Ok, We all know I don't have PT yet, so I'm always looking for ways to analyze my game. take this example:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 47 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
- 2 out of 7 times while in small blind (28%)
- 10 out of 33 times in other positions (30%)
- a total of 18 out of 47 (38%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 6 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

Now...this makes me look fairly loose (with 38% flops seen) but it's such a small sample size that I could have jst gotten a run of decent PF hands.

What I also see is:

1) My reads aren't very good (New to session getting a feel for the others). I see this because I've only won 33% of showdowns...

2) I'm playing agressive (7 pots won without showdown)...this could also be seen as I'm sitting at a fairly passive table.

3) My starting hand selection could be tighter (I've only won 50% of pots entered).

4) I'm not sure how to interpret the information about the blinds. I'm fairly sure I don't play the blinds properly, that's part of my game I need to work on.

Now, I ask this. If we ignore the small sample size, could this information be seen this way? I'm thinking that by using this information while at a single table, I could adjust my play while at a single (or group) of tables. While this doesn't give me exact information about my opponents, I see this as a way to see how I'm playing against this particular group of opponents.

Thoughts, suggestions, am I totally crazy?

Wheres sample size man when you need him?

Sorry trons, but 47 hands isnt enough to tellmuch of anything, unless you are a total maniac, which your not. Its very difficult to extrapolate anything from this data, just due to natural variance in the game.

Get yourself the demo, its not hard, so go get it you freak, and put your last 1000 hands into PT, then post a screen shot of your 'player summary' stats from the main ring page. That would be a good way to get better return on your data.

I've been thinking about this since I posted, and I know that I was going to run into the small sample group when I posted it. The more I think about it, The more I realize that since the data we're looking at (Ignore the pots entered data) and go with jst win %, % won without showdown, and %won vs flops seen.

While PT will give me an idea over 1000 hands, a great idea over the long term about how my play is and where my holes are, I can only apply that information to my over all game. I still have to adjust my play to the table when I sit down. That's where I'm trying to find out if this information is usefull or not.

I've been playing with this idea for a while. I'll look at my %won vs pots entered, to me, anything less then 50% is no good. I interpret this info to mean that this table is playing tighter then I'm used to and I MAY need to tighten up. I'll think about the hands I've played and see if I've been playing boarderline hands in the wrong place. Should I adjust my play to this (or these) tables...

At this point, a small sample size is almost prefered because changes show themselves much sooner. A great example was my play last night. I only played about 100 hands...at about 40 hands into the session, I had won every pot I had entered, with or without a showdown.

I used this information to adjust my play. I loosened up. While I did start losing a few pots, because I was entering more pots, I was drawing out more often and won some bigger pots because I had played hands that were unexpected. I ended up about 25bb/100 for that session.

I've started checking these stats about every 20 hands or so, and only if I am not doing equally well on every table. I may adjust my play on the table that's not doing as well. If I've analyzed the data, and my play for those hands and I feel that I did the best and either got sucked out on, or out played, then I continue playing my known game until I see that my game may have to be adjusted...

Again, I'm not sure if this is a good idea, which is why I'm putting it out there to get ideas and suggestions from those more knowledgable then I.

What Marm said. But also remember, don't change your game for the sake of statistics. Change your game when you know you have a leak and use the statistics to help you figure out where that leak is. That is where PT is worth the money.

Originally Posted by triple-t

What Marm said. But also remember, don't change your game for the sake of statistics. Change your game when you know you have a leak and use the statistics to help you figure out where that leak is. That is where PT is worth the money.

Bingo, and you gotta play the cards you're dealt. I jsut sat down at a .5/1 Stud 8b table, for the first time at that limit, and raised on 3rd street for the first 6 hands. I ended up almost doubling my buy-in in 6 hands. Then the cards went 'normal' and i tightened up. Got a 6 hi str8 on 5th street and wheeled on 6th, that was the type of hands I was getting. So my stats were really wacked for the first few hands. Play what your dealt.

PT note:

Get the demo (www.pokertracker.com), get GT+ (www.pokedominion.com) and set gt+ to display your stats for this session as you play. This will help you get a feel for what your doing as you play. AND it will help you get a read on others play. SAVE YOUR HH's though. So that when you finally purchase PT (I'd say just pony up and get it now), you can load all the HH's you have already played.

Is having those stats on screen for your opponents considered cheating?

Do the sites frown on it?

Any risk of being banned from site?

Not really. PP has been cracking down on the commercial communal dbases, like pokeredge (prophecy?). But PT has been doing good. There is nothing that GT+ does that you couldnt do on your own, as in data collection.

One thing I doubt PT does for you. Say you play 10,000 hands to the showdown vs. 1 or more players to see what cards are good. The cards are good only vs. what other people are playing, which could be total crap. If PT doesn't keep track of your opponets hand when your winning, and you move up and play vs. people that are tighter and now those cards PT says are winning plays are either 0 EV or worse. Then what?

Originally Posted by LearnPoker

One thing I doubt PT does for you. Say you play 10,000 hands to the showdown vs. 1 or more players to see what cards are good. The cards are good only vs. what other people are playing, which could be total crap. If PT doesn't keep track of your opponets hand when your winning, and you move up and play vs. people that are tighter and now those cards PT says are winning plays are either 0 EV or worse. Then what?

That's not how PT works. You really going to listen to a program that tells you what to do? PT is analysis only, no inference.

So how does poker tracker know what hands are good and what hands are not? Say you play a 7,2off and you get everyone to fold? Does PT now think 7,2off is a good starting hand? Afterall you did win with it

Like comparing hands with Poker Stove, it's all about comparison to other hands.