Learning To Read and Interpret Poker Tracking Software Stats
Poker tracking software such as Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager are programs that extract and compile data from hand histories where all actions by you and your opponent's are recorded, resulting in detailed statistical analysis which can give a clearer picture of how someone is playing and how to play against them. It's also a great aid for improving your own game. It is practically a necessity for online play these days and when used effectively, it will greatly improve your win rate. The long lists of statistics they provide you with may seem daunting or overwhelming at first, just focus on a small number of key statistics and add a new one each time you reach a level of confidence in interpreting each statistic on your HUD. It's important not to over load your HUD with a wide range of stats that you don't comprehend, take things one stat at a time. If you're having difficulty setting up your HUD configuration, most poker training sites host video guides for this.
Using Tracker Software to improve your game
At the end of every session or day it's a good idea to go back through your biggest winners or losers or any other interesting hands and review them. You should learn to recognise if you made any mistakes and try not to repeat them in future. If there are any hands that confused you or you'd like more opinions on, you should consider converting them and posting them on a poker forum for advice. It's always good to hear a variety of opinions on hands you're unsure of. For ease of writing, I'll refer to a continuation bet as 'cbet'.
Using Tracking Software to track your opponents play
When reading blogs and forums etc. you'll often see players, or villains, described as things like 22/18/2, but what does it mean? The first number is VPIP, the second is PFR and the third is AF.
Voluntarily Put $ In Pot % or VPIP
This shows how tight, or loose someone is playing pre-flop, it is the best tool for estimating a player's range of hands. You want your opponent's VPIP number to be as big as possible at low stakes, the more hands they play the worse they usually are. You need a sample size of at least 100 hands to be confident assigning ranges based on this statistic.
33%, this player is almost definitely going too far with his hands. Value bet relentlessly.
Won $ at Showdown % (W$SD)
Represents how often a player wins $ at showdown. This can give a approximate measure of a player's post-flop skill, the higher the number the more likely an opponent is to have the winning hand at showdown.
This really needs to be looked at in context with a player's WtSD and they're overall style of play. A maniac is likely to have a low W$SD while a smart, aggressive player's will be higher. A good LAG will have a high W$SD where a bad LAG wouldn't. This will also separate the nits from the TAGs. You can bluff frequently and use smaller bet sizes against players with high W$SD as they're likely to be weak tight. On the other hand a player with a low W$SD is likely calling too much so we can value bet lighter and bet bigger against them.
>55%, this player probably isn't going to showdown too often and can be bluffed more frequently.
48% - 55%, fairly common for TAGs/LAGs, look at in terms of WtSD.