I read this forum like it was a second job and I have learned ALOT here. There are some excellent players here and it is awesome to read their HHs, thoughts, advice, etc. I would really appreciate some input on my game. Something must be wrong but I dont know what it is. For the month of Sept, I had about 4,300 hands at $50NL and was at about 7PTBB/100. I was happy with this as it was my first full month at the 50s. BUT this month I am at about 4,500 hands and at 1.6PTBB/100.

Could someone Please take a look at these numbers and help me out!!!???!!!

VPiP 15.49%
Won$When seeing the flop: 29.70%
Went to SD: 17.78%
Won$atSD: 53.55%

Aggression #s:
PFRaise: 3.01%
AggressionFactor:
PreFlop: .22
Flop: 2.85
Turn: 3.16
River 2.13
Total: .70
(I realize that is very passive and worked on that some today during my session. It went well and I am confident in continuing it but would like some advice)

-I haven't tried to pull any moves on anyone, just plain ol' ABC poker. I think I may have bluffed 3 times all month, and 2 of them were today in my attempt to be more aggressive.
- I've been raising my big pairs up PF, alternating raisng up AK in EP or just limping w/ it depending on the table, my image etc.
-I've been staying away from easily dominated hands in EP.
-I've been calling up to a $2 raise w/ PP in hopes of hitting a set.
-Besides that, I've just been seeing cheap flops from the blinds or the button if I have a decent hand. I used the same approach at $25NL and was at about 11PTBB/100.

I do have my share of bad beats stories that I will spare you from, I know you've all 'been there, done that'. But I dont know what changes I need to make. Any and All advice, input is appreciated. Let me know if any other PT numbers would be helpful.

Thanks.

I disagree with several of Excessions guidlines, but these numbers are greatly open to interpretation so its no big deal for us to not agree. There are lots of different winning styles in NL.

One thing that I will say is that you need alot more hands before you can make any judgements.

You had 4300 hands at 7PTBBs
Then you had 4500 at 1.6PTBBs

This puts you at about 4.25PTBBs total. This could be your actual win rate based on your style and skill level and maybe the 1st 4300 hands you ran very well....OR....you could be in the middle of a mediocre run. Theres now way to tell. You need closer to 30K hands or more before you will have a good idea of how youre doing.

LOL I posted AT 4am my time as up waiting for wife (just starting labor) to have our second, so I missed the low hand numbers

Sure one big caveat is that 'Your Mileage May Vary' - there are several ways to win at NL Holdem and we've all seen consistently winning players all the way from 15-45% Vp$iP for example...what matters is yout PTBB/100 hands after 50,000 or so - anything else is secondary.

You certainly can play only good starting hands, bet them hard if you hit the flop and drop them if you miss and this would affect the numbers you would expect to see. If your W$SD was a bit higher you would still be showing a very healthy profit with that style.

So there isn't necessarily an 'ideal' number for anything - a lot depends on your opposition and your own comfort zone and hand reading capabilities

That said the set of 'ideal' figures I suggest above for full ring $50 NL aren't just my own opinion - the combination suggested should put you at the sweet spot of the slighly loose aggressive style - which according to AP10's 120,000+ hand $50 NL Ring (Party) database has the best average win rate of the various styles at that level..

Ok, heres the rest. I'm not sure if this is what you were asking for or not but here goes........

AKs: 35times, win 57.14% +$105.65
AKo: 80times, win 35% -$12.18
AQs: 34times, win41.18%, -$80.62
AQo: 86times, win39.53%, -$2.42
AJs: 31times, win29.03%, -$16.60
AJo: 68times, win 32.35%, -$14.60
KQs: 31times, win25.81%, -$19.45
KQo: 92times, win20.65%, +$64.15
QJs: 35times, win17.14%, +$8.30
QJo: 84times, win10.71%, -$5.55

What do those numbers mean to you??? I have no relative comparison so they mean very little other than face value to me.

Thanks again.

Hi 80....Man, I feel your pain. This month I've been running at 2.4PTBB over 10.5K hands. The main reason, I believe is that I keep getting sucked out on, fish call pot to the river and hit, along with a couple of crying calls, this has lost me money. What you need to ask yourself is 'why am I loosing money?' You must have some idea what it is, but I'll offer some suggestions as it sounds like you're a carbon copy of me from last month, the stats being very similar. Hopefully, being a similar style player I'll be able to put my points across, 2 or 3 in particular which have helped me.

Don't worry about your VPIP or PFR for now. At NL50 most other players aren't awake enough to notice. This can be worked on later.

Firstly, use of position in unraised pots.

OTB and CO are important positions since they are last to act post-flop. Playing your normal range of hands, how often do you hit the flop? How often do you see the other limpers check it around to you and you check as well? If there are 2 or 3 other limpers in the pot and it gets checked around to you in position then lead out for a pot sized bet. You will be amazed how often everyone folds. Do this 2 or 3 times and you have added 10% to your stack

Examples:
1 limper to me in the CO. I have 87s and limp. SB and BB also limp
Flop is T52. Checked around to me. I bet pot. Everyone folds

1 limper to OTB. I have KJ and limp. BB checks
Flop is TT6. Checked around to me. I bet pot. Everyone folds

If you get called then you can just shut down and go into check/fold mode unless you then hit on the turn of course. Then you have built the pot but proceed with caution if it gets this far

Acting out of position in unraised pots

OK this is a little more tricky and I'm sure this will be controversial but I do it selectively and it works for me. Again with 2 or 3 limpers and I'm in the blinds with marginal hands or limped UTG or +1 with something like AK, AQ, if I miss and it gets checked around I will lead out on the turn in certain scenarios.

Example:
2 limpers, SB completes and I'm in BB with 65o
Flop is K93 (fairly unco-ordinated). No way I'm leading out obviously. It gets checked around
Turn is 2. I will now lead for a pot-sized bet looking to take it down representing a 9 or a slow-played K but if called I have outs for the river, albeit only 4.
I will, however, only do this if I have known WT opponents in the hand who would have bet the K. I will not do this against calling stations or fish. I will not do this if a scare card hits the turn.

This type of play I have used a lot more in the last month as I've got to know my opponents better. My W$WSF has gone from 31% to 35%. My aggression is now over 5 for both flop and turn.

Raising PF

With AK and AQ, I will limp from UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2, varying according to table conditions and call a small raise hoping to hit.
All other positions to the button, I will raise it up, always. Then I will follow through with a CB even unimproved on the flop. This will take it down most of the time against 1 or 2 callers. I notice your win% for AKs is 57 and AKo is 35. Mine is 68% (28 times) and 56% (86 times)
AJ I will raise in mid-late position with no more than 1 limper before and then follow through with a CB.
I will follow up with a CB against 1 or 2 callers 100% of the time. But, of course, proceed with caution if you get called and always dump anything unimproved facing a raise unless you have an awesome read.

Playing pairs

OK, The biggies are easy. AA and KK try and get it all-in PF. Raise, raise and raise some more. Post-flop facing heavy action, they aint much good unimproved.
QQ-TT are very tricky to play, you're hoping for low flops and for you CBs to hold up with overcards on board.
99-22 set em or forget em. I will occassionally raise 99, 88 against selective opponents and pick it up after an uncalled CB. I think you can go further than $2 when calling raises though. Opponent depending I will go up to $4 and with short stacks never above the 10% rule

Opponents

You say you are playing ABC poker. You need to know your opponents and find out what their raises mean, what their calls mean and what those pissy little minibets are all about. What do their min-raises and re-raises mean pre-flop? Take notes, spend some time looking at your opponents PT stats and hands. Datamine to get more info on them

Attitude

You have 4300 hands at 7 PTBB followed by 4500 hands at 1.6 PTBB
You are a winning player. You are in the top 1/3 of poker players at your level. Most poker players are losers, you are not. Be proud of that. We all strive to be better players and to crush the games and it sucks when it don't happen. Take stock, try and find your leaks and tell yourself, 'yeah i'm still winning, thats great'. Don't worry about suckouts affecting your stats, they happen, shrug it off, you know what, you're still a winner after all

Alchemist-- Great stuff man, just the sort of post I was looking for!! I've noticed that my aggression numbers were 2-3 times higher at $25NL, maybe I'm just being the Mayor of Pussyville b/c of the 'higher' stake. I will definately be working on that.

Your comments on pot sized bets when checked to you OTB or in the CO made me go back and look at some of my $25NL hands. I noticed that my CBs at $25NL were pot sized and for some reason I have gotten in the habit of only 1/2-3/4 pot size at $50NL. Again, that needs to change. Also, I have been taking stabs at pots when checked to me but, again, not betting full pot. Maybe I need that BTP mousepad to remind me

I like your line on limping from EP w/ AK and AQ and then raising it up from any other position. Question: Do you ever try a limp reraise from UTG or UTG+1 w/ AA or KK? If so, how has that worked out? I've used that play a few times but have been avoiding it lately b/c I did not want to get into a situation where I may out think myself if nobody ends up raising the pot.

Regarding minraises....a)I hate them too b) It has been my experience that usually a minraise from an EP Idiot is AA-JJ and I love it b/c I can try to hit a set etc to bust them for cheap. BUT, what is your take on minraises after the flop? Does that usually equal monster or have they figured out that I have been a WT pansie and will dump a hand that is not strong?

Again, thanks for the advice. Good stuff.