Today was a good day ($2/$4 NL)...

[Talking Poker]

I've hardly played any non-league poker lately, for a variety of reasons. With the WSOP coming up soon though, I decided to see if my mostly sucky ass 2006 luck had taken a turn for the better now that we are in the second half of the year.

I'm happy to report that things are looking good! See below.

The funny thing is, this was mostly a number of small and medium pots that I won, and not just a few giant hands, like you might expect. I still took my share of beats, but probably a bit less than the expected amount, which amounts to about 1/3 as many as I usually take (I was running above average, in other words).

I was trying out a new theory today, and it worked REALLY well. I have no idea why I've never done this before. You know how we always yell at people for sitting with significantly less than a full buy in? Well, I decided that those guys are probably all a bunch of eejits, so I decided to seek them out. I joined tables that had at least 2 (and preferably 3 or 4) players sitting with less than half a buy in (< $200). And I killed them.

Believe me, I'm the last person you need to tell about short term variance and small sample sizes, etc, but I think I may be on to something here. This is a way to do NL table selection that I hadn't previously tried, and I quite like it.

This was three tabling, btw.

Last thing: For you cash game NL gurus out there, how do these numbers look? It wouldn't surprise me for you to say I play looser than you think I should, but I'm ok with that. In general though, are any numbers way out of whack?

BTW, note how I sorted the Known Hands list. Gotta love 54s!!! And look at KK in the green for a change!

[Boobie Lover]

Yeah, a little too loose for my liking (especially from the SB). Do you open-limp a lot? I almost never do.

[Talking Poker]

Only from EP with what I consider drawing hands or small pairs.

I'm telling you right now (despite today's lovely results), you are most likely a better NL cash player than me. That's not to say that I'm BAD, but it's not my strongest game.... which is one of the reasons I'd like to work on it.

The SB numbers are high (I assume) because my donkey tables were fairly passive for the most part, and I found myself completing a LOT. I almost never fold the SB when there is at least 1 limper in the pot, and give me two or more and I'll complete with just about any two cards.

My long term numbers are lower, albeit not much - VPIP in the high 30s and 60 from the SB.

Also, remember that this is 6 max - in case you missed that.

[Boobie Lover]

I used to have relatively high VP$IP from the SB, but I believe such a high # is a leak for me personally. It often lead to me flopping a very marginal hand and me being out of position for the rest of the hand. This proceeded to what I think were a lot of mistakes by me. Although it is tempting for the small price, I do think that there are a lot of hands that are not profitable even for the reduced price.

BTW, I usually run at a tight 26/16.

[Talking Poker]

Thanks for the comparison numbers. Are those for 6 max? Overall, I'd say the "good players" I encounter typically play tighter than me, but I'm not convinced that I need to tighten up much just yet.

The thing about NL is, it's hard to compare, because two very different styles can both be profitable. In limit, I can glance at someone's VPIP and PFR and almost instantly tell you if they are a winner or a loser, and know how to play against them too. But with NL, SO MUCH of the game has to do with post flop play, implied odds, etc, you can get away with playing significantly looser preflop if your postflop play is strong. I'd say my postflop play is decent, but I'm no JD.

Speaking of JD, I'd love to see a screen shot of his 2006 $2/$4 6 max numbers. What do you say, kid?

[Talking Poker]

One other comment about those short stacked guys - A lot of them seem to be playing cash games like they are tourneys. And that fact is, they aren't. Cash games are a completely different animal...

Personally, I'm much more comfortable with tourneys, but I am at least aware of some of the adjustments I need to make, where I'd say at least 50% of these short stacked guys are not.

[JDMcNugent7]

how bout 5/10 instead of 2/4. i moved from 1/2 to 3/6 very quickly, basically skipping over 2/4... i never liked that limit much.

5/10 is my new thing tho... so heres some screenshots. remember my #'s could be diff. b/c i play HU and 3 handed a pretty decent amount of the time, but 6 max is most common im sure.
even the non 6 max stats, are usually shorthanded - but not always.


Far left is all time 5/10 NL.

Middle is stats from 6/29 - when i decided i was gonna play 5/10 for a long time - and feel about 3x better at the game now then i used to.

Far right is a graph with hands and $$$ won, in thousands...

gotta click on each one seperately, i dn how to do um all at once.

[Robbie Robb]

I gotta call shanannigans on your PT stats TP. I mean, sure, you may get luck the KoD once, but FOUR times?!?!?!?!?! If you're gonna photoshop up a dummy pic, at least make it believeable!

