Stats Input...

[liladypokerpro]

I'm just curious to see the input you have to offer on the following stats. What's the first thing you think when you see them? Good or bad...doesn't matter...just curious. These were the end result stats of a 12000 player freeroll in which the end result was 439th place.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 165 hands and saw flop:

- 12 out of 19 times while in big blind (63%)
- 5 out of 19 times while in small blind (26%)
- 21 out of 127 times in other positions (16%)
- a total of 38 out of 165 (23%)

Pots won at showdown - 8 of 11 (72%)
Pots won without showdown - 8

***Thanks Mikey I'm glad you brought that up...I do need to clarify the reason there were so many flops seen from the BB is because there were hardly ever any raises while in that position. Raising pre-flop became a bit of an issue later in the game, as there were at least 3 slow-players that I pin-pointed at the table. The table was mostly very passive until after the flop...then it started to get ugly LOL ***

[mikeyu21]

From what i can tell just from the stats. I think you were kind of liberal from the big blind just a little bit too much. I know freerolls are aggressive and u should only be playing top hands mos tof the time. U did good in showdowns so your reads seemed to be working. Internet play is a lot about preflop aggression so u might want to try to raise steal preflop more against weaker players

[mikeyu21]

439th place is still a good finish in that size of a field. What freeroll did you play in? Do play real money a lot or just try to dabble in freerolls?

[liladypokerpro]

439th place is still a good finish in that size of a field. What freeroll did you play in? Do play real money a lot or just try to dabble in freerolls?

Thanks for the compliment. I was pleased. I missed payout, but I was happy overall with my play throughout the tournament. It was one of the Hubble freerolls on Poker Stars.

When I was working I played real money quite frequently and did pretty well (stayed in the positive). But, since I have been out of work since December due to health issues, I have been sticking to freerolls recently just to pass the time, and work on figuring out improved strategies for online play.

[frob23]

Getting a ticket in one of these is very hard. It takes a lot of patience and time, and often you'll just run into a hand you go broke with and you're out. I've recently started playing in them again because I was coaching a friend of mine on how to play them and caught the bug again. I also wanted to show him that it's possible to go deep if you play right. Even playing what I considered a good game, it took 4 attempts (at the Hubble) to get a ticket. I was hitting the 200, 150, 300 marks in the previous games. I won one about a week ago. Still haven't used the ticket.


I didn't save my stats... but I have my hand history and can see that I played 347 hands. Of course, I finished 27th.... which isn't necessary and probably 20 of those hands were played after the bubble. For the entire range, there were 261 hands I did not see a flop with including 2 hands where I bet or called and later folded before the flop.

I folded my BB 11 out of 37 times pre-flop, and my small blind 23 out of 41. As for why I am missing a few big blinds, it has to do with people getting knocked out or me moved. Based on what I can reconstruct from the winning game's hand history, my stats look horrific.


- 26 out of 37 times while in big blind (70%)
- 18 out of 41 times while in small blind (44%)
- 42 out of 269 times in other positions (16%)
- a total of 86 out of 347 (25%)

Pots won at showdown - 26 of 32 (81%)
Pots won without showdown - 22

I am not sure these numbers can be right. Even when you factor in the hands at the end where I was playing really aggressive... the numbers seem wrong. Maybe they're not. I had to generate these numbers by hand and it's possible I made a mistake. But they're probably reasonably close.

When the table was passive and I could see a cheap flop from the blinds, I took the opportunity. I would also attempt to take control on the flop if it was low or medium cards. I almost never entered a pot, outside the blinds, without coming in for a raise -- one large enough the leave it heads up or just collect the blinds if possible.

I played very slow at the start, I do remember that because my sister was over and we were talking and eating pizza while I was playing the early levels. So I wasn't playing a lot of hands and I got out of the way when people wanted to play for stacks.

Edit: I wouldn't expect middle stats to look like this anyway. Because the end game warps play so much. You're raising hands you normally would fold and folding hands you'd normally raise. So it can throw the numbers off by a rather large degree. I don't know how much though. I normally don't pay attention to my stats while I play.

