Analyzing your tournament play using Pokertracker

ChuckTs recently wrote an excellent guide for newbies on getting Pokertracker started up. I intend, in this little ramble, to take you through what you should be looking for once you have Pokertracker set up, and the various ways in which it can help you plug some dangerous leaks in your game and help you keep track of your play.

I use screenshots from a recent database of mine which primarily consists of sit 'n gos and small tournaments. Many concepts will apply somewhat to ring games - and while I may digress into discussion ring game stats briefly, it should be noted that this guide is primarily intended as a 'tournament' Pokertracker guide.

A brief note before I begin, obviously sample sizes are critical here. As you will see I have around 40,000 hands in my latest database, and even that is a small sample size, but it's enough to start infering certain things. If you only have a couple of thousand hands logged, you should probably play some more before coming back to analyze your stats, as it is possible you could come to some incorrect conclusions based on your small sample size.

Okay, so we load up our statistics (File --> Tournament Player Statistics / Ring Game Player Statistics). The first thing we're confronted with is the "General Info" tab. This contains three separate tables full of information - (a) A "Tournament Summary", (b) A "Limit/Blind Structure Summary", and (c) A "Known Starting Hands" summary. Let's tackle them one at a time.

General Info Tab

(a) Tournament Summary



(The screenshot above was taken from the printable view of the summary stats, as many screenshots here are. To get this view, just click the "p" button next to the stats)

These stats don't have much specific value in helping us analyze our play. Their only real use is as a bankroll tracker, and to help us ascertain whether we are a winning player at given limits (again, accounting for sample size related discrepancies).

(b) Limit/Blind Structure Summary



Now we start getting into the interesting stuff. Of particular note is what should be happening to your stats as blinds go up in tournaments, but we'll come to that in a moment.

The "Vol. put T$ in pot" is exactly that - it is the percentage of occasions in which you voluntarily threw chips into the middle preflop, be it by calling or raising. As "voluntary" implies, it does not include occasions on which you check your option in the big blind or when you fold from the blinds, however it does include occasions when you complete from the small blind or call a raise from the big blind. The main thing to remember about VPIP% is that you should not be aiming for a certain percentage. This applies somewhat more to ring game play, as at full ring tables it's quite possible to be a winning player with a 10% VPIP or a 30% VPIP. VPIP% is about your style of play, what suits you best, and perhaps most importantly the types of game you play in. If you play at donk-filled 1c/2c tables I'd imagine it's relatively easy to be profitable to play only AK and pairs for set value (premium pairs aside as we don't necessarily play for set value with them, obviously). This is simply because our implied odds are huge because pots are often multiway and people will call down with all manner of hands. Obviously as we move up in limits and play in tougher games, we have to adjust our style, as if we sit back and 'set-mine', people will soon catch on to what we are doing, and will be unlikely to pay us off.

But I digress. From a tournament perspective, the important thing is to look at how our stats change as the blinds increase. Certainly in smaller tournaments and to some extent even in larger tournaments, it's important to note that as blinds increase you should be becoming more and more active and aggressive. As blinds increase therefore, your VPIP% should also be increasing, along with your preflop raise % ("PF Raise %") and your blind stealing % ("Att to steal blinds"). Of course some situations in tournaments will not be conductive to blind stealing (for example if you have a huge stack to your left), but over a decent sample size the aforementioned guidelines certainly apply.

Also of note here is the "Won T$ at Showdown" stat. Anything from about 50% to 60% is fine here. Any less than 50% indicates that you may well be making too many 'crying calls', and anything over 60% indicates that you may well be folding the best hand too often. It's a common misconception that a higher "Won T$ at Showdown" is automatically better than a lower one, but this is not necessarily the case.

It may also be worth looking at the "Tournament Amount Won" and "BB Won/Hand" stats for each blind level. If you're losing a lot of chips at a given blind level, it may be indicative of you 'misplaying' that level, although take those stats with a pinch of salt.

