Hi guys,
I'm in the process of writing a short article about Sharkscope and I'm interested en knowing what your oppinion is about what the best overall strategy is against these 3 players respectively:
1. The regular
The player with a large sample and a solid ROI.
2. The unkown
The player with to small a sample to know how good he is.
3. The fish
The player with a large sample and a negative ROI.
What is your perception of the correct strategy against those 3 groups of players?
Let's take simple excample:
10 player SnG, blinds 10/20
Button (1500)
SB (1500)
BB (HERO) (1500)
UTG (1500)
UGT+1 (1500)
MP (1500)
MP (VILLAIN) (1500)
MP (1500)
Hijack (1500)
CO (1500)
Everybody folds to villain who moves AI. It's then folded to HERO. All the information you have on villain is the SS stats. The SS stats shows that villain has a sample of 4000+ and he has lost money big time.
Question:
Would you call villains AI lighter because of the SS information? And what if villain has a sample of 10? How light would you then call?
I know what I would in both situations and I have my own oppinion as to if SS is useful in these situations but what do you think?
you can tell me if i'm retarded and you already have the buy in but its way way way way way different between $10 buy in and $200 buy in. what buy in is this for?
OK I don't know where to start I could write about this all day.
Firstly I wouldn't even call the "fish"s all in with 1010 or even JJ. SNGs early stages are all about being mega tight as there is so much time to outplay someone. He could easily be doing this with AJ-AK all of which is a coin flip so what's the point?
When I play a SNG I load up the whole table on sharkscope and the losing players are just players I would widen my range against not just call them because "they are idiots". And all u have to do is pick your spots i.e. you have AK on and A high flop and they will happily commit all their chips with say A9.
All in all it's extra information but don't don't crazy with it. Just use it to your advantage when they have a good hand but a second best hand. They will probably die for this second best hand and you can double up.
As for solid players put urself in their shoes. They will play the same as u so early on if they are raising give them credit for a good hand (as they will have one) and fold hands such as AJ to their raise. When it's gets later they will open up their range as you should so your AJ might be worth a re-steal etc...
Mid players are generally the type of players that like to limp into the money so u can put pressure on them for example if a scare card hits the board or just raise them anytime u feel like they are doing a probe bet.
i think its dangerous to look at stats on SS as you play. unless you play a large volume of tables i wouldnt widen my range because even if someone is a losing player whos to say they dont bubble out in 4th all time for being a massive nit? Just because someones rubbish dosent mean they cant stick it in good. Its about spots not about stats, go with a table read if you have one or look for a good spot thats always going to be more profitable. Remeber doubling in A SnG does not double you EV.
I can't really play without sharkscope anymore. I'll go ahead and give my observations.
I play $6.50 and $12 games on FT (turbo).
I load up the whole table on sharkscope of course, but even before that I will seek out games which I do not have notes on the players (even if its just the color scheme). Avoid games with multiple known pros. (They will often have 5+ games loading up with 1 person in them, just scope them and mark and avoid)
Note down all people who multi-table. Yes even fish multi-table.
So your goal is to find break even players and worse in a game with a bunch of unknowns and at most 1 pro (avoid em anyway). Unknowns will generally be bad, because you KNOW the pros. Yes just burn some searches looking for regulars before you play. Search for a week at different times, you'll hunt down 70%+ of them
It is important to get the best table possible. Sometimes I'll set with 8 morons and I will just let the game come to me. Often in these games do nothing and end up with 2 people left at the 100/200 mark!
Scope the table minus the ones you know all ready once you are in the game.
Some players will have odd stats, check the chart. If it is a solid line going up, mark them as good. They play solid. If it is all over the place and has some big $ games on it with huge swings, they might be a complete sucker who just got mega lucky on a $90 game a bit ago. Players who are crushing the $1-4 game area usually are not used to the proper late game play and will fall apart there. Do not respect them too much. Noobs!
Find the actual fish. Not the -7% people. The -27% people. Mark them and color code them. They will be easy money for someone. See if you can make it you.
Early game against the decent players, steal their
blinds. They will naturally play tight and will probably look up your stats and go "dang hes good". This will keep you in even chips.
