Public Service Announcement: Stop looking at your stats.

This is the learning poker forum, so I assume that the people here want to learn the game from a basic level. Or, you want to educate people about how to play the game. So I have one message for you:


STOP OBSESSING ABOUT STATISTICS!!

Stop looking at your VPIP and thinking "Should I play tighter or looser?" Stop looking at your 3-bet percentage and thinking "the optimal 3-bet percentage is 5.2%-6.2%".

Allow me to go off topic really fast. I play disc golf, and brand new disc golf players usually suck. The first thing they do to fix their disc golf game? Buy new discs. However, this rarely helps, because the discs weren't the problem with their game in the first place, its the way they throw. Buying $20 drivers meant for a pro gets them nowhere with their noodle arm throwing technique.

The same is true for poker players. New poker players that suck immediately buy HUDs, stat trackers, data mined hand histories, pot odds calculators and all manner of programs to fix their game. However, that's not what's wrong with their game. Their ability to analyze situations is what's broken and needs to be improved. They like buying HUDs because they think a $55 HUD will fix their game magically overnight. But really what they need to do is sit down, do some hand analysis, read some strategy articles, and be coached by their peers.

So for all hand analysis forum (http://www.cardschat.com/f50/), read a strategy article, or identify situations you get in that you are losing money while you play. It will help you so so much more in the long run.

And yes, I created this post so that anytime anyone has a stats question from now on, I can just reply by linking them to this post. Sue me, I'm lazy.

I am definitely sueing you.

But not yet - you are making a very good point.

who is this Sue? Is she your alter ego, online sex buddy, another personality of yours? Inquiring minds would like to know.

and while we are in this thread is a vpip of 95 too high?

I'm still listening to old Deuces Cracked (Deuce Plays) podcasts (Bart Hanson) and I heard one today (Episode 11 from 3/24/09) with BalugaWhale (he's the author of Poker Made Easy and runs a coaching site: I've never used the site nor read that book).

His opinion is that players rely too much on the HUD (which shows player tendencies in the past) instead of watching the actual action of the player in the present. He tells his students not to use a HUD (or at least he did then).

lol disc golf

Your just a Link Expert but seriously great thread

This makes me feel much much better. I don't obsess about stats, but a lot of things I read here had convinced me that I should.

Thanks!

Yeah but what if the SB is 67/33 over 3 hands should I 3bet ATs in the BB after he opens? Or what if he only 3bets 0% after 40 hands, should I fold KK? These are the things I need to know.