help a newbie interpret his numbers

I started playing online poker about 2-3 months ago and I am really enjoying it. While I had a basic knowledge of the game before, this is my first serious experience with poker so I am learning the game. I have read HoH vol. 1 and Moshmans SNG strategy.

I have recently tried PT3 but I am not really sure how to interpret the numbers. I have just recently started playing cash, before that I played a lot of $5 and lower SNG. I lost my startup slowly playing SNG and found it quite boring.

Started playing Cash on the second deposit (50 bucks) and have been playing mostly 10 and 25 NL. 25nl is over my head and BR, but I just wanted to try it out. I would mostly win slowly and lose big on a donk play or bad beat. After 1600 hands I am slightly down but wanting to start analyzing my play.

I really enjoy cash games much more, and play them a bit more aggressively (maybe too much).


Hands: ~1600
VP$IP: 26.31
PFR: 6.88
AF: 4.63
3bet: 4.27
fold to 3bet: 68.09

Some other notes.... I have a deep hole on BB, losing a large bit there.


What does this mean, what other information should I be focusing on?

thanks in advance.

You are too passive preflop, and probably too aggressive postflop.

Also, you're playing outside your bankroll, and 1600 hands is too small a sample.

Focus on playing more hands, being more aggressive preflop, and being more selective with your bluffs postflop.

thanks for the reply.

I know I am a bit outside my br with 10NL but I just cant stand to play the lower limits. The play is just erratic and makes no sense. 10NL isnt great, but at least they seem to care (even if just a little bit) if they lose.


and what youre saying is the opposite of where I thought I needed to go. I thought I needed to play less hands and more aggressively (but I am the newb). could you elaborate for me?

I think what he is saying is that you need to raise more PF.

Your VP$ is 26.31 but PFR is only 6.88

As a guide PFR should be about 10 less than VP$ so with you playing the top 26% of hands, you should be raising with the top 16%

Its a LAG style.

You didnt say whether or not you play full ring or 6max. Regardless of that you are limping too much, the majority of your hands you should be coming in for a raise. It would probably be beneficial for you to tighten up a bit and play less hands preflop. As someone that is just starting out you should be following some kind of bankroll management rules if you don't want to redeposit. 20 buyins move up 17buyins move down should be a pretty aggressive, but reasonable guideline for getting through the microlimits. Some people prefer more. And fwiw I played 20,000 hands of 2nl when i first started out playing cash games. There are things that you will learn when you start at the bottom and gradually move up that will help you. If i started playing 2nl and all of a sudden move up to NL50, that would be like taking general mathematics 101 and going straight to algebra 2.

$50 BR = 2NL since the max buy-in is $5 at sites like Stars. If you are at a site that doesn't have 2NL (like FTP), then stick with $1-$2 SNG's for a while. "Bored" is better than "broke". Work on your game while giving yourself some BR cushion. You can try 10NL when you hit $100, but technically you should wait until you get to $200 or more. Stay away from 25NL for now.

thanks for the advice so far. I will move down to 2NL as suggested, it just seems as though the players will raise/call with any two cards whatsoever and draw out to the river on any hand they play.

I have been playing at pokerstars full ring.


I will tighten up and be more aggressive preflop.


At 2NL should I be betting much preflop or strictly playing the flop?