Poker-Edge Tactics

Poker-Edge Tactics

The following instructions show various methods to use statistics in Poker-Edge to read your opponents, analyse their moves and meanings and to make decisions using your knowledge to enhance your win odds.

Calling a PFR (Pre-Flop Raise)

Your opponent raised you preflop, you are on the button with a very nice draw hand you really want to see the flop with. It's not an overly large raise but you don't want to waste your money either. So what does his raise mean? Is it a steal? This is a specific hand in which utilized the info in Poker-Edge to WIN a $10 pot that I was destined to lose. First off, the opponent is loose, 37% VP$IP (Voluntarily put money in pot preflop) so I know right away that he will have a very wide range of starting hands. I am holding ATs (Ace Ten of spades) this hand and want to draw on the button to it. So we know he is loose, but he raised. His PFR is only 8% which isn't overly aggressive. But with his position in the cutoff and his loose play, I am going to say he has a small to mid pair and may be also just trying to steal the button from me or the blinds. The other stat to look at is the Steal Attempts. This is how often when the opponent is in the CO (CutOff) and the BTN (Button) combined that WHEN FOLDED TO THEM WITH ONLY THE BLINDS REMAINING THE OPPONENT WILL RAISE. Anything 20% and above indicates a portion of his preflop raises in those seats are bluff steals. I am more confident in potential steals from an opponent when this number is over 26% however. They may have a semi bluff draw hand to back it up or may not. The higher this number the greater their propensity to steal and even attempt to steal from out of position in earlier seats trying to steal limp ins for a nice preflop pot win. This player had a 22 so it was border line. But in combination with his VP$IP and PFR I was comfortable he had a week hand or a strong draw hand. If I had a better hand I would reraise, but I don't, I just want to see the flop. So I call based on my hand AND my opponent read from the statistical info in Poker-Edge. If he was a tight player with a lower VP under 20 I would have folded unless his steal attempt was ridiculously high, say over 30%. In this case, I called.

Pot Stealing

Flop is ugly and misses me. KsKc3h to which my opponent bets about half the pot. Now then, before I make a quick fold here, missing the flop entirely, I look for one more key stat to help me make a decision. He only bet half the pot, not the pot, so he either hit that flop (less than 20% chance) and wants me to call, or has a little something but is afraid the flop hit me. If he checks, he basically gives up and he don't want to do that. But he don't want to commit a lot of money to the pot to find out. Now on my end, I don't want to call and try to chase for a runner runner to luck out. I also don't want to just fold and abandon the pot just yet NOR do I want to just call him here and waste more money if I am wrong. I really only have two choices to make, Raise or Fold. To make my decision I look at one more KEY stat for this, the PFR-FLbet% (how often if they raised preflop will the bet the flop). This relates to the cBet (continuation bet, a bet made on the flop continuing to represent the players hand strength. Usually made to try and bluff the pot to steal it even though it was missed hoping the opponent will fold since the raiser was the aggressor pre and post flop.) In this case, my opponent had 40% PFR-FLbet stat. VERY high meaning he cBets a LOT. This stat should be more in the 20-25% range for a good player. They bet the flop when it hits them or they don't feel it hurt them. There is ALWAYS the possibility the player actually HAS a hand even though his stats indicate he is not often playing good hands. The saying goes, "Even a blind squirrell will sometimes stumble across a nut"! However, long term, playing the odds and percents along with playing the player, you will find the stats to be VERY helpful AND accurate! Considering this last piece of advice, my choice was made, I would not fold. My read was that he had a weak hand and was bluffing at the pot. So I reraised and restole the pot from him. I doubled his raise back to him and he insta folded to WIN a $10 pot I would have lost without the information I gained using Poker-Edge.

Hand History for the above Tactics

Full Tilt Poker Game #xxxxxxx: Table xxx - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - February 2008
Seat 1: naples jim ($33.15)
Seat 2: oswegonia ($29.95)
Seat 3: creg27 ($106.55)
Seat 4: eddywho ($23.45)
Seat 5: Crimson Steel ($87.15)
Seat 6: dela69soul ($49.25)
Seat 7: SNGspot ($25)
Seat 8: MACHINE99 ($23.60)
Seat 9: marciman ($10)
naples jim posts the small blind of $0.25
oswegonia posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #8

Holecards:
Dealt to SNGspot [

]
creg27 folds
eddywho folds
Crimson Steel raises to $2
dela69soul folds
SNGspot calls $2
MACHINE99 folds
naples jim folds
oswegonia has 15 seconds left to act
oswegonia folds

Flop :
[

]
Crimson Steel bets $3
SNGspot raises to $6
Crimson Steel folds
Uncalled bet of $3 returned to SNGspot
SNGspot mucks
SNGspot wins the pot ($10.25)

SUMMARY:
Total pot $10.75 | Rake $0.50
Board:
[

]
Seat 1: naples jim (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: oswegonia (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: creg27 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: eddywho didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Crimson Steel folded on the Flop
Seat 6: dela69soul didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: SNGspot collected ($10.25) mucked
Seat 8: MACHINE99 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: marciman is sitting out

SNGspot

Welcome To The G-spot of Texas Hold-em The SNGspot!