Some questions, just got poker tracker

[thrasher789]

Hey guys I just got poker tracker yesterday and uploaded the last thousand hands I've played (I know, not nearly a good enough sample size), it labels me as tight aggressive with numbers around 22/14, is this generally acceptable for 1-2 SS limit on fulltilt? What I found more interesting is that in the last 1000 hands I've played I've lost 122 dollars, and it was all either from the small or big blind. I honestly thought I was pretty tight even from the blinds but does this show that I am just calling way to much with weak hands OOP? Is the leak to be found here that I should fold much more often than I do from the BB? Also over the last 1000 hands I've lost an average of 5$ every time I got KK, I assume there is no real leak to be found here and I'm just running bad with the kings but I found that funny too. Any thoughts would be appreciated as I am trying to be serious about Shorthanded limit now.

[mvoss]

Given the size of your sample it's pretty much impossible to answer any of the questions you have about your play. The only thing that probably can be said with some degree of certainty is that you should raise more preflop. I don't know if a vpip of 22 is too tight, but you probably should get your pfr up to 17-18% with this vpip. That was the boring stats stuff and nothing I said here is going to help you improve your play.

Here's what you need to work on in the beginning of your SHLHE career imo.

1. Table selection, make sure you play at the good tables where there are at least a couple of loose-passive players. If you're good, you'll probably be able to beat the tighter players and the LAGs at this level as well, but it's more difficult and the LPAs are the easy money, make sure you get them.

2. Seat selection, make sure you sit with the loose-passive fish to your right and preferably some tight-passive players to your left. The tight-passive players may be hard to find so just make sure you have the fish to your right.

These two are easy and they're going to make your life at the tables incredibly much easier. The next ones are hard.

3. Preflop play. You need to study this very hard, which hands are profitable to play and why. Make sure that you realize which hands are profitable to play in certain situations and against certain players, never go on autopilot. This is a big topic and understanding this is a big step towards becoming a winning player. The best way to learn this is probably from stox's book and from repying to a lot of posts in this forum.

4. Postflop play. This is of course a huge topic and too big to go into details with. Read books, reply to posts inhere, make sure you value bet those fish a ton and learn when to play passively (small pots - weak hands against aggressive players) and when to play aggressively (big pots and against loose/passive players). Obviously there's more to it than this but I hope this will get you started on the right path.

Again, I really believe that the best way to learn is to read a few books, play and post inhere a ton.

[thrasher789]

I read small stakes hold em and I just bought stox book, I read the posts in here all the time also so hopefully I'm off to a good start, I think I might take a break until the new year and read up and study more becuase even though I feel I have a significant edge against most players at my level I'm still losing alot, whether it's just been sick variance (which in part it is, I can't even begin to estinmate how many rivered gutshots and weird hands I've had to pay off lately) or a big leak but I think it's a bit of both so I'l keep at it.

[fmsr]

[ QUOTE ]
I read small stakes hold em and I just bought stox book, I read the posts in here all the time also so hopefully I'm off to a good start, I think I might take a break until the new year and read up and study more becuase even though I feel I have a significant edge against most players at my level I'm still losing alot, whether it's just been sick variance (which in part it is, I can't even begin to estinmate how many rivered gutshots and weird hands I've had to pay off lately) or a big leak but I think it's a bit of both so I'l keep at it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Listen to mvoss. You cannot possibly draw any conclusions whatsoever from a 1000 hands. Studying is good and necessary but I think you also need to play hands, so taking off until January might not be a good idea.

[mvoss]

Keep playing and if losing money is an issue drop down a level or 2.

Also, just reading here may help you improve but posting advice and backing it up with your thought process will help you get there much much much faster. I know this since I wasted way too much time by just lurking here instead of posting. You may read the books and understand everything inthere, but posting here and getting corrected when your thought process is wrong will help you apply the concepts correctly and this is what really matters. I know posting advice you're unsure of can seem "scary" but you (and the lurkers reading this) just have to do it and it will pay off quickly.

[thrasher789]

Haha, too late sadly, I decided to take a break and I really just have to, my luck this last week has been so bad I can't play well becuase every single session is full of the same runner runner and rivered [censored] and it's put me on permatilt, I'll be glad to get back to it in a couple months but right now I'm just going to focus on getting my poker theory and plays learned and then put them into practice, I'll also start posting here when I can, thanks for the great advice guys I'm just sad the day I asked for help I also decided to take a break.

[mute]

Just one thing I would like to comment on is your observations about losing money in the blinds. This is perfectly normal. When you play your BB you have .5 BB invested before you see your cards and your not gonna be able to make that back. If your losing about .1 BB/hand in SB and .2BB/hand in BB, then you're probably doing OK there.

[thrasher789]

yeah, I understand you literally lose money just by being in the blind but is it not funny that I had a 122 downswing in 1000 hands and all of it was lost from either the small or big blind?

[kimchi]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, I understand you literally lose money just by being in the blind but is it not funny that I had a 122 downswing in 1000 hands and all of it was lost from either the small or big blind?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been running really hot this month and have had ~150BB upswing over 2000 hands so far. Much of this is from the SB, and I'm ahead in the BB.

If you'd have looked at my first 2000 hands last month you'd have seen the exact opposite, and my losses from the blinds would have made you blush.

Such is variance.

EDIT: When I get to my home computer I'll post some 1000 hand graphs showing snippets of sick variance both ways.

[anti1k]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, I understand you literally lose money just by being in the blind but is it not funny that I had a 122 downswing in 1000 hands and all of it was lost from either the small or big blind?

[/ QUOTE ]

Man you will lost mony from SB and BB rest of your life. And thats how it should be. You loose money because you dont win enough when you are not in blinds to compencate the money which you lost from SB and BB