read hands, and use your stats and reads, and see how it works. Have some confidence. Know when you are putting money in the pot, you are going to win, cause you have the best hand. Spot the suckers and take advantage of them.

Confidence man. Since you started posting, it's been nothing but, I suck, or i'm lost, or I don't know what I'm doing, Or I fold too much. You are good enough!!! Most of us here are.

I want you, OrigamiSensei, to go out and play the best poker of your life, on your very next session and just flat out own the game. You are better than you think, and you need to realize that!!!
[/halftime speech]

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good job coach [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Falcon1511]

DAMN STRAIGHT!

[TomTom]

OrigamiSensi: Master of the art of folding paper.

Ed Miller: “you fold too damn much.”


I’m currently racking and stacking .25/.50 for 4 BB/100 (over the last 42K hands) over at PokerStars. If you’re not playing that sight get there TODAY.

I’m no great poker guru. I’d say I’m not even average. But there at that level they simply suck. When I hit unexpected aggression, I’ll tend to call down, not fold, cause they SUCK.

And loosen up buddy. When you play bad players you can play MORE hands, not less. My VPIP is 23%, you’re 16% is just way too tight.

(Truth be told: I feel outmatched at .50/1 where I’m just breakeven after the first 10K hands)