(c) Known Starting Hands



This is where we can begin to identify possible leaks in the way we play specific hands. The first thing to do is hit the "Show All Hands Regardless of Limit/Blinds" button so that all hands are accounted for. We can go further into depth and analyze our play at individual levels later, but for now we need as many hands as possible to look at.

Don't waste time looking at hands like J3o. You lose money with hands like J3o because you almost never play them, that's a given. You want to look at hands that you are playing. The key is, any hand that you are playing regularly should be showing a profit. If not, perhaps you need to look at the way in which you're playing certain hands.

Obviously you should be winning with big pocket pairs. AA-JJ should be among your biggest winning hands. If not, and certainly if you're losing money with them, then either you're getting very unlucky, or you need to take a look at your play. Are you not raising enough preflop to protect your hand? Are you raising too much preflop and not allowing action? Are you overplaying your big pairs on very unfavourable flops? The answers can only really be found by looking at individual hands, although stats like your VPIP% and PFR% (preflop raise %) on the summary screen are also important (obviously both percentages should be very high with huge hands).

Next look at other pocket pairs. Again, if you're playing them often, you should be winning money with them. If not, take a look at some specific hands. Are you limping too much in early position with low pairs? Are you limping or calling raises preflop with pairs when implied set odds aren't sufficient? Are you misplaying them postflop? Much the same applies to other hands which you will often be playing, such as broadway (A-T) cards and mid-high suited connectors.

Tourney Notes Tab



Okay, let's move on. Next on the tabs across the top of the screen is the "Tourney Notes" tab. There's not really a lot to say here - much like the "Tournament Summary" section under the "General Info" tab, it's just a nice way of helping you keep track of your wins and losses. Of note though is the hand replayer - by selecting a tournament in the middle table and ordering the hands at the bottom by "Game #", you can essentially play back a tournament. This is a good way of identifying general leaks - as it can be a lot easier to be more objective about your play when you're not in the heat of battle!

I rarely use the "Game Notes" tab, so we'll skip that. It just gives very brief summary info on all tournament hands, but you're better off analyzing hands through the "Known Starting Hands" section of the "General Info" tab.

Position Stats



This is an area that's often overlooked. It should be a given to you that positional play in poker is hugely important, and this tab enables us to keep track of our play in every individual table position. Again, the exact numbers for our VPIP%, PFR% etcetera do not matter hugely as long as they're not abnormally high or low - what does matter here is how those percentages change as our position changes. Obviously in tournaments, especially sit 'n gos, the numbers will be skewed a little by the fact that we play all our hands in 'late' position when our table is shorthanded, but the principle remains the same.

As we get closer to the button, we should be getting more aggressive

This means our VPIP%, PFR% and Raise first in% should all be noticeably increasing the later our position. We should also be winning more from later position, because of the advantage it affords us (pay more attention to "BB won/hand" than "Tournament Amount Won" in this respect, as the latter is grossly skewered by increasing blind levels).

Analyzing our general play out of the blinds is also useful. Note that invariably we will be in the red from the blinds if the actual blinds are accounted for, but we should be hugely in the green as regards amount won not accounting for the posted blinds ("Diff w/o Blind T$"). If you are leaking money from the blinds, take a look at some specific hands - another useful featur of the "Position Stats" tab is that you can view hand summaries from one particular position. Are you completing too much from the small blind? Are you not completing enough? Are you defending your blinds too vigorously, or not vigorously enough? Only by talking a look at some hands can you find the answers.

Misc. Stats

The only part of real significance here is the "Known Tournament Final Hand Summary".



It's pretty self-explanatory, but this section is a little useful in indicating whether you are possibly going too far with one pair or even just high-card hands, or perhaps if you're over/underplaying your small flushes/two pair/etc hands. For example, if your "Won T$ at SD$" is low for one pair hands and you're a big net loser with them, you may well be going to far into hands with one pair only. This is more useful for ring games and longer, deeper stacked tournaments than sit 'n gos however, as the large number of preflop all-in hands in sit 'n gos is likely to skew the numbers (that's my excuse for losing so much with one pair hands, anyway!).