The fish will limp a lot here and will play each other. If you are in late position, go ahead and call with some speculative hands. 67s, AJo, A9s, A5, QTo. Do not call a raise of course, just limp with them. You can bluff em on the turn if no ace or K shows, you can also score 2 pair or better and take them out. Feel out the board on the bluffs - don't bluff with a ten on the board. They love straights and flushes. I do this all of the time. Yes it is a bit risky, but you can steal blinds back later on. Fish don't like flushes on the board, so bluff them, but don't bet them lightly. Push them around with the nuts. They'll usually fold, and that's OK - sometimes they just can't give up that A5 2 pair! Just remember to play the opposite they do. That's how you deal with fish, get those chips.
Now we'll have some -15 to -3% players. These people understand some basic poker but usually lack skills post flop and often have some fatal flaw in their game. You will need to discover it. Late game they will end up playing fairly tight and solid when they're down to 4-5. Yeah, they seem to see the finish line and focus. The turbo blind structure allows them to make easy and correct decisions also.
The break even to +7% players - these will often multi-table. If they do, use it. Bet them often. It works real well. Punishment for playing too many tables.
The 8-20% players - yikes these guys are usually quality and will not be easy to take out. I don't see a lot of these, I avoid them, because I like to win. Steal blinds early, play solid otherwise. They will repop you, they will value bet, they will defend blinds late. Respect raises early. Also respect when the blinds are large and they DO NOT go all in, but merely call. They will have aces or kings. Every time. Your top pair is no good. You will need to be aware of your own table image. They pick me up as an aggressive player usually. I'm okay with that. Use it.
Of course, you can make them fold! Unlike fish. So repop them too, bluff value bet, use the more complex parts of poker. Early and mid game respect the raises. Truthful stuff. Late game you can feel good with an ace. They will play ICM poker.
The most important thing is to fold to a bet. Betting first with junk is much better than calling with AJ.
One last thing about the final two. I am actually a net loser at this point, so my advice is fairly weak here. I'm up for any suggestions. However I think my big leak was raising and then getting re-raised all in. This meant a pre-flop fold from me. So don't do that - do it to others
Another good strat is to call and then go all in on the flop. You are first to act on the flop and they often get hurt here.
It's pretty simple. I'm at 18% ROI and it just takes sharkscope to assist me.
I win 17% of my games, 16% second place, 16% 3rd place, I get 5th the next most (5/6th are where if you have not doubled up, due to the blind structure you need to take some risks). 4th place considerably less than the others (fold and get paid works). 7-8-9th place around 6% of the time each. This isn't really bragging, this is just how my stats shape up using sharkscope.
Get your shark list set up and find the easier games. Sometimes you have to wait for some pro to clear out, but it is worth it.
You can join a pro game if there is just one and you see a fish. I mean, you know what he's doing and how to handle it. However he will be there in the final 5 and will be a tough out no matter what you do.
Lastly you will sometimes get a mega pro in these small time games. Dude normally plays $109's and is at your $6 table! Don't freak out, he might just be donking off some money or he might be warming up for his serious sessions. Figure that out and play him like any 10+% player. The nice thing is that you won't see him any more.
Not nearly enough info to get me to answer that question. I use the stats when I play and if I do not have notes on a player I might generalize something about a player based on the numbers. But I am studying them at that point to see where I need to change my thoughts. The stats are not enough on there own unless you are holding a big big hand like QQ or KK or something.
ok im too lazy to read all the posts but i agree with not calling anything but AA or KK, even KK im quite hesistant to call at those blind levels.. this is because i am ultimately cutting down any edge i have in these games by flipping with ANYONE! at those stages... i dont care if he is a solid reg or his first sng, i consider flipping with a full stack at those levels to be a huge leak !! anyway enough of that... back to the question at hand...
i think, you should set a few hand ranges for each effective stack.. eg.. im flipping 50bb stack against any stack with AA KK, and then adjust your ranges slightly depending on the situation against regs or donks... i tihnk thats the simplest way i can put it.. SS in thise case doesnt help that much.. only in determining whether he is a donk or a reg... but i dont think that should be the main factor in determining a call or not, the emphasis should purely be stack sizing and whether your hand is good against villians range





It seems like we are missing some major information here. What cards am I holding? If I have pocket Aces or Kings, I'll probably call. Anything else, its too early in the game to be risking that many chips preflop. Any player that would go all in preflop with 1500 into blinds of 10/20 is easy chips later in the game.
And even bad players get dealt big pockets and all in is the only way they know how to play them.