Sweat Sessions

[Clearwheezy]

I'm in bad need of one. I've read books, I've played for years, and I'm still losing. I am even to the point of investing in Poker Tracker, but I don't want to spend money on that if I have no idea how to use it. To be honest, I am in the dumps so badly that I think Poker Tracker is going to mislead me! I like to say I'm a good poker player, but I need some help.

Guys, I am on a huge cooler, and would love a little support!

[RiverstarsVictim]

I'm in bad need of one. I've read books, I've played for years, and I'm still losing. I am even to the point of investing in Poker Tracker, but I don't want to spend money on that if I have no idea how to use it. To be honest, I am in the dumps so badly that I think Poker Tracker is going to mislead me! I like to say I'm a good poker player, but I need some help.

Guys, I am on a huge cooler, and would love a little support!

Pokertracker takes a bit of getting used to but seriously, it's worth every cent. From the minute you've learnt how to import a decent sample size you should almost certainly recognise where you're spewing money immediately. The 1st thing I noticed was overplaying AQ. Seriously, buy it. You say you've been playing for years, it wont hurt to spend a week learning how to use pokertracker efficiently.

Failing that, send me some hand histories

[Brooklynbum]

How about posting some HH for us to see. Maybe that'll help.

[C8H10N4O2]

I'm in the same boat. After my last cooler session, I'm wondering where I'm going to go from here. I am in "reflect" mode right now, and am not playing anything that will further hurt my bankroll. I'm also getting ready to take the plunge in buying poker tracker... My free trial is almost up, and I think I'm going to end up just giving in and buying it. It just seems like it's such a complicated program to use efficiently, but it would definitely help out I think.

[BONSA7]

The only book I read so far is Harrington on holdem 1.

I had some ups and downs, but this year is more down than up, so i decided to use the self exclusion option on FTP. 1 month...........I don't know if that is enough to get my head free again.

I'm glad, that i signed up here at rakeback.com, to keep me alive during dry periods.

I don't know, if you ever took a break.

I hope my break will help me.

[HeyKidMove]

Take a break, or post some HH on here to get some feedback. PT will help find major leaks in your game also. I also think you want some SWEET sessions.

[Clearwheezy]

Definitely mean sweat...

[travz21]

I'd rather have sweet sessions than sweat sessions, especially if I were on a cooler. So HeyKidMove is on the right track.

[GainerRakeback]

Wheezy, I couldnt tell from your post if you've tried the trial version of pokertracker and it expired or if you never tried it. If you havent, then I'd recommend you try it. It's not hard to use. For cash games, you can see all the combinations of hands you've played and the results. (Wins/Losses/etc). It also lets you re-play every hand to see how the betting progressed. Get as many hands in there to review as possible. (Note that after it expires you are locked out from even looking at your old results so review them and take notes or copy into Word).

I used it for the trial period and got about 2000 hands in there. That's not a great sample but I found it very useful even just for the sample period. For example, playing Ace / rag in the long term is a losing proposition. And obviously AA was the hand that I won the most money. Playing AJ was dangerous long term. You can see if suited connectors was profitable for you. You need to play each combination several times before you can come to a conclusion since each situation you get the hand differs (position, players, opponent's hands, etc). Obviously how a player plays a hand is just as important as the hand itself. May be more important.

Pokertracker is different than reading books on poker. Books give advice and explain how to play; pokertracker tells you how you're doing.

[RiverstarsVictim]

Totally agree Gainer.

You can also gain a lot of knowledge about your opponents too, whether you're continually losing money to any specific players, bring up their hands and watch how they play against yourself and others (you need showdown for exact information of course).

Another thing I got to notice was I was doing better on some sites than other sites at particular hours of the day/night.

There's just soooo much information available using pokertracker (or at least a similar tool) it's almost a crime not to pay the ridiculously low fee for it. Cant remember actual cost now (I'm still using PT2), around $55 if I remember correctly, well I've saved myself well over that amount on just changing the way I play AQ.

Seriously, just go ahead and buy it and spend the time learning how to use it!

The only downside is it doesn't work on every site but it does work on most of the major sites.

