Limit Session Stat Analysis

Name 2 things that are wrong with this picture.

Got it?

Here's what I think:
1. I'm seeing too many turns
2. I'm going to way too many showdowns.

I felt like I played great during this session, but I still logged a tiny loss (single digits somewhere). I couldn't piece it together 'till I went through and checked out my stats. 62 showdowns, 32 showdown wins.

A few weeks ago I was certain I was giving my opponents way too much credit for having hands. Seems I've over compensated. And in Limit, I know that sometimes a pair is enough heads-up. But I apparently took this too far. Thankfully, it's easy to find the people at the tables that are more prone to bluffing b/c there are so many people that will call you down with anything. But, as Phil Gordon says, if I am never bluffed out of a pot I know I'm calling too much.

SO -- here are some stats from a very short, 150-hand session tonight:





MUCH better. Win many hands? A little less than 10% of hands I saw (yes, I was playing extraordinarily tight). But seeing that I only saw 9 rivers, and only 6 showdowns, meant that I was not going to showdowns past where I knew I was beat. And most times I was able to see the hands I was right. Oh, sure, some hands I dropped after the turn and would've hit a set on the river, but I'm not playin' that kinda game at limit anymore -- the implied odds are SO not there.

Now, I thought I was seeing too many turns in that long session, but I saw the same percentage of turns in this short session. Maybe that's about where I should expect it to be; I'll keep checking. Stats are a wonderful thing... methinks it's about time to invest in PokerTracker, as soon as I get a bigger hard drive (the database that thing creates will get into the gigabytes soon enough, especially if I keep playing as much as I am now!).

Next up: more aggression, and more flops. I readily admit that I limped into a number of these pots, sometimes even as the first one to commit chips to the pot. Next session I'm going to have the same starting hand requirements, and never or almost never limp into a pot: if I'm playin', I'm raising. Well, I may call a raise with a PP under jacks, but (almost) never limp with them. Why "almost"? Well, 1) there are no 'nevers' in poker, and 2) if I'm on the button and 5 people have limped, there's a damn good chance I'm limping with any two here: .50 to win (probably) 3.50? I'm pretty certain I'll play just about anything here for a limp, and I'd also be cautious to put in a raise with anything besides AK, AA, KK, or QQ (depending on the table's playing).

On a different note, I go to Vegas Friday. yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!