Advanced GT+ Usage

by Excession

The availability of GT+ to overlay configurable stats over players at tables on most online sites (and the ability at Party and UB to download hands from players at tables prior to joining them) has the potential to revolutionize online multi-table play.

Poker is a game of partial information. In this game information isn’t power, it’s money.

When you are a beginner (or come cold to an online table or play at multitables without PT or are stupid enough to have PT but not to use it in real time) you are basically just playing the cards. All the information flooding in about other player’s playstyles is wasted .. listen can you hear it? It’s the sound of your information (money) flushing down the drain! I don’t care if you are a winning player just playing ABC poker.. you would be winning more with better information and GT+ puts it right there under your nose at all times.

Now I’m not going to fall into the trap of pretending that everyone who plays online Poker really cares about maximizing their income. Anyone smart enough to play winning Poker can probably get a job that pays a lot better than a Party $25 NL table and if you just want to chill out and blow (or win) a few $$ that’s fine.

But I do assume that in reading this site you are trying to improve your game. That is the other benefit of information ... it isn’t just money (which even if the amount is irrelevant is good motivation anyway as that’s how you keep the score in Poker) .. it’s light shone in on how people play and win and how they play and lose. And to someone interested in getting better rather than just thrashing around in the shallows of low stake hold’em PT/GT+ isn’t so much a flashlight as a great big lighthouse! (especially if you’ve observed the table for 45 minutes first)

To be honest a lot of players take notice of just the one stat - how often the player pays to see a flop. In PT terms this is VP$IP (or voluntarily put money in pot). Note that the VP$IP doesn’t exactly equate to flops seen (that is available to see as well with PT or GT+ if you like) in fact it’s usually a little lower (as sometimes a players will see a flop for free in the Big Blind and occasionally will fold to a re-raise after they have put money in). Broadly speaking they think that anyone who puts money in more than 60% is a ‘maniac’, more than 40% is ‘loose’, 20-40 ‘normal’ and 0-20 ‘a rock’. They learn not to play K9 when the rock put money in and to happily raise with AK when the maniac does. This is one (important) step up from just ‘playing the cards’ you are dealt

The categorization of players in almost all the books (the classic example being Schoonmaker’s Psychology of Poker) is based on only 2 traits - (1) looseness or tightness in starting hand selection and (2) aggression or passivity in playing the hand once you are in it.

Thus you get the Fish (Loose/Passive), the Rock (Tight/Passive), the Maniac (Loose/Aggressive) and the Stone Killer (Tight-Aggressive).

Even a beginner soon realizes that, whilst useful, these definitions are inadequate. He is told ‘don’t bluff a calling station’ and ‘don’t play weak-tight’ and ‘don’t slowplay too much’ or to ‘bluff more’ (or less!) or ‘don’t pay off the flush chasers’.. but how are the calling stations, the bluffers, the slowplayers, the flush chasers and the weak-tight players to be found?

If the flop is junk and he raised pre-flop and bets out - does he have anything or is the bet out an automatic play for him when he misses?

Will a player just call down blocking bets to give you the right odds for your draws or will she come back over the top at you?

Previously you would need to see the same players on several occasions and have the discipline to take detailed notes to get good reads.

Now even if you have never seen them before you can set up GT+ and have information to assist you in making crucial decisions staring you in the face when you need to make that bet, call or raise. You are able to not just play the cards or ‘the table’ in some general sense, but you can now play the players individually and adjust each bet to maximize your EV.

I suggest that you have 4 critical stats up on GT+ at all times (but remember that you can see more stats by hovering over the GT+ overlaid stats or even pull up full info on a player for each street’s aggression etc. - from the main ring game stats in PT at any time).

These stats are VP$IP%, PFR%, PFA (Post-flop aggression, WtSD% (Went to Showdown when saw flop).

Here is what those second two numbers mean:

A PFA of less than 1 - This guy is passive. Because PT at the moment doesn’t differentiate calling from folding in assessing this rating (except that if you keep calling at each street you will presumably increase the % that you act passively overall) it is important to differentiate those who fold (and should be bluffed at) from those who call - and shouldn’t be bluffed at! (this is why we also look at the WtSD% to find this out. Nevertheless if this guy does bet out he has something (although being so passive he often won’t bet enough out to put you off a draw). Also this guy is very unlikely to re-raise so he is the ideal candidate for those small blocking bets if he has position on you and you have that nut flush draw. Check this guy’s WtSD% - if it’s less than 20% you can usually bluff him. If it’s more than 30% don’t bother.