[RiverstarsVictim]

Here's a post I saved from another forum a long time ago about a few basic uses for pokertracker. Credit to the original author.

Warning, it's long

1. Do you have sufficient preflop aggression? To answer this question, open up your ring game statistics and go to the "position stats" page. For each position other than the small blind, divide the "PF Raise %" by the "Vol. Put $ In Pot." If you get a number smaller than 0.5, you're not aggressive enough out of that position. See, aggression is a relative term; it should be a function of your level of looseness. You can be a consistently winning player at SSNL with a VPIP of 12%, and you can be a consistently winning player at SSNL with a VPIP of 30%, but only if you are sufficiently aggressive. My general guideline is that you should raise at least half the hands you play, from every position on the table.

2. Are you positionally aware? Positional awareness means that you understand Ed Miller's comment when he said:

Quote:
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Total all the dollars you've ever bet playing poker. The large majority of those dollars should have been bet from late position. Only a small percentage of your total handle should have been bet from up front.



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To test this, go to the Position Stats and look down the list of VPIP from Button to UTG. You should see that VPIP steadily dropping the farther you get from the button. I'd love to see my button VPIP at double my UTG VPIP, but if my Button VPIP is at least 50% larger than my UTG VPIP, I'm happy with the situation.

3. How's my stealing? To check on your performance when trying a blind steal, go to the General Info. tab. Where it says "Att. To Steal Blinds" I'd like to see that number at LEAST 20%. (Personally, I like mine to be over 30%, but I'm very aggressive in these situations. If you're trying to steal the blinds less than 20% of the time, you're leaving lots of money on the table.) Now click on "Filters..." and under "Chance to Steal Blinds" click "Chance to Steal & Raised." Select OK and look at the numbers. This shows every time you've tried to steal the blinds, and how the attempt turned out for you. Under "Totals" see the "BB/Hand" statistic. That shows your per-hand winrate on blind steals. If you multiply this number by 100, it should be at least double your "PTBB/100" average winrate. If it's much less than that and you have a decent sample size, you have a hole in your game when it comes to blind stealing. This should be an exceedingly profitable thing to do when you try it; if it's not, you need to work on your strategy.

4. Defending the blinds. Click on "Turn Filter Off," and then click on "Filters..." again. Under "Blind Status" click on "Either Blind." Now under "Vol. Put $ In Pot" click on "Put Money In." This shows you if you're bleeding money out of the blinds. A "BB/Hand" of about -0.375 would indicate that you were no better off putting money into the pot than if you had folded. If your "BB/Hand" is larger than that, then you typically win back some of your blind money when you put money into the pot from the blinds. That's all you can really hope for. If you click on "Filters..." again and go under "Steal Attempted Against Your Blind" and click on "Steal Attempted." After you click "OK" you'll now see how you did when you chose to defend against a blind steal. Again, the magic number is for your "BB/Hand" to be bigger than -0.375; that means you're making back some of your blinds when you try to defend against a steal. If either of these numbers is lower than -0.375, you'd lose less money by always folding rather than doing what you're doing.

5. Heads-up play. Click on “Turn Filter Off,” then click on “Filters…” again. Under “Hands With Between…Players Seeing The Flop” change the range from “0 to 10 players” to “2 to 2 players.” Hit “OK” and see what comes up. This shows you how you’ve done when you were heads-up preflop, but a flop was dealt. See how you’ve done in these situations. If things look OK, go back to “Filters…” and under “Pre-flop Raise” select “No Raise.” This will show you how you’ve done when you didn’t raise preflop, but the hand was heads-up on the flop (this includes pure limping and when someone ELSE raised preflop, but not when you were the preflop raiser). Is this number positive? If not, it could be an indicator that you have trouble when you are not the aggressor preflop, especially without padding in the pot.

6. Multiway pots. Clear the filter and go back under filters. Change “Hands With Between…Players Seeing The Flop” to “3 to 10 players.” This shows you how you do in multiway pots. If things look good, go back and select “No Raise” under “Pre-flop Raise.” Is it still positive? If so, you’re selecting good times to play/limp multiway pots, and you’re playing them well postflop.

