Identifying leaks

Does anyone here have a method for identifying their leaks? Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Oh c'mon you guys, help me out!!

If you're using poker tracker you could always post some stats for the guys on here to look at. Your numbers will tell people a lot about your game and it's easy to spot if you're playing too loose/tight or playing out of position with weak hands.

If you give us more info about how you play (tight, aggresive etc) and what positions you play what starting hands. How much you raise and stuff it will give the guys on here more of an idea of what you're doing wrong. There are some excellent players on here who can help a lot more than I can but they'll need more info than what you've given

A few general thoughts...

1. Look at your VPIP/PFR. If there's a huge gap between the two, you probably limp/call too much. If your VPIP is much over 24, you're prob too loose. If your VPIP is less than 13, you're prob too tight.
2. Look at your positional stats. Your VPIP/PFR in late position should be much bigger than in early position. If not, you're probably not playing position effectively.
3. Look at your win rate by position. Your win rate in late position (BB/100) should be much higher than in early position. If not, you're probably not playing position effectively.
4. Look at your flop cbet% and turn cbet%. If your turn cbet is less than half your flop cbet, you're probably giving money away, prob not agg enough, and prob not reading boards/villains effectively.
5. Look at your winnings for pp's, sc's, offsuit connectors, etc. Your winrate for the first two should be very high. Look also at which hands you win and lose a lot with - if there are any big surprises (i.e., you're losing money w QQ), go back and review hh's.

All these assume a sufficient sample size - 10k hands, for example, is too small to draw solid conclusions. On the other hand, just thinking through these types of things is useful in and of itself even if not a big enough sample.

Stakes make a diff - a 90% cbet is prob a good idea below 25nl and is prob bankroll suicide at higher than 100nl. Tourney vs cash makes a diff, and FR vs 6max makes a diff (6max stats should be more agg than FR).

I know there are several articles here on stats which imply leak identification opportunities - I'm pretty sure ChuckTs has one somewhere...

As nugganootch suggested, posting your stats in one of the micro threads would be a good idea.

If you have any specific questions, pls feel free to pm me. gl!

All of that is GREAT tips on sealing up some leaks. You may want to go over some of your old hand histories and talk through some of your hands. Posting some of your hands in the HA section is also great. That will give you plenty of (usually really good) points of view.

Interesting -- I never heard this one before. I think I'm close to half without trying.

Hmmm, my sc's are definitely not very high, maybe close to break-even. I wonder what I'm doing wrong.

Lizzy, if you use HEM, there are articles in the help section of the program that go through stats and help you identify leaks.

Richyl pointed the flop/turn cbet thing out to me a few months ago. Think of it this way - there are some flops and some villains that if you're going to cbet the flop, you should also be planning to cbet the turn before you cbet the flop. If you cbet flop and give up on turn consistently, and I (villain) pick up on your tendency to do that, I just need to float the flop and bet the turn when you check the turn to take the pot down w ATC (at micro or in tourneys, this will usually be a small-mid pp - at small stakes and up, it could very well be ATC). Players who feel like they're throwing money away when cbetting generally are betting into flops/villains that are incorrect to bet into, and don't two barrel often enough (this also shows up as a downward trend in non-showdown winnings charts).

sc's go up in value when you have position and when you're deepstacked - they go down in value oop and when you're shortstacked. The beauty of sc's is that when you cbet a flop and get called, you may pick up additional outs on the turn that allow you to continue to be aggressive. Let's say you're playing a hand where MP limps, you raise to 5xbb on btn w 8c7c and BB calls, MP calls. Flop is Tc6d2s and you decide to cbet when checked to, even though all you have is a gutshot, and both BB and MP call. Turn is any 9 (making your straight), any club, any 5 (oesd), or any 4 (double belly buster) - a combo draw is even better, unless you hit the 9 - you just picked up a lot of outs to bet the turn w confidence, probably enough outs to shove over the top of a bet or raise from either position profitably.

So playing sc's should be profitable, if it's not, start posting questions about sc's in HA.

I have this problem with my graph when I am playing poorly. Every once in a while, my red line evens out or goes up a bit, and I feel better about my play (aggression pays).

I think I was playing them too much OOP and with a smallish stack (50 BBs to start). I have better results with a smaller stack.

You just helped me recognize a major leak. Thank you!