A PFA of 1 to 2 - This is in the normal range. This guy will bet out if he hits something on the flop (unless he is a slowplayer). He is again another good target for bluffs (unless he has a high WtSD%) and blocking bets. If he re-raises you that screams set and I would get out. The lower in the range he is the more prone to be passive. Over 1.5 will start to exhibit bluffing behaviour if checked to on the end etc. (especially if he has the ‘momentum’ - eg he was the pre-flop raiser)

A PFA of 2 to 3 - This guy is aggressive. Even if you raised pre-flop from LP he will often try to steal the momentum away from you by betting out (even if he missed). If you hit too but aren’t certain where you stand (if he has a low WtSD%) it might well be worth a re-raise to see where you are. If you have a big hand against him and act first just check or minimum bet - he will come at you. Guys who aren’t maniacs per-flop but have a high PFA and low WtSD% are often ‘flat-track bullies’ - that is they are trying a bluff on and will drop it fast if they get challenged (very sensible of them). Guys who have a high PFA and WtSD% (over 30%) are basically maniacs who are going to get lucky or busted.

A PFA of 4+ - This guy is almost (or actually) maniacal. The only time he doesn’t bet the pot on the flop is when he has something!! Watch out if this guy checks to you - he is most probably preparing a re-raise. He will always semi-bluff his draws too, so don’t worry too much about giving him a free card by checking behind him. If you have something treat him like the 'PFA of 2 to 3' guy above but remember that he is even more likely to be second best to you.

The one caveat I would have with the advice on the 'PFA of 2 to 4' players above is if they are extremely tight/aggressive pre-flop. If I only played AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK and nothing else then I would expect to end up betting strongly and having a high WtSD% too - it doesn’t mean that I’m a bluffer or maniac (but as you will see true TA-A’s are a rare as hen’s teeth - which is almost as rare as a typical party $25 NL player folding a flush draw to a pot-sized bet!)

WtSD% - As noted above this isn’t really an absolute indicator as it has some logical correlation with pre-flop tightness. The lower the VP$IP the higher this figure can be without necessarily indicating calling station tendencies. Rocks are by nature more passive than they should be and their tendency to get bluffed off pots also means they rarely have a WtSD% higher than 30%. TA-A’s on the other hand often have WtSD% of 40%+ and make good money with it - so be careful if you find yourself without a monster against them.

However more relevant for standard play is that the typical stats for players who have VP$IP of 25-30% is a WtSD% in the 20-30% range.

Any higher than that (over 30%) is an indicator of calling down too much. If you see one in three flops and go all the way to SD of those times, something is likely wrong; and that thing is that you are a calling station!

Under 20% WtSD indicates someone you can often bluff at - especially combined with low PFA (in passing a total maniac can also have such a low WtSD because he pushes all-in on half the hands he plays, but I figure you will spot those exceptions easily enough).

Lets imagine 3 players with identical pre-flop stats of VP$IP 28%, PFR 6% (pretty standard) but with very different post-flop ones.

Player A has a PFA of 4 and goes to showdown when he sees the flop 20% of the time.
Player B has a PFA of .5 and goes to showdown when he sees flop 18% of the time
Player C has a PFA of 1.2 and goes to showdown when he sees flop 34% of the time.

My autorating guidlines would churn out the following descriptions:

A - sL-PA (slightly loose passive/aggressive)
B - sL-PP (slightly loose passive/passive)
C - Calling Station

Looking at my 30,000 25c/50c NL hands in PT (filtering for 30 hands+ played, VP$IP 25-30%, PFR 5-7%) gets the following average outcomes for these player types:

A - sL-PA - plus 1.8BB/100
B - sL-PP - minus 7.4BB/100
C - Calling Station - minus 6.5BB/100

It may surprise you that the calling station is not the worst outcome, but so many people at these levels are overaggressive and try to bluff or overbet at calling stations that they can pick up a few good pots along the way. The sL-PP player is really just a fish who sees a few less flops and rarely picks up a big win so has even worse an outcome in the end.

Let’s look at how you adjust your play as required. Let’s assume that you start out trying to play fairly sensible poker. Your basic default play is as follows..

