Taking a break was certainly the right option. I'm a little more on top of my school work now, and I've really put some thought into my game. I made an excel spreadsheet with all of my compared to the average stats of top winners at 100-400nl, and then tried to decipher the differences and figure out where I'm making mistakes.
http://s891.photobucket.com/albums/ac11 ... romPTR.png The image itself I think is too big to post here, and if I sized it down I don't think you'd be able to read it, so if you're interested that is the link to a picture of my final spreadsheet.
But ya, I also looked into my positional stats against some very good players, and deduced that
PREFLOP1. The first thing I should probably fix is my ranges from middle position around to the cutoff. I'm playing too many speculative and easily dominated hands in spots where I'm likely going to end up out of position.
2. I need to trim down the spots i bluff 3-bet in. Its great to turn the top of your folding range into a bluff when the spot is just right, but that doesn't mean A9s is always a 3-bet. I need to make sure I'm doing it against competent regs and only ip.
3. I have to slow down a lot with my blind defense. If I don't have a strong read that says they'll fold, then I'm going to be playing the pot oop. Phil Ivey said his grandmother could outplay him with position, so I don't know what makes me think I can do something he can't.
4. I'm cold calling with too many suited connectors in position. I'm playing them against every one, but I should be playing them against people that are too tight postflop, and fish. Good regs won't allow me to stack them when I hit, and they won't allow me to steal often enough when I miss, so I should just pick a better spot to mess with them.
5. I don't call very much agaisnt 3-bets oop, but basically any is still too much, and I'm also not folding enough ip. calling a 3-bet requires a strong read, I need to either think they'll give up enough after the flop to profit, or they're 3-betting enough that I'm ahead of their range with my less than 4-bet worthy hand, but in either case it takes a large sample for those stats to converge. So ya, gonna give people the benefit of the doubt in these spots until proven otherwise.
FLOP1. I am c-betting too much. I have to start checking their fold to flop c-bet stats before I act, and start delayed c-betting a lot of really wet boards that I don't have a piece of. I'm also c-betting too much into multiple opponents with small pieces of boards.
2. I'm floating WAY too much. I'll often do it just because the board looks like it missed their range, and I think I can steal on the turn. Then I pick up a flush draw or something and river a pair, before I know it I've got more than half my stack in when I started with nothing and only improved marginally on each street. I need to start only floating with a really strong read, or really good equity.
TURN1. This needs to be the street where I decide whether I am headed to showdown, I need to get out, or I think I can steal. Tightening everything up should make my turn decisions easier, but ya I need to start treating the turn in nlhe more like 5th street in stud, time to make your play or commit to a showdown.
RIVERFold more to a raise here. People don't bluff raise the river very often at all. I'm looking them up for big bets far too light. Once again, better previous decisions should make navigating the river much easier.
Phew long post, thanks for reading. I got a lot to work on. Not sure if this is allowed, but if anyone plays FR and wants me to do this for them PM me, I'd do it for 10 bucks. Don't expect a response, but figured I'd throw it out there. I think this database analysis is going to help me out a ton, I think it'd probably be even more beneficial for someone playing lower stakes, and I had fun doin it! GL at the tables.
cheers,
Chad