Rex's adventures in Ringland - the first 19k hands

So I've decided to give Ring a real crack for the first time. I've dabbled previously but never really developed a proper game for it, relying instead on my tourney game (there's some more on this in my blog if you're interested).

So below are my first 19k hands at 25NL. Pretty much all 4-tabling.

The first 5k I was making a lot of obvious mistakes I feel and ran KK into AA five times.

Since then I've learnt a lot about managing pot size and have gained the sense I have in tournies of the archetypal players and what different bets, checks etc mean from each type.

I'm pretty certain that I have a winning game and think that this is a large enough sample to demonstrate that. Where initially it was taking all my concentration to play 4 tables I'm now able to watch TV and post here as well, so things must be getting better as my win rate is also improving

There's a long way to go and I want to play at least the same again before I even start thinking about 50NL (I am rolled for it, but I want to to feel I've got it nailed before moving up).

Anyway anything anyone can see in the stats here I'd be interested in

Your PFR is a bit low. I think generally at least 50% of your VPIP is a reasonable goal for the PFR. Your Won $ at SD% is low (mine is over 60%) suggesting you stick with hands too long or aren't getting great reads on the strength of your opponents hands. Your VPIP from the SB is a bit high -- fold PF more. Overall, your numbers are fairly good though for TAG play.

Cheers Skol, the pfr is interesting and I wonder about more raises from mid-early position than I do currently, I'm very position conscious and I wonder if this is a factor.

The SB comment I agree with and after reviewing the stats at 10k I stopped a lot of completing with nonsense hands, hopefully this will correct in the longer run.

Regarding the win a SD, I've been generally losing on the river on small pots and winning with the bigger ones. I've not been trying to win each hand but rather make globally correct decisions, so I'm losing a lot of $2-$4 pots on the river making small calls on the end, but I tend to win the $5-$10+ pots, because I'm not getting involved that deep unless I'm pretty certain I'm ahead. There's a lot of lead flop, check-call turn, check check river in there I think. Interesting though and I'll have a think about it.

pfr - it is low and I think you'd have to adjust it on your move up to 50nl or 100nl, but I'm not sure it needs to be adjusted for 25nl and under. I find that a) you can get away with a lot more limping and also stack a lot easier even in small limped pots with implied odds hands, and b) steals don't work as well since players are generally worse and call down lighter, so stealing isn't as much of a winning proposition at the micros as it is in low stakes.

steal % - I think this might be a little high for 25nl but if it works, it works I think ~25-30 or so is the ideal % for 50nl-100nl as even the 'solid' regs don't really know how to deal with stealing properly other than 3-betting occasionally. So basically keep that stealing up when you move, and tighten up a little in 25nl in steal spots if you find you're running into too many tough spots. By your pos. stats it looks like you're doing fine though

Overall AF also seems a little low.

Other than that, looks very good! Happy to hear you're doing well and I'm looking forward to your 50nl move-up!

i agree you should probably raise more of the hands you're playing. being the one to raise is great because it gets the most info out of your opponents' range while, if you're raising a wide enough range, concealing your own

if you have a good hand, or a premium hand, your initial action is still going to be the same: raising. but now your opponents who want to play must choose between two different reactions to that raise. either just calling, or reraising. thus you tend to get more info out of them than they get out of you. when you're just limp-calling too often, you become the one who's in the dark, because they "just" raised, so their range is anywhere from marginally strong to premium

i think your won at showdown % is fine. if anything, skold, your 60% seems kind of high and suggests either you're folding the winning hand a bit too often or simply that your sample isn't huge enough. 55% is thought to be a pretty good mark, but anything over 50% can generally be fine, really depends on your style of play

AF seems low. even though 25NL/50NL players don't always love to fold, you can probably find a few more spots to pick up uncontested pots with low risk and just generally be a bit more aggressive. just look for spots here and there. gl to you sir

I think it's also important to note that this isn't over 19K hands as claimed, it is only over 18,686 hands.

Congrats on doing so well in your ring kick-off Rex. I have nothing more of value to add (there's a shock), just wanted to share some congrats. Oh, and I think it's time for me to review some PT stats based on some of the comments above. Good stuff.