The other tabs and small sections not mentioned here are essentially just gravy. There is, of course, more to PokerTracker than has been touched on in this guide, but I hope it provides a solid starting foundation for your Pokertracker-related escapades (until if/when I can be bothered to write a sequel, anyway!).

Much love, and thanks for reading!



(4k posts kekeke. This was originally planned for the article contest, but I think it may be a little dead and I decided I'd rather post this direct to the boards anyway)

Ohh - thanks Chris. I am not quite ready for this but was wondering what in the hell to do once I have enough data. It was great for you to take the time to do this - I know I am not the only new user who isn't quite sure where to go with it all.

As a recent new user of Ptracker, I wanted to thank ChuckTs and Chris for all the hard work you have put into this, its made my job alot easier in figuring this out, it can be very complicated for someone who has no idea what they are doing(me). The members here have been fantastic in assisting me as well Jimbo, MrSticker etc...sorry I know i'v been annoying. lol But with this new addition to what I already know.. I'll be a pro in no time.

Thx again
April

Wicked wicked stuff.

Surprisingly, my stats are very similar to yours. Yet here at CC you're seen as a rock, and me a very aggressive player :/

rep+ed, Chris. Great guide

Nice choice for 4,000 posts!

Very good job, and it definitely belongs in the articles section eventually.

Quick question, in the screenshot of your profits/losses per hand I see you win less (or lose more) on most suited aces than unsuited aces. Should I see this as a leak (Giving too much value to a suited ace / chasing too much flush draws with em) ?

Well ATo, ATs and A6s are the only hands I'm losing with in terms of BB/hand. AT is perhaps being a little misplayed, although I don't really see it as I avoid it like the plague in early stages, so I most likely put it down to late-stage SNG variance, or perhaps I'm misplaying it late on (pushing when I should be folding or vice versa). The best way to find out is to look at some hands.

A6s I don't think I'm playing often enough (31% VPIP%) for a small loss to be important or particularly meaningful.

I mean you make _more_ money with most offsuit aces than with the suited brothers. Just take a look at AKs versus AKos for example: +48k vs +127k. To me that looks like suited aces are a bit overvalued, and that you could be making more money with those hands than you do.

Unfortunately PokerTracker doesn't work on my windows 2000 laptop. I would love to have such stats about my own game.

Oh.

I make more money in chip terms with AKo than AKs because I get AKo dealt to me over three times as often. The BB/Hand column is the one you should really be looking at to avoid skewed thinking.

Thanks for taking the time to write this thread DM, I truly appreciate it since it gave me an opportunity to give a real close look at Poker Tracker. I never knew it even existed until I joined this forum. I've seen PT referenced all the time here but since it's not for free you're always kind of skeptical if its worth it or not, plus I see it mostly mentioned in cash games and I was under the impression that it was used mainly to track your opponents game.

I'm mostly a micro tournament player and even I've had fair success since my bankroll has grown I do know that I have some leaks and Poker Tracker appears to be a great tool to improve your tourney skills. Since you're always trying to find something that gives you an edge, I already placed an order for the 1st two "Harrington on holdem" books that everyone here talks very good about, so the next step for me is definitely to get PT, probably in a month or two. I also read Chuck's article about how to install it properly but if I have any kind of trouble with it I know I can ask you guys.

Thanks again.


P.S. I was thinking about starting a thread on this but I guess its fine to ask here. Anyone knows some good book with tips on shorthanded games, from heads-up to 6-handed? I really, really need help in that area. I've made several final tables in 180 seat tourneys ($4.40) but NEVER won and made it heads up only once. Thx.

I'd say your better off starting a new thread, joe, as people reading this thread will be looking specifically for Poker Tracker instruction.

golden archives plz

yessir