Pots won at Showdown %

How important is "Pots won at Showdow?"

I just thought I'd throw out this little piece of information. I am currently 1/2 way through a 100 game test (so to speak) that I am conducting on myself and how i play. I don't use pokertracker (but will soon) and I decided that of all the stats I could manually calculate fairly easily, that the one stat the seemed to stand out was "Pots won at Showdown".

If my PWSD or W$SD % was higher than 60% I easily cashed in virtualy every game. However if that same stat was below 45% I rarely ever cashed.

I am currently on a sort of hot streak where i cashed in 12 of my last 16 SNG's. Just for the heck of it I decided to break those games down into 2 categories. (#1) stats for games I cashed (#2) stats for games I didnt.

Now as I said I dont use pokertracker so the stats i keep are pretty basic. (ie: # of hands played, % seen the flop, W$w/oSD, W$@SD) Just the basics.

Heres what i calculated in the 16 games:




Of the 12 games I cashed my stats are as follows:

% of hands played=26%
% of won $ without showdown= 16%
% of won $ @ showdown=61%



Of the 4 games I failed to cash my stats are as follows:

% of hands played=24%
% of won $ without showdown= 11%
% of won $ @ showdown=25%



Conclusion:

The # of hands played (26% vs. 24%) is virtually a wash. I was seeing the same amount of flops in the games I won vs. the games I lost.

The # of pots won without showdown (16% vs. 11%). Now theres a little more difference here. But not major. I contribute this to the fact that by being eliminated early in the games i lost, I failed to reach a shorthanded situation where alot more pots are won uncontested.

The # of pots won @ showdown (61% vs. 25%).. WOW!!! what a major difference here. Nearly a 250% swing. So what does this mean to me? To me it merely means that when my hands hold-up @ showdown 60% of the time or more I'm going to win $$$. When my hands fail to hold-up @ showdown less than 45% of the time I'm going to lose $$$.

So what determines whether or not your hands will hold-up more than 60% of the time or less? The answer seems to be......"Pure Luck". If you get pocket Aces 3 times and go heads up against pocket Kings all 3 times and you win 2 of the 3, then your pots won @ showdown is 66% (Above the 60% mark).
Now if you lose 2 of 3 then your pots won @ showdown is 33%.(below the 45% mark). Theres nothing you can do about it. Its up to the Gods, so to speak.

So if you want to be a more consistent winner you need to keep your W$@SD % above 60%. Like i said earlier, most of it is out of your hands However there are ways you can help keep this stat above 60%.

#1. is to minimize the amount of times you see a showdown. You should be winning most hands preflop, post flop, or on the turn. How to do this is to play aggressive poker. If your seeing too many river cards then you are playing too loose or your not betting enough to knock your opponents off a pot.

#2. Pay close attention to your opponents and take notes. Know who the calling stations are, who's playing tight?, who the aggressive players are?, Will this solid player fold to a reraise? And most importantly know what your own table image is at the table. The solid player may fold TPTK to a reraise from player A because he is playing tight/solid poker but may not fold to you if your image is loose/aggressive. Having notes on your opponents will allow you to determine wether or not its worth going to showdown at certain times.

#3. As Kenny Rogers said ..."Know when to fold em".. A good player can laydown a good hand if the evidence is clear enough that he is beat. Don't have an ego about laying a strong hand down. By being able to laydown a good hand when you think your beat your saving chips and avoiding the showdown.