7. Pocket pairs. Under “Filters…” change the “Type of Hole Cards” to “Pairs.” This will show you how you generally play and perform with pocket pairs. Your Total VPIP with these should be EXTREMELY high; unless you play at highly unusual tables, I’d be surprised to see this number below 85%. Pocket pairs make extremely powerful hands that are extremely well-hidden; if you’re not playing them almost all the time, you’re leaving money on the table. Also, your Total PFR% with these hands should be rather high -- at least 1/3 of your VPIP, if not 1/2. Some people have this number higher still, and I don’t have a problem with that, especially at short-handed tables. If you have enough hands, I’d expect every one of these lines to be positive, and reasonably significantly so. If you have any glaringly negative numbers, especially AA-88, it may indicate bad play. Look over individual hands where you lose lots of money and see if you played too timidly early in the hand, or if you went too far unimproved in the face of resistance. Also, look at the hands where you won to see if you played too timidly, or if you routinely forced weaker hands out when you should have been milking them for profits.

8. Suited connectors. Under “Filters…” change “Type of Hole Cards” to “Suited Connectors.” I’m much less likely to play suited connectors than pocket pairs, but some people play them religiously. As a result, I don’t really have a good suggestion as to how high your VPIP or PFR should be. However, your BB/hand should be positive; if it’s not, you’re probably not playing your suited connectors well. Remember: these hands play best in a multiway, unraised pot, or as a steal move. In the “Filters…” change “Vol. Put $ In Pot” to “Cold-Called.” When you hit OK, you should have almost no entries to view. Of the times you cold-called, you should be able to come up with a specific explanation for why you did so in each and every one of them. Review the hand histories; if you can’t come up with a really good reason why you thought it better to cold-call, rather than raise or fold, you need to rethink your suited connector strategy. Good explanations: the raise was very small, villain is passive post-flop, I had position on villain, villain and I are both extremely deep-stacked, villain is incredibly aggressive preflop, my suited connectors are particularly strong, there are several cold-callers in front of me, etc. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever cold-call with suited connectors; rather, I’m saying you shouldn’t AUTOMATICALLY do so. Your default play here should be to fold weak suited connectors and reraise strong ones.

9. Unsuited connectors. Clear the filter and then go back into it. Change “Type of Hole Cards” to “Off-Suited Connectors.” Your VPIP for these hands should be noticeably smaller than your VPIP for suited connectors. Check your winrate and make sure it’s positive. Filter for cold-calling and see if you had good reasons for doing so, keeping in mind that the reasons need to be even stronger than for suited connectors.

10. Postflop aggression. Clear the filter. Select the “More Detail…” button above the “Filters…” button. Scroll down. There is a section marked “First Action on Flop After A Pre-flop Raise.” This shows your likelihood of continuation betting. If you add Bet and Raise, the total should be at least 40%. If it’s not, you’re probably giving up too soon on your good hands, and that will cost you money in the long run. Remember: people who cold-call a preflop bet are often in fit-or-fold mode. If you don’t bet, you don’t give them a chance to fold. The pot is already decent-sized, and there’s no reason to give some donk a free look at a turn card that could sink you. If you raised preflop, you need a good reason NOT to raise the flop. Continuation betting should be your default play. Scroll down a bit farther to “Aggression Factor.” Your total aggression factor should be at LEAST 2. No-limit is not a game where you can call frequently and turn a profit. You should always be looking to see if you can raise or fold; only if you have a good reason why you CANNOT raise or fold should you call. As a result, calling should be an infrequent occurrence in your play, which gives you a large aggression factor.

11. Check-raising. Some people never check-raise; others check-raise infrequently. I personally like to check-raise at least once in awhile; 1% would be fine, 0.5% would be acceptable. The goal of the check-raise is to remind your opponents that just because you checked does NOT mean that you don’t have a hand. However, circumstances need to be very specific for a check-raise to be appropriate. Typically, I check-raise on the flop when OOP against a preflop raiser, or on the turn when OOP against a flop bettor/raiser who was clearly not on a draw (uncoordinated flop). If you are check raising much more than 2% of the time, you’re being entirely too tricky for a SSNL table, and straightforward play would probably be more profitable for you.


