What do those Sharkscope graphs really mean?

If you have played sit and go tournaments online (if not, why not?), you have likely also used Sharkscope at one point or another. They have a free 5 day search limited, and pretty much unlimited paid version for about $10 a month. One of it's best researching features, is that you can cue up any of your opponents and graphically see what their sit and go performance has been to date.Once looking at a graph, I can tell you a LOT about any particular player, and this is information you can take right to the table. Here is a bit about Sharkscope and profiling characteristics.

Now firmly established as the market leader in opponent tracking for online sit and go poker tournament rounders, Sharkscope boasts a bounty of operative information that really can provide a strategic edge in difficult games with challenging opponents.

On many occasions when my poker calculator software hasn’t had time to profile my opponent properly, a difficult hand has sent me scurrying into the sharkscope website doing a quick search of someone who has just put a big bet to me. If you dig into the some of the other features on sharkscope though, in particular the graphs, this service can do well by helping you identify the type of player you are up against, and I am not talking poker, as much as I am human nature here.

Once you have cued up your opponent’s results at sharkscope, click on the player name again and the software will display 3 graphs of converted data based on their playing statistics. The first and most important is your total profit and this critical graph tracks all his buy-ins and subtracts that from all of the prizes earned. Look long and hard at this graph because the trends within will tell a grand story of not only the level of success or failure he is having, but also your entire approach to the game. Below are the 3 main personalities you will be up against.

The Pioneer. Is it consistently going up? We all have small bumps here and there, but if your graph looks like steps upon steps going on and on in an upward trend to the far right corner, you got something going on! Keep in mind here, it has nothing to do with the level of a poker game you play at, but shows that you know how to manage your bankroll and pick the right games for your style of play and level of competition.

The Butterfly. Is your graph trending the other way, as in steps leading to the basement? The longer and more steady a graph like this, the more you are in desperate need of a good game of checkers. This is a spender’s graph who will normally not concern himself with the outcome and is most likely passing time and creating entertainment for himself while losing. It is a social activity for this player, just like you or I going to Starbucks for coffee. Sit down, spend a little, chat a little and see what happens.

The Avarice. Erratic graphs that have steep climbs and steep dips tend to represent a player who has an emotional attachment to the game so strong that it derails his judgment in game critical decisions. That emotion stems from an outright greedy and impatient nature, and this type of sporadic performance can happen in spite of the fact that his knowledge of the game may be above average. This is a player who tilts more than a can of soda, often sucks out and plays way too many hands in marginal situations.

You can also use these categories to discover what kind of player you are and by looking at your graph as objectively as you can, it may lead to some rather profound conclusions.