OPR (official poker rankings)

**Scott Wilson** · 22-06-2010, 03:01 AM

At the risk of substantial flaming, thought I’d post this. My results have improved a great deal as a result over the past three months. This will only work if you play one or two tables max, since the homework for each session is pretty intensive.

I’ve read a few posts where players have lamented the lack of any useful HUD for mtts. I’ve been using OPR (www.officialpokerrankings.com) for the past three months as an alternative. OPR is completely free btw, and they don't spam you either.

OPR provides a complete summary of all mtts played with #players > 30, including a list of every individual result if you need it (the major cashes list is useful). The important stats are:

� Overall ROI%
� Results distribution (number of times they bust early, mid, middle, late, top 10% and ITM)
� Average buyin
� Number of tournaments

When a table starts, when new players join, or at breaks, I’ll look up every player at the table and summarise results in the notes. I can summarise the table in about 5 mins. A typical summary for a player is:

19% very tight $25, 2346 mt4

This means:

Player has 19% positive return on investment over 2346 mtts
Average buyin (ABI) is $25
Player typically runs deep in mtts.
Player is currently playing 4 tables (find this on pokerstars by right click on their icon and Find Player)

The ‘tight’ summary is perhaps the most useful. On the right hand side of the OPR screen you can see how often they bust early, middle, late etc in a tournament. The average distribution is 10-20-40-20-10. If the player busts significantly outside these ranges, it can tell you an awful lot about their style before you even play a hand with them.

For example, Player A has distribution 15-27-33-18-7 and is –30% ROI

This guy has significant weaknesses in his game. The results prove that he gets it in second best too often, especially early in tournaments, shoves on draws or otherwise plays an inappropriate range badly. Easy strategy is to play ABC poker and let the guy hang himself. Don’t bluff him, he’s obv a fish. Rarely steal his blinds.

Player B has distribution 3-7-45-30-15 with ROI 55%

This guy is an absolute shark. He’s also very, very tight early and is probably playing several tables. If he is showing strength in a hand I’m gone. These guys don’t stack off easily, especially early. (Will never forget being sucked into a pot with someone showing these stats and hitting boat on the river. I raised his river value bet and he shoved. I snap called and he showed me bigger full house.) The flip-side is that you can blind steal and c-bet with confidence. They won’t get involved without a hand if you show strength. And you will need to be aware of your own image at the table and trap accordingly if you are going to get paid off.

There are several different types of players of course. Players that bust a lot early, but have a great ROI, can be talented LAGs that don’t mind gambling. It’s worth checking the major cashes list to see whether one fluke result is responsible for all the ROI. You often see players with one huge win 18 months ago and terrible results since (but still a good ROI). I tend to treat them as dangerous, but just bad LAGs, and play decent hands for value against them. I won’t steal blinds.

The final touch I put to this was to use the colour coding on pokerstars as follows:

-20% or worse – GREEN
-19% to –1% - light blue
0% to 19% - ORANGE (or perhaps higher % from noob player <200 mtts)
>20% - RED

This gives me a visual clue without having to check notes – essential when playing real time. Players tend to play consistently to their profiles. I get surprised from time to time, but just make a note of what I’ve learnt and perhaps change the colour code from green (GO) to orange (CAUTION) or whatever.

I’m pleased to say that this homework has worked very well. I'm blind stealing, value betting, trapping and re-stealing in far more appropriate situations. I’m also placing opps on far more realistic hand ranges

The other useful thing is to check the results of top online pros and see how their results stack up. One thing that surprised me is that these pros often have an almost flat distribution (10-20-40-20-10) even after 1000+ games. Not nitty. Not loose. Very hard to pick at any stage of a tournament.

I've also discovered is that the standard of play (and the standard of players) is often much better in a $16 mtt than it is in a $27 or$38 mtt. It's pretty staggering at times. A sea of green on $38 tables is common. A sea of red flags of $16 tables is just as common. More good players multi-table the lower BI events it seems.

The ABI (average buy in) is also very useful. I found myself on the second last table of a 180 $27 mtt yesterday and realised that every other player at the table except one had an ABI of less than $10. Sure enough, everyone played super scared and tight just trying to survive. I stole around 40% of blinds and ended up CL going into FT.

It's not the be-all-and-end-all of poker, but it has been incredibly useful and profitable.

If anyone has used OPR or a similar site, and found a way to speed up (or automate) placing the results into player notes, or they know of weaknesses in OPR data, please share.

P.S. Don't type the player names into OPR. Go to the Notes tab in pokerstars, then select the player's name from the drop menu, left click on the name and copy/paste into OPR. This speeds things up a heap, and covers spaces and other weird characters that people put in their names.

P.P.S. Yes Risk, I did see your post at the end of the RB thread and yes, I laughed.

**risk2Dupside** · 22-06-2010, 03:27 AM

I've already coined the times I get massive stacks in rebuy periods as "Scotty Wilson styling", so no need to flame further here

However, if the above approach is really what you're interested in, you are a ton better off buying Tournament Shark. Pretty sure they have a trial period too.

Also recognise that OPR/Tournament Shark stats can be heavily skewed by one big score, and that makes Sharkscope a pretty useful (though non-free) resource. It is also really easy to cut/paste Sharkscope stats into the notes boxes.

**Scott Wilson** · 22-06-2010, 03:52 AM

Will buy a copy of Tournament Shark

Sharkscope - yes not free, but I have used this. Good tip re easy cut/paste.

OPR is actually great for spotting single big results skewing ROI. The major cashes drop menu shows you exactly when they won and what they've done since.

Yes, I was an idiot with several posts earlier this year. 95% wtf? Really hitting the stats on OPR hard forced me to reassess and rebuild my game completely. God, I'm such a fking nit now. The RB post was hilarious though. I still laugh reading that. That strategy I proposed has become looser and looser since. The one useful thing I said was to shove like a mofo when you hit a decent (but non-nut) hand on a co-ordinated flop. It looks so much like a shove on a draw. But the rest of what I said was ridiculous. I read it now and think 'you dick'.