All of this is just an introduction to the kinds of self-analysis you can/should do with Poker Tracker statistics. Notice how much more in-depth it is than just glancing at a few VPIP numbers. Typically, the only person who can truly do a “check-up” on your playing style and ability is YOU. As always, if in your searching you find hands that indicate you may have a flaw in your poker reasoning, post them up (one at a time, of course). Tell us the problem you are worried you might have, and why you think this hand might indicate the problem.

[HeyKidMove]

Definitely mean sweat...

I don't know why you would want to perspire during your session.

[powrdragn]

Generally, when a friend asks you to sweat him, he wants you to watch his play. Maybe take some notes and discuss some things in particular that you found suspect or that you would have done differently.

[Clearwheezy08]

Full Tilt Poker Game #11426694245: Table Nesting (6 max) - $0.02/$0.05 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:38:39 ET - 2009/03/30
Seat 1: Skaar2903 ($1.56)
Seat 2: tempbnge ($8.37)
Seat 3: Clearwheezy08 ($5)
Seat 4: blass11 ($5)
Seat 5: U-Bet_I-Take ($5.07)
Seat 6: brandyrocs ($2.10)
blass11 posts the small blind of $0.02
U-Bet_I-Take posts the big blind of $0.05
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Clearwheezy08 [9s Kc]
brandyrocs calls $0.05
Skaar2903 calls $0.05
tempbnge raises to $0.25
Clearwheezy08 calls $0.25
blass11 calls $0.23
U-Bet_I-Take folds
brandyrocs calls $0.20
Skaar2903 calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9c Ks]
blass11 has 15 seconds left to act
blass11 bets $1
brandyrocs folds
Skaar2903 has 15 seconds left to act
Skaar2903 raises to $1.31, and is all in
tempbnge folds
Clearwheezy08 raises to $4.75, and is all in
blass11 calls $3.75, and is all in
Clearwheezy08 shows [9s Kc]
blass11 shows [Kd Jc]
Skaar2903 shows [Kh Tc]
*** TURN *** [Ts 9c Ks] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9c Ks 3h] [Jh]
Clearwheezy08 shows two pair, Kings and Nines
blass11 shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
blass11 wins the side pot ($6.42) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Skaar2903 shows two pair, Kings and Tens
blass11 wins the main pot ($4.89) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Skaar2903 is sitting out
Clearwheezy08 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $12.11 Main pot $5.23. Side pot $6.88. | Rake $0.80
Board: [Ts 9c Ks 3h Jh]
Seat 1: Skaar2903 showed [Kh Tc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 2: tempbnge folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Clearwheezy08 (button) showed [9s Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 4: blass11 (small blind) showed [Kd Jc] and won ($11.31) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Seat 5: U-Bet_I-Take (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: brandyrocs folded on the Flop

[phaul]

Talk me through your reasons for calling preflop.

[travz21]

Playing poorly causes you to lose money? I wouldn't have ever guessed that.

[travz21]

And you have 2 accounts on Full Tilt, which is maybe why they are smiting you down, even though you are giving away money playing K9o on your own.

[phaul]

Playing poorly causes you to lose money? I wouldn't have ever guessed that.

Travz, he realises he's losing money by playing poorly, that's why he started this thread...

[HeyKidMove]

K-9 should be folded to a raise pf. But as played, you have to get it in there.

[DeadBabySoup]

you called 5x bb with K9. personally, i wouldn't make that call with anything less than AK or a pair. moral of the story, you're playing too loose. also, cash games may not be your strong suit. try playing some single table and multi table sit n goes. see if your results improve. but most of all, you need to play a lot tighter. limping with K9 is ok. but calling a raise is just giving your money away. another thing you might try is playing 2 tables at once. chances are you get bored waiting for good hands and play marginal and/or poor starting hands. play 2 tables and you'll get twice as many legitimate starting hands to play.