% of hands played

I saw someone briefly mention this on another thread but i wanted to see what everyone's opinion on this was.

I am a tight player. Quite tight actually. In mtt's with a field size larger than 1 table i play around 18-19% of my hands. I have had some success with this, mainly my cashes in the pokerstars 1st depositor freerolls where i finsished 15th out of 1700 something and 199 out of 2260 something. However, i feel like hands played, I am not seeing enough action. Should i play looser, or stick with what works (at least somewhat). Opinions?

That sort of like 1 out of every five hands and about average. However, if your wondering about the stats the important factor is the % of hands won against the & of hands played. Another very important factor is the % of showdowns won. Although niether the hands won nor the showdowns won catagories tell how much you may have won or lost in either won fo the 2 and that is the most imprtant aspect of the statistics. I have played as much as 40% of the hands dealt, depending on the cards dealt. If you are satisfied with your overall performance so far and are comfortable with your play, why cange a winning combination. If your object is to win more money, you can play more tables, continue to play the way you are, and hope your style of play keeps you ITM, Your other opeion is to go to higher stakes if your BR permits it.
From what I've read above, it sounds like you may be getting a little impatient, so IMO you may try playing 2 or 3 tables and see how you fair. Hope maybe this helped a little.

As Roland said, if you are only playing slightly less than 20% of your hands, you are playing solid, tight poker. So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! But, if you want to try a more loose style, give it a shot at a single table and see if it helps and if you are comfortable with it. But, in doing so, also realize that you will create situations in which you will have more tough decisions and will occasionally get yourself in trouble. Also, your post-flop play will be much more critical in order to win with a loose style.

Looser is applied best when the blinds are small and you're in late position (less chance of getting raised) and you have a drawing hand that could hit something disguised, like 75s.

But if you play looser, you also have to fold a lot of missed or marginally caught boards.

But be careful; the new player freerolls may be playing loose already and so your tight style might be what's getting you your good results so far.

yea i probably won't change it. My winning percentage on showdowns is about 70% of the time, which i am quite happy with. When should i kick it up a notch though? I seem to coast along pretty fine until the blinds just eat me up trying to get hands i will play

decent percentage, maybe play more suited connectors and such for small raises, try to steal blinds on button, etc

I think your style of play is a great idea,especially during the first couple rounds of play.Not only do you get to see what kind of opponents your going to be facing but you can relax and take a little time with the decisions you make.The only thing I would suggest is not to be to careful with the quality of your starting hands especially in the later rounds when the blinds and antes become large.Where as something like A 9 suited in the beginning rounds is easily thrown away,in the middle to late rounds they become strong hands you can use to pick up those blinds and antes in late position.Good Luck at the Tables

Cool. I don't feel impatient, just trying to find ways to close the gaps in my game. Thanks for the feedback

i think like NewHill, in the first round it is good to play lot hand, espacially to try to make high your bankchips (sorry for my poor english...), and to see the way other players play...but a lot people play loose in the first round and be carreful....personnaly i play only in cash game, and i don't play a lot of hand.

about 18% is good 9 handed over the course of a tournament, but it all depends what cards you are getting. I've done well in tournaments playing under 10 percent because I simply got garbage, had to fold blinds constantly. But if you double up when you have good hands and fold when you have bad hands, the percentage really doesnt matter.

Well i wouldnt say exactly that playing a bit under 20% of hands is a problem... From your achievements on pokerstars it seems that you're having quite a lot of success, finishing well in the top 20 percentile of entrants... Don't set an exact number of hands you have to play per round.. If you pick up premium hands.. play more than you would.. if you go card dead fold more.. But in a general census, i would say theres nothing wrong with the amount of hands you play... Don't force yourself to play more hands and be aggresive if thats not who you are.. If you're comfortable playing tight than stick with it.. changing your game to someone elses can get you into more trouble..

stick with what wroks if your having success dont change the formula. you know the old adage if aint broke dont fix it