These three stats are in every tracker, and almost every reg knows their own numbers by heart, better than their wife's birthday. The problem is that people try to find a mistake with them, and that is not what they are for. Stats describe your model of the game: how tight or aggressive you are after the flop. Where exactly the money goes, they do not say.
What each stat counts
| Stat | What it counts |
|---|---|
| WWSF | Of the hands where you saw the flop, how many pots you ended up taking, with or without showdown |
| WTSD | Of the hands where you saw the flop, how many went to showdown |
| W$SD | How many showdowns you won |
WWSF shows how often you fight for the pot. WTSD shows how often you are willing to take a hand to the end. W$SD shows what you get there with. The first two are about character, the third about whether the character was justified.
WWSF: how often the pot is yours
The stat needs a sample: look at it from 3,000 hands, earlier the number is too noisy. At 500 hands your WWSF is 55% and you are an aggressor. At 5,000 it is 44% and you are a nit. Same person.
| WWSF | How to read it |
|---|---|
| around 42% | Super tight: takes the pot mostly with the nuts |
| below 45% | Tight |
| 46–47% | Average |
| 48–49% | Good reg |
| 50% and above | Aggressive |
A low WWSF means you give up pots where you do not have a made hand: few bets on the turn and river, little pressure after the opponent checks. A high one means you take many pots without showdown. Whether that is good or bad cannot be told without W$SD: a 50% WWSF belongs both to a strong reg and to someone who bets every turn because "well, he checked".
WTSD: how often you get to showdown
| WTSD | How to read it |
|---|---|
| 32% and above | Station: takes too many hands to showdown |
| 29–31% | Balanced |
| 28% and below | Overfolder: gives up before showdown too often |
Here is the main trap. No WTSD value points to a leak by itself. Everything depends on the pool you play against.
If the pool underbluffs the river, a low WTSD is a correct adjustment: you throw away bluffcatchers where they are almost always beaten. If the pool overbluffs, the same WTSD is a direct loss: you give up pots you should have taken with a call. One number, two diagnoses, and the tracker will not tell you which one is yours.
That is why in a review WTSD always stands next to how the pool bets the river. Comparing it with a "norm" without that is like comparing your speed with the norm without knowing whether you are on a motorway or in a courtyard.
W$SD: what you get to showdown with
If, on a sufficient sample, W$SD is below 50%, there are usually two options. Either many of your bluffs get to showdown and get caught. Or you overplay medium hands and take them to the end against ranges that already have them beaten.
Which of the two is yours shows in the hands: in the first case the showdowns are full of missed draws and air, in the second of pairs and weak top pairs that lost to something stronger. The second is more galling: with air, at least it was clear what you were doing there.
Read them together
The stats only work in combination. Two common pairs:
- High WTSD and low W$SD. You call too much on the later streets. Check against which pool: if it underbluffs the river, these calls almost certainly cost money. "He is definitely bluffing" is a phrase that at NL50 costs more than any course.
- Low WWSF and low WTSD. You give up a lot both before showdown and without it. Look for the street where hands end with your fold more often than with strong regs.
Aggression by street deserves a separate look. Low aggression on the river is not a style, it is a direct loss of money: you are not realizing your hands.
Why a stat is not yet a mistake
All these numbers show a direction, not a specific mistake. Two players with the same WTSD can lose money in different places, or not lose it at all.
A leak is found in winrates. First, in which positions you earn noticeably less than strong regs and how much that is in money at your stake. Then, in which spots inside those positions the difference goes. Stats help explain why it happens, but you cannot start with them. Starting with them is like treating the temperature without asking what hurts.