Short Stack Strategy: How do the Elephant stats help you?

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In this article you will find information about the different statistics Elephant has to offer and what they mean. It is intended for players who have just begun working with stats. Naturally, players who already use stats will find something of interest to them here too.

Stats are to be handled carefully, as many values need large sample sizes in order to provide an accurate description of your opponent's behaviour. Nonetheless, they can provide you with plenty of helpful information which you can add to your game. However, it can be dangerous to only check stats if you're not taking other factors into account. Always take notes about your opponents in order to recognise their specific playing styles.

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Now let's get to the question; which values are particularly important for you as a SSS player? Let's classify them as pre-flop and post-flop values, even though you have to consider many stats in combination one with another.

Which values are of importance pre-flop?

The VPIP (voluntarily put money in pot) shows how often your opponent adds to the pot on his own. Every starting hand will be included and by that we mean those with which he raises too. Free plays aren't included, because players don't invest money voluntarily in this case. This value is displayed in percentages.

As a SSS player, your VPIP should not be below 6 or above 12; certain players have higher VPIP but this is rather rare.

The PFR (pre-flop raise) tells you how many hands a player raises. You have to keep in mind that the first action of the player defines if the hand is counted towards the PFR. Basically the PFR is the percentage of cases in which someone enters a hand with a raise? If a player limps, then another player raises and he re-raises (limp/raises), this hand does not count as a PFR because his first move was a call, not a raise. You have to keep in mind that steals (definition is further below) also count as PFRs.

Your PFR as an SSS player should differ only slightly from the VPIP, but it shouldn't be below 5 or above 11 or 12; players rarely exceed this range. However, falling below this range is not advisable either.

Thanks to VPIPs and PFRs you can speculate your opponent's hand range and make better, almost perfect, pre-flop (as well as post-flop) decisions. You simply calculate his hand range and decide whether to raise or fold, based on this equity.

The Attempt to Steal tells you how often your opponent attacks the blinds first-in on the button and in the cutoff position. 'First-in' means that the player is the first one to enter the pot, with no limpers or bets before him.

Similar to the previous section, the Attempt to Steal SB shows the steal frequency your opponent has in the small blind. The advantage of splitting of the steal values is that you can quickly recognise players who are very loose in the SB, or who steal very tightly.

Your Attempt to Steal cannot be narrowed down exactly, but with most advanced players it lies between 20 and 40-45%. Of course, exceptions which exceed this value do exist.

When is this value important for you?

Imagine that you are sitting in the big blind and your opponent open-raises from a steal position, which is to say that he is attempting to steal. If you know exactly with what cards he steals and what hand range he holds respectively, you are able to find out if your hand is ahead of his range or not, with the help of the Equilator.

The cold call value shows you how often the player simply calls a pre-flop raise (thus neither raises nor folds). For you, this value should be around 0. The only situation in which you can play a cold call as a SSS player is with a minimum raise while sitting in the big blind, but also occasionally from the small blind.

When is this value relevant to you?

Thanks to the help of this value, if an opponent cold calls you, you can make an intelligent guess of what hands he cold calls and take this hand range into consideration when planning your next move. A good situation where to use this is when considering whether or not to make a continuation bet.

This value shows how often an opponent limps and then simply calls an ensuing raise. As far as you're concerned, this value should also be around 0. The only exception is when you limp in a late position and a player after you min-raises.

Similar to the cold call value, this value gives you an approximate range which you can use for your decisions during the game.

Which values are of importance post-flop?

This value is displayed in percentages and shows you how often your opponent folds after a continuation bet by the pre-flop aggressive player. The 'Fold to Conti-bet' value has many uses. It can help you decide when to make a conti-bet for example, depending on the nature of the board. If an opponent happens to have a 'Fold to Conti-bet' value of around 40%, it is often not advisable to make a conti-bet on inappropriate boards.

The decision of whether to steal or not can also depend on this value. Imagine an opponent in the big blind that only folds in 50% of cases after a conti-bet on the flop. This steal is generally not profitable without a good hand. However, if he has a 'Fold to Conti-bet' value of 80%, he folds very often after the flop. This is a very profitable situation which would have never taken place without the knowledge of this value.

Along with the 'Fold to Conti-bet' value, this now tells you how often your opponent calls a conti-bet; it is also displayed in percentages and it helps you decide whether to make a conti-bet or not.

This is another important value which tells you how often your opponent raises a conti-bet. The value is displayed here in percentages as well.

At times you ask yourself if you should make a conti-bet or not; now imagine an opponent who raises a conti-bet in 50% of cases. It really makes sense here to check in position after a hand which did not improve but has good outs. If you bet and he raises, you would often have to fold. This way, however, you get to see a free card and might even hit something. Often enough, the opponent will now bet by himself and you'll receive even more money, as you made him bluff.

The WtSD (went to showdown) tells you how often an opponent goes to the showdown after seeing the flop. This is certainly one of the most important values for you. If an opponent in the NL area has a WtSD value of 20%, he is less showdown-bound and will rarely go to the showdown with marginal hands.

However, if he has a very high WtSd of 30%, it means he is ready to invest many chips with very marginal hands, such as middle pairs. This means that against a player with a high WtSD you should simply bet good hands for value, as he will often pay you off.

Your WtSD as a SSS player should be of at least 30%; you only play very strong cards before the flop and so you will also have a strong hand on the flop. Individual players have a WtSD of 40% or a bit more, but the standard value lies somewhere slightly above 30%. Please do not compare this value with the WtSD of a BSS player, as you play much stronger hands and so you have to go to the showdown more often.

The Aggression Factor (AF) shows how aggressive an opponent is after the flop; it's different in Flop AF, Turn AF, River AF and Overall AF. The AF shows the ratio of passive moves (checks, calls) to aggressive moves (bets, raises).

The Aggression Factor is also very helpful: if your opponent is very passive, has an AF of only 0.5 and suddenly begins to bet, he will very often have a strong hand. However, if an opponent is very aggressive, it could also be profitable to continue play with a marginal hand, as he will semi-bluff often or simply bluff.

This value gives a percentage of how often an opponent raises on the flop, the turn or the river respectively. It's especially interesting for free play.

With this value, you can decide in free play how you want to continue playing your hands. If an opponent is very passive, it means that you can fold marginal hands because such opponents bluff and semi-bluff quite rarely. Logically you can continue playing if your opponent is aggressive.

This value shows how often an opponent folds after a bet on the flop, turn or river. It is interesting for free play as well, as you can determine how often an opponent folds and also whether a bet makes sense without a made hand.

If an opponent has a 'Fold to Flop bet' value of 80%, this opponent will fold many hands and so it doesn't really matter what hand you have yourself.

Conclusion

This is an overview of the most important values you can use as a SSS player. While you are still able of going on with the basic strategy and without stats, specific opponent game decisions will become more and more important as the game experience increases. This will also help you climb the limits faster.

How you display these values at the table is up to you, but you should arrange them in such a way that particular values always stand out. This is possible by changing the colour depending on the value (e.g. VPIP 10-20% red and 90-100% yellow). You can also change the font size to get a better overview.

There is obviously still a lot more to learn about these values. The next few articles will teach you more about how you can use them in certain situations.

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