So I'm too busy to really play any money poker these days. Online. At the casino. Anywhere. But I'm a big believer that you get better, gain information, gain experience by seeing more hands.
So I stick to play money tourneys to practice when I find time. Mostly to test out my patience skills. When I've had the time lately, I've been trying out the Facebook poker tourneys.
It's just like the play money tourney's on Stars and such . . . you usually have to wait out the first round of dorks who shove all-in with whatever hand they have. But after a while, people play straight.
The interesting thing about Facebook poker is that it tracks your stats. Basic ones. Hands played. Hands won. Tourneys won (1st place finish is the only one that counts as a win).
I was monitoring my stats against the other players. My # of hands played is 3,320. My # of hands won is 1,019. That's 30.7% - I do math good. My sit-n-go's won? 28%. That's a first place finish nearly 3 out of 10 times.
What's the right number to compare myself against? I tried to review stats of other players, and only looked at people who'd played at least 3,000 hands. If I compare my % of hands won, it seems good . . . but there are people who had a higher % of hands won. One guy had 39.3% hands won. That seems statistically better than me. But his SNGs won % was only 13%. So does that mean he wins more than me, hand for hand, but I make bigger wins and finish better? Does that mean I get involved in more hands, but get out before I bust out?
On the other side of the table was a guy with a 33% win rate at the SNGs . . . but his hands won ratio was lower than mine.
So what do you want, if you're playing tourney's? Is the ratio of hands won going to drive the ultimate win %? Or is it a combination of other factors? How you wait out the stacks? Which hands you play big and which ones you play conservatively? How well you can get away from a hand when you're behind?
I was tempted to say in a cash game, number of hands won should equate to overall win . . . but even that doesn't tell you anything about size of pots won, etc. I guess it's all relative . . .
Doesn't need an answer necessarily . . . just interested to hear what you all focus on when you focus on improving your game. What stat is it that you want to master?
Respectfully submitted,
The Wife