On a 25/50c Party $25 NL Table:

• You make standard raises of $2 ($3 if 2+ limpers or from EP) with any of AA,KK,QQ,JJ and AK from any position. You call any minimum or standard raise with these except that you re-raise by another $5 if you have AA or KK.
• You will also call a minimum or standard raise with any pair looking to hit a set on the flop provided at least one of the relevant stacks are $25+ (you are always $25+ because you buy back up to is as soon as you drop below). You are sufficiently tight to fold AQ, AJ etc rather than cold-call a raise with them.
• You will also raise from LP if folded/limped to with hands like AQ,AJ, KQ, TT, 99. If you are checked to on the flop by one or two players you will make one pot-sized bet (or ¾ sized if no flush draw on board) even if you miss with these hands, but if called again you will shut up shop. This is the only time you bluff.
• You will see cheap flops from MP and LP with marginal hands including Ax s and suited connectors - but are strict with yourself about fitting or folding. If you flop a draw you will see a free card if you can but if you are in LP and checked to by the others you will bet out half to three quarters of the pot as a semi-bluff.
• If someone re-raises your top pair or two pair all-in you are prepared to let it go unless you have half your stack already in the pot. Otherwise you will bet these hands out down to the river unless a flush card drops in or the board is showing one card needed for a straight, in which case you shut up shop and fold to any significant bet.

This is pretty much ABC poker for these limits. I know it works OK as I’ve been playing in at the Party 25’s for 6 months and my roll has trebled in that time.

You will probably end up with a rating of sLP-A playing like this although you will be on the borderline of Tight Aggressive Aggressive and so should be picking up rather more that the sLP-A average +1.8BB/100. Filtering my PT to show SL-PA’s with VP$IP 25-27% an PFR 6-7% gives an outcome of +3.3BB/100, which is what you would expect.

As a matter of interest those TA-A’s who play 20-25% of hands and raise 7-10% earn 4.3BB/100 whilst those who are even tighter and more aggressive pre-flop (less than 20% and more than 10%) manage 11.8BB/100 (the overall average for TA-A’s is 10.8BB/100).

Incidentally of the 3698 players I have logged with more than 30 hands, TA-A’s account for only 167 of them! So less than one player in 20 manages to be that disciplined.

So if you are in a pot where players A, B and C limp to you on the button, the blinds are rocks and you have ATs what should you do? If it was just the fish (player B) limping the answer is easy - you raise it up and if he calls and checks (as he will do unless he has hit the flop) you bet out the pot and he folds. Given that he has to hit a draw or one of the top 2 pairs to stay in with you 75% of the time you are winning his money here (and half the time that will be $2-3 rather than just 50c). If he bets you give him credit for hitting the flop (as he bets out so rarely).


However the presence of the other two complicates matters. One view is that player A doesn’t have a premium hand and so you are probably ahead and he is likely (unless he has a pair) to lay it down to your raise. This is probably the case, but the downside is that if he sees the flop, with a PFA of 4 he is betting the pot at you irrespective of whether he has hit. Even if you hit an ace on the flop as an EP limper if he sees the pre-flop raise he may well have a better ace and that could be very costly.

The presence of the Calling Station (player C) makes things even worse. Half your raising equity is in the bluff on the end and he is more likely to call your raise and keep calling you all the way down. On the other hand if you manage to hit the flop against a calling station it’s a nice payday.

To be honest here I would just limp and see what happens. If I miss the flop I’m done. Best case scenario is player A betting and player C calling to give me odds for a nut flush draw which I then hit. That sort of hand can make a lot of money.

Against players who very aggressive post-flop (which includes maniacs of course) and against calling stations you basically have to hunker down into bear-hunt mode. You cannot get involved with them after the flop with marginal holdings. You cannot bluff them.

Maniacs will force you to stop limping with anything that won’t stand a raise pre-flop unless you have position on them but the pre-flop passives will at least let you see cheap flops and if you hit then you know what to do. Slow down and let anyone with PFA 3+ bet into you (trust me they will especially if you didn’t raise pre-flop). Against the calling stations you bet out of course and let them pay you off with their top pair dreadful kicker or second pair of whatever.

Anyway that completes part 4 of the PT Guide. I hope that there is some food for thought somewhere in it for you.

In Part 5 we will try to figure out whether PT can help you with the really tricky stuff.. like, if a player is just calling your bets down and he isn’t a calling station is he slowplaying you or is he on a draw?

Cheers and Happy New Year

--excession 31/12/04

You can find excession on our forums.