Shark Bait

I'm sure most of you guys are aware of Sharkscope. Its basically a site that allows you to check a specific player's online poker tournament results. There's usually 2 uses for it.

One, you can use it to check you own stats. This allows you to determine whether you are making money playing online. The number of games you've played, your ROI, your average profit, even total profit.

Second, you can use it to check your opponent's stats. This enables you in limited ways to determine if he or she is a good player. You can then adjust your play accordingly. But more than this, I actually use Sharkscope as a tilt breaker. What do I mean by this?

Sometimes you play a hand perfectly, raising when you have to, betting the flop hard to scare away the draws. Getting your money in way ahead. But then, there's this guy who just keeps calling and calling. Eventually, he rivers his gutshot and takes away a big pot. It is times like this that make you want to tear your hair out and beat the living shit out of the guy. Instead of steaming and ranting, just relax, type his screenname in sharkscope. And revel in the knowledge that this same guy has already lost a few thousand dollars playing small stakes poker and is destined to lose more.

It gives you great comfort and some closure knowing that the poker gods are fair and fishes will be fishes, even though they do get lucky sometimes.

What is irritating about Sharkscope is that it only allows you 5 free searches a day. If you want more than this, then you have to pay a monthly fee which is quite steep and unnecessary. The other sites naman like officialpokerrankings track mostly MTTs and not STTs.

I've recently discovered another site called Top Shark (just google the name) which basically offers the same service but is actually free of charge. Meaning there is no limit to the searches you can do and it tracks both MTTs and STTs. You can even filter it by date or by the type of game (MTT, SNG or HU), by limit and even by buy in. There is also a ranking system. Just so you can see how well you stack up against other players. The other cool feature is you can display your stats in other websites like a blog or forum by pressing "get player graph link"

The only drawback with Top Shark is the number of poker sites that they cover. It is significantly less than Sharkscope. But the major ones like Full Tilt and Pokerstars are there. The other is the coverage date. It only started tracking data around end of 2007. So data prior to this date is not included in their stats. Sharkscope's date coverage extends up to early 2006.

Now for those people who think their privacy is being violated by these online tracking sites. You always have the option of blocking your name. But you should be aware that nothing screams donkeyplayer more than a blocked name. I know that sometimes it is embarassing to see your stats and knowing that everybody can see just how fishy you are. But one should treat it as some sort of constructive criticism and as an incentive to get better.

So the next time you're playing donkey style and you hit your 3 outer in the river, and the other guy types "Yeah, nice call, lifetime -32% ROI loser". Don't scratch your head wondering where he gets his data. Heheh.