Analyzing Loose-Aggressive Recreational Players with Hand2Note

The most interesting and high-variance opponent type is the loose-aggressive recreational player, often called a “maniac fish”. Due to their hyper-aggressive and creative playing style, they are among the hardest opponents to adjust to.

In this article, we’ll use the “Multiple Players” feature in Hand2Note to analyze the average maniac fish. We’ll base our research on a database of hand histories played on PokerStars NL Hold’em Micro Stakes (NL2 to NL50) in 2024.

This will not only give us a clear example of how to leverage the “Multiple Players” tool but also provide deeper insights into this player type.

Setting Up Filters in “Multiple Players” to Analyze Maniac Fish

The main selection criteria will be based on three key stats:

  • VPIP
  • Aggression Frequency (AFq)
  • Won at Showdown (WSD)

VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money in Pot) Shows how often a player voluntarily invests in the pot preflop.

Typical maniac fish have a VPIP of 50% or higher.

AFq (Aggression Frequency) Measures how often a player chooses aggressive actions (bet or raise) over passive ones (check, call, or fold) on each street.

Formulas for AFq:

Flop AFq:

(Flop Bets + Flop Raises) / (All Flop Actions) * 100

Turn AFq:

(Turn Bets + Turn Raises) / (All Turn Actions) * 100

Rive AFq:

(River Bets + River Raises) / (All River Actions) * 100

Thresholds for Maniac Fish:

  • Flop AFq: 40% or higher
  • Turn AFq: 40% or higher
  • River AFq: 38% or higher

WSD (Won at Showdown) Indicates how often a player wins when the hand goes to showdown.

Formula for WSD:

(Number of Showdown Wins / Number of Showdown Appearances) * 100

WSD Threshold for Maniac Fish: 48% or lower.

Additionally, to ensure statistical reliability, we will only include players with 100 or more hands in the sample.

How to Apply These Filters in Hand2Note

Earlier, we identified the criteria for defining fish-maniacs:

  • VPIP: 50% or higher
  • Flop AFq: 40% or higher
  • Turn AFq: 40% or higher
  • River AFq: 38% or higher
  • WSD: 48% or lower
  • Hands Played: 100 or more

The data entry menu for “Multiple Players” is located in Statistics (1). Then, click on the player’s nickname icon and go to Multiple Players (2). The parameters VPIP and total hands are entered via BASE STATS (3) and (4). To add AFq and WSD, you will need the ADDITIONAL STATS (5) menu.

The ADDITIONAL STATS menu can work in two modes:

  • The standard visual search mode with stat selection in Hand2Note
  • The Textual Mode, which allows you to manually input filtering conditions as text.

In this example, we will use Textual Mode.

Now we need to correctly write the formula for Textual Mode in Hand2Note. We will use the EXPLOIT HUD BASE stat package, where the required stