Where $$$ comes from at micros

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:05:43 -0600

Periodically i like to dig into a database and analyze a topic that is giving me trouble or i am curious about.  Recently i saw something in a video that got me wondering where the winnings come from as far as pot size played and how that might point out areas to work on in my game.  So here is what i found and what i think it tells me.

Total net

Net 0- 10bb

NO VPIP PREFLOP

$$$ lost in blinds

Net 0-10 bb

VPIP

Net 11-30 bb

Net 31-50 bb

Net 51+ bb

10 nl

Hands=33,556

$890.34

-$354.00

Hands=4970

$313.34

Hands=5464

21%

$111.08

Hands=898

$143.77

Hands=238

10%

$856.71

Hands=299

60%

25 nl

Hands=58,361

$1525.32

-$1540.53

Hands=8,385

$1701.18

Hands=10,344

48%

$190.86

Hands=1,414

$579.60

Hands=304

16%

$1061.66

Hands=352

30%

50 nl

Hands=36,883

$1621.54

-$1871.60

Hands=5,073

$2557.02

Hands=6,689

55%

$116.27

Hands=936

-$97.69

Hands=226

-2%

$1824.32

Hands=255

43%

100 nl

Hands=28,408

$1876.85

-$3098.61

Hands=3732

$2358

Hands=5,470

36%

$774.94

Hands=693

12%

$748.33

Hands=155

11%

$2628.43

Hands=180

40%

totals

-$7311.83

-74  bb/100

$7,084.28

+62 bb/100

41%

$1,374

+75 bb/100

$1754.16

+482 bb/100

10%

$6792.16

+1709 bb/100

40%

A couple things to notice right away, at 10 nl most of the winnings came from bigger pots i.e. donks getting in light “since it is only 10 bucks”.  The next biggest part is the result of pfr and Cbetting to take pots down vs loose players that missed flop and to a lesser extent taking stabs at small pots on dry flops.  As i moved up stakes my winnings became even more polarized between small and large pots.  This basically shows why all the pfr hands that get little action set up action when i got a big hand and DIDNOT slowplay. The beauty part is you get paid to be an active pfr player waiting for a big hand.  The pots below 10 bb are broken into those i played i.e. VPIP and those in blinds that i put no more $ in pot and surrendered the blinds.

I think these medium pot results are still positive as a result of me trying to use position to bet made hands to maximize value and letting medium strength hands go when faced w/ an aggressive opponent. The mediocre results in middle size pots could be improved i think by better hand/situation reading on my part. I think i miss value vs certain opponents by checking behind on the river and getting pushed off some pots by aggressive opponents as well as by not 2 or 3 barrelling other weak-tight caller types to force them off weak hands.

I think the take away for those trying to improve their results at the micros is to recognize the connection between $$$$ won w/ Taggy pfr range around 15-20% pfr and getting paid off in bigger pots when you have big hands and/or have your opponents top pair hand dominated postflop. Recognizing the small pots will be a consistent stream of winnings, but the bigger pots are more streaky and a test of your patience and discipline.

I made a list of common recurring situations below and plan to do more filtering to further breakdown the results for the various pot sizes to search for leaks in my game and better understand how/when/where winnings come from

Pfr and cbet for value w/ made hand vs all opponents

Pfr and cbet  semibluff w/ draw type hand, especially nitty fit or fold types

Pfr and cbet dry flop vs single opponent

Stabs at small pots w/ dry boards

Check raises vs obvious stab at small pot w/ dry flop

3 bet vs predictable tags or lags preflop

Squeeze vs multiple limpers or a pfr w/ caller(s)-limited chances

Pfr in lp vs blinds, especially tight players

Multiway 3+ players w/ draws

Betting weaker made hands like 2^nd or 3^rd pair vs calling stations/loose players

Big pots – limited chances, but patience and discipline are rewarded (299+352+255+180)/(33,556+58,361+36,883+28,408)=1086/157,208=1/144= 0.7% of hands

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Where $$$ comes from at micros