Good going on what looks to be a turn around. It's gonna be a good period of time for you the next little bit!

[PShabi]

400 hands isn't even a raindrop in the ocean!!!! 43% VPIP!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, you had a good session.

[Talking Poker]

Wow... you are playing a LOT tighter than me.... and oddly, you are playing tighter in the 6 max game than in the full ring game? I'm assuming those tables are all 6 players or less too. We could filter these to only show play between 4 and 6 players or something...

But I still don't think it would be comparing apples to apples. 5/10 is a lot different than 2/4. How do your 3/6 (or even 1/2) numbers look? Are they comparable to these?

Nice run, btw - very impressive.

[Talking Poker]

I'm telling you though, I'm "normally" in the high 30s. Yes, this was definitely a good session, but my numbers aren't THAT far off from where they usually are.

So far, it sounds like I need to tighten up a bit and speculate less...

BTW, this session was made up of 8 different tables, and I left each one a winner. And I didn't get stacked with an overpair once (that's usually what kills me the most).

[New Guy]

Where are you guys getting those screen shots with all the info like that? Those are great and I could definatly use them to help with my MM and analize my on-line play. Please let me know.Thanks

[Boobie Lover]

PokerTracker + "Print Screen" button on the keyboard.

[JDMcNugent7]

heres some 200nl and 400nl stats...

[Akverno]

Ok, just to point this out, but that rake is absolutely ridiculous JD. Like 10k in rake, unbelievable.

[thrash1294]

rake free at wpex .paid back in full on modays.The downside low amount of players online peak hours 1400

[eejit101]

holy shit you guys make me sick

[Talking Poker]

Im out of town for the weekend, with a sucky connection (through my cell phone), but these are interesting numbers. I noticed you play much looser at the lower levels, JD. Why is that? Weaker players less likely to get off big hands = higher implied odds preflop?

I'd like to look into this more closely when I come home. In the mean time, if anyone else wants to post some NL cash stats, please, feel free.

And NG, click on the banner at the bottom of this page. is a MUST HAVE pice of software for any serious online player.

[JDMcNugent7]

ya, pretty much exactly wut u said.

[left68wing]

What was the 2 4 offsuit hand that you dominated with? (don't take that rudely, i want to know the story if there is one?)

[thrash1294]

I neg repped on this thread

for saying a rake free site

nh donkey rake payer

[Talking Poker]

I'll try to find the HH when I get home, but as I recall, I was in the SB, completed, flopped 2 pair, and won a big pot against TP.

[Tony Cheval]

...so what you're saying is, you can only win big hands against yourself?

[Talking Poker]

You know it!

Here's the HH - a fine example of my SB looseness paying off nicely, thanks to NL's implied odds. I can throw away 40 some more SBs in similar situatiuons and still come out ahead.

-----
FullTiltPoker Game #774806985: Table Arcata (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:38:12 ET - 2006/07/06
Seat 1: rzrbackphil ($115)
Seat 3: deaddennis24 ($526.95)
Seat 4: seg23 ($154.40)
Seat 5: dmandon ($856.20)
Seat 6: Rogue23 ($324.70)
Rogue23 posts the small blind of $2
rzrbackphil posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rogue23 [4s 2d]
deaddennis24 folds
seg23 calls $4
dmandon calls $4
Rogue23 calls $2
rzrbackphil checks
*** FLOP *** [2c 4h Ts]
Rogue23 bets $9
rzrbackphil raises to $28
seg23 folds
dmandon folds
Rogue23 raises to $320.70, and is all in
rzrbackphil calls $83, and is all in
Rogue23 shows [4s 2d]
rzrbackphil shows [8d Tc]
Uncalled bet of $209.70 returned to Rogue23
*** TURN *** [2c 4h Ts] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [2c 4h Ts Kc] [9c]
Rogue23 shows two pair, Fours and Twos
rzrbackphil shows a pair of Tens
Rogue23 wins the pot ($235) with two pair, Fours and Twos
rzrbackphil is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $238 | Rake $3
Board: [2c 4h Ts Kc 9c]
Seat 1: rzrbackphil (big blind) showed [8d Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 3: deaddennis24 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: seg23 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: dmandon (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Rogue23 (small blind) showed [4s 2d] and won ($235) with two pair, Fours and Twos

[thrash1294]

the small blind special you gotta luv it. limping in on hands you normally dont play and hitting is sweet