[frob23]

***Thanks Mikey I'm glad you brought that up...I do need to clarify the reason there were so many flops seen from the BB is because there were hardly ever any raises while in that position. Raising pre-flop became a bit of an issue later in the game, as there were at least 3 slow-players that I pin-pointed at the table. The table was mostly very passive until after the flop...then it started to get ugly LOL ***

I should probably add that I don't think these numbers are horrific. Especially if your table was pretty passive pre-flop. I just hope you weren't being passive pre-flop. Late in these games, blind defense and blind stealing are your bread and butter. You can't afford to just roll over and give your blinds away. Natually, you're not defending your blinds with garbage but you shouldn't just automatically fold. If it folds around to me in the small blind, I am raising 60-70% of the time in that spot. Winning that hand buys me a round of cards without a show-down.

In an unraised pot, I am almost always completing the small blind, especially if the button open-limps (which often happens). When the button or another player has limped, the odds of the BB making a play for the pot are reduced. If possible, I do not want to let someone have my blinds. My chips are my life-blood.

When I am on the button and it's folded to me, I am raising any hand I would play and many I wouldn't. Against passive (but not loose / calling station) blinds, I am willing to raise with any two cards. I actually prefer to make this move with a hand that is unplayable, like 8-3 or something. I like to do that because if they come over the top, I can easily let it go. This is against passive blinds who will generally fold without a real hand and call with marginal ones. If one of those players raises, I know my 8-3 is garbage. If I make the same move with A-10... I might be tempted to call. And you don't want to call your chips off. I will also make this exact same raise with a real hand like JJ+ or AQ+ except I call a raise/shove with those hands. Basically, I want to keep my decisions simple if possible... especially if they're going to cost me chips.

Anyway, what was your stack when you went out? What were the blinds? And how did you go out? Were there any significant hands in the last dozen or so that effected your stack? Those answers will tell me more than the stats. If the blinds are 400/800 and you had a stack of under 5,000 and had folded the last 12 hands before this one... for example, I already know more about how you were playing than the stats tell me.

If I have a run of cards, my stats can go crazy. If I get no cards, my stats will also be weird. Neither tell me much about how I played.

[liladypokerpro]

Anyway, what was your stack when you went out? What were the blinds? And how did you go out? Were there any significant hands in the last dozen or so that effected your stack? Those answers will tell me more than the stats. If the blinds are 400/800 and you had a stack of under 5,000 and had folded the last 12 hands before this one... for example, I already know more about how you were playing than the stats tell me.

The BB was 1,200...And yes, I got caught up in a couple of bad luck draw outs prior to going out, as was also the hand that put me out. When I went out, my stack was down to about 8,600...The biggest stack was over 50,000 and was super-tight...also one of the slow-players I mentioned.

I had been up to 24,000 before and had made a very good reputation for myself at the table. I rarely bluff online, but at this table it worked very well in my favor when I took the opportunities I was given versus players whom I'd developed a solid read on. However, as more players were put out, new players began to arrive and their styles of play were far looser than the original players who had been playing up until this point. I lost a few quality hands to draw outs, thus my stack was depleted.

Anyway, I was on the button and was dealt A J. All but two players folded. One of the remaining players raised to 3600...the other remaining player folded. Now I am heads up.

The raiser had been raising consistently throughout the game with any high card. With him having only about 12,000 chips left from about 36,000 due to his poor hand selections, I felt it was a good time to make my move on him, so I went all in. I showed my A J , and he showed K 9. I was very happy to see that I had made a correct assumption at the time.

The flop came off K - A - 2. So far I was ahead.

Turn came off: 6. By this point I'm feeling very good about my hand.

And then...it happens...River comes off: 9.

So, I feel like in the end it was just a run of bad luck, rather than bad play on my part. I feel like I did well with my reads and my choices, but the community cards just didn't fall in my favor.