Continued from Part One...
Developing Reads
The following is a guide to the stats I use to identify opponent weaknesses that can be exploited. Depending on what type of game you play, full-ring, six-max, etc, you will be aware of what the winning regulars are playing with and can adjust the ranges up or down, but I hope to give you and idea of what to look for and how certain types of player can be exploited. I like to have my HUD setup without colour and anything that I have as being outside the normal range showing up in green so it stands out like a sore thumb.
C-Bet:
>80 is too often. The player is likely to be doing this with a lot of air in his range, so we can think about raising him quite lightly or, if out of position, check-raising. We can also have a look at their c-bet turn stat which, if low, is often an indicator of the villain firing once then giving up, so in position we can float them and then take the pot down when they check to us.
<60 is not enough so we need to be careful when this player is betting into us. Also, as this player is unlikely to be putting money into the pot, then we want to think about leading (donk betting) our big hands to try and get some money into the pot. If we have position, then this is the only time I consider slow-playing as any aggressive action is likely to lead to a fold/the villain shutting up shop.
Raise C-bet:
>13 is high, although I do mainly look for higher than 15. Here we want to c-bet a stronger range that we can be comfortable playing if our villain gets excited with us, as his raises will be light.
<8 should obviously set alarm bells ringing when you get raised, unless you have a very strong hand then it makes it difficult to continue.
Fold C-bet:
>70 against these villains we can profitably c-bet whatever we decided to raise with preflop they just cant help but fold.
<55 is an indicator of loose flop play, so we can bet the top of our range for value and check our weaker holdings for pot control and showdown value.
Chk/Raise:
>6 means we need to plan our actions against villains with this stat. Ideally, we want to be able to note what hands he has in his range for this so we can exploit it in the future, and we should also be focusing on pot control more than usual.
<3 means we can c-bet a lot more into these guys as they are unlikely to be bluffing with worse than our holdings
C-bet Turn:
>40 is at the high end of the scale. If we have a big hand and position then we can feel comfortable calling, especially if our villain is active on the river. If we plan on calling out of position on the flop then we should be looking at this stat so we can have a plan for facing a likely second bet on the turn.
<25 means we can call the flop lighter as we can expect a higher number of cheap showdowns.
WTSD:
>30 suggests he goes to showdown too often so we can make thinner value bets.
<20 is open to being bluffed off. Flush or straight cards on the river are going to be ideal as well as multiple Broadway cards being present on the board. Just be sure that if you are going to try and bluff the river that the story you are selling them makes sense.
W$SF:
>43 suggests the villain is going to be taking shots at pots a lot so we can float or raise their c-bets a lot or if we have a monster just enjoy them doing the betting for us.
These are some of the basic things that I look for to identify how best to deal with the actions of our villains so we can gain the most value from our hand and play optimally against them.
Note Taking
With the prevalence of HUDs and nice, easy to read numbers, note taking has lost some of its importance to the novice player. However, rest assured that the top pros are still using it to a high degree. Not only does it help with reviewing a session but it also provides us with more detailed info on villain’s ranges when used properly.
Take the chk/raise stat before, we look at one villain and see a nice 8. We have a marginal hand and fold as we are not sure what he holds. Against another villain we see a 7 and we have a note that says, ‘chk/r flush draw on flop’. Now we can play our top pair bad kicker hand in a totally different way.
Notes give meaning to the numbers.
The following is a list of some of things that I always look for:
- Overplay TPTK
- Over aggro vs. flush draw
- Calling Station
- Minbets draws
- Minraise PF
- Plays all draws aggro
- C-bet size (weak=weak strong=strong)
- Always raise BB when SB completes
The key is to not get caught up in stats only analysis, take notes too. Also, on Poker Tracker, be sure to use the mark-hand for review feature (left click on the PT icon on the HUD) so that key hands from a session stand out.
Session Reviews
This is perhaps one of the most beneficial and under-used feature of tracking software. You should regularly be going through your hands that have been marked for review as well as any pot over, say, 20 big blinds, and critically analysis your own play. You can also add or amend notes taken on the villain based on your analysis so that when a similar situation arises again you can play your hand more optimally. As I use Poker Tracker, I run a lot of reports, many downloaded from the Poker Tracker site, that provide a good insight into how I am playing the game in general and use them to identify leaks.
Conclusion
You should now have a greater understanding of the stats and how to be able to use them in combination with each other to help with gaining the upper hand on our villains. It is important that, as players looking to progress and develop that, we understand how to think about the information that is at our disposal and have the confidence to review sessions and highlight spots where we may have misapplied the information we had, or not made full use of it.
As with my other articles series, this is only meant to be an introduction to start off your own thought process and, as usual, I am happy for any comments or questions below.
If you have any questions about this topic, then please feel free to leave any feedback in the comments box below.
Other 'Wax On, Wax Off' articles:
Stages of Poker Evolution - Part One
Stages of Poker Evolution - Part Two