HEM tells me i'm a calling station

[mr_smooth81]

So i've just been reliably informed by HEM that I am a "calling station" (or the mobile phone icon)

I guess I have a few questions relating to this

1) Is this a bad thing?
2) If it is a bad thing, what can I do to fix it?
3) What should I be looking at becoming?

HEM has made this observation over 6k hands in tournament play and approx 3k hands in cash games

[Brett Kay]

There should be an option in that page where you can check out what you aren't doing optimally. E.g it could be a high VPIP rate which you need to lower.

Could be a low aggression on future streets. E.g your agressive preflop, but then min bet, or check flop turn river.

[bennymacca]

if you dont mind posting them, can you post your

VPIP
PFR
3bet %
Agg Factor

these can be found in the "overall" section of the reports


then go to the "position" report, and post your vpip and pfr from each position, i.e early middle cutoff, button, sb, big blind.


from those stats we might start to work out where you might be able to tighten up

[mr_smooth81]

VPIP - 30.5
PFR - 7.0 (i know this is far too low)
3bet % - 2.9
Agg Factor - 1.86

SB - 58.8 VPIP, 8.0 PFR
BB - 24.5, 7.0
Early - 23.1, 7.1
Middle - 26.0, 7.0
Cutoff - 21.0, 5.4
Button - 21.8, 6.8

The first thing that i'm pretty certain that most will say is that i dont raise often enough, which i would admit

[Origami]

Ha ..

I coulda told you that...

Your and your mate Ratz call each other all the time

[John Miller]

your limping from the SB is killing you, gota learn to fold the SB, I know at times you get odds when the table limps, but thats when you should be raising

VPIP at around 20-25 is ok, thats what I aim for

[Garth Kay]

I'll let Bennt fully handle this but in my world I classify you as a fish/money bank.

Those stats indicate you are not positionally aware, you call too much and need to 3 bet more.

You need to fold more hands from EP to MP, raise with more hands from LP when it is folded to you and learn to fold your small blind.

[Garth Kay]

Secondly are those you're tourney stats or cash stats?

For a tourney player your VPIP is too high.

[trishan]

The main area of concern is the huge gap between your VPIP and PFR. Your PFR should be a minimum of 70% of your VPIP. You are limping waaaaaaay too much.

[bennymacca]

this is a good discussion to have rob, thanks for posting.

this is where i see some problems.


firstly, in tournament play, your vpip is pretty high. nowhere near as high as some 888pl players that i have stats on, but still pretty high.

in addition, your PFR and 3bet stats are horribly low. a combination of a high vpip and a low pfr and 3bet is why you have been classified as a calling station.

as garth said, the first thing that strikes me about your stats is the fact that it doesn't seem that you are positionally aware. what this means is that you raise with a hand every single time, and dont pay attention to position.


lets start with your early position.

your stats are 23% calling, and 7% raising.

your actual range might be slightly different, but reading from pokerstove, top 23% is suited aces down to A3, suited kings down to K7, suited queens down to Q8, T9s+, pocket pairs 66+, and off suit hands down to K9

so judging by this, a hand like KT off is something that you might like to limp with. so lets say you limp, and then someone raises on the button? do you call or fold?

lets say you call and the flop comes down K Q 5, with 2 spades on board

you may well have the best hand here, so you elect to bet. but then the button raises you

now what? what hands could the original raiser have?

well basically any other king as you crushed, hands like AT and AJ might raise as a semi-bluff, JT is raising, and suited aces will raise, even a hand like pocket nines might try and take the pot down if they think you are weak.

its a tough spot isn't it.

most of this comes about because you are out of position. this means that you have less information to make a decision about your hand, because the other person is still to act. it is very hard to control the pot size out of position, and it is hard to work out what your opponent has

so what should happen is that you play very very VERY tight from early position, and gradually add more and more hands in, until you are on the button, where you can play a pretty wide range.

secondly, you should pretty much never limp if it has been folded to you in a pot. either raise or fold. if you dont like raising with the hand you have, then its a straight fold. people could argue cases for limping, and there might be some sometimes, but to be honest, it is not a big leak to never limp. and you would be much better served to never ever limping and getting the positional aspect of your game sorted out.


you should aim for your VPIP and your pfr to be as close together as possible, and you should only limp when you have a very good reason to.

as codger said, your small blind stats are horrible. once again, unless you have a very very very good reason to call, just fold or raise.

dont be fooled into calling with Q7 off just because 5 other people limped into the pot. if you manage to spike your Q, you have 5 other people that could have a better hand than you. and even if they dont, it is pretty tough to play because you are out of position, and it is hard to figure out if you have the best hand.



does that make sense?

so i will write a checklist summary. if you follow this you will very quickly iron out the leaks in your game. once they are ironed out, you can start adding things in, like limping a bit more or whatever.



In summary
1. NEVER limp when it is folded to you. either raise or fold. from any position.
2. Play ONLY the top 8% of cards from early position. this is pocket pairs 88+, AJs+, AQo+. THATS IT!!!!!
3. gradually loosen this range up until you are the loosest on the button. this means RAISING not limping.
4. Play very tight from the small blind. only limp with hands like suited connectors, low-mid pocket pairs. hands that can make a set or better. fold all non connected high card hands, ESPECIALLY hands like A7. once again, the overwhelming majority of hands should be a raise or fold.
5. look for spots to raise in late position. this way you have position, and you have the initiative in the hand, which makes it hard to play.


trust me, if you follow those rules above, you will see a huge improvement in your game in a very short time.



what do you think? does anyone else have comments on this?

i think i might write a "first look" article at my own preflop stats, focussing on my preflop stats, as i think they are pretty solid. would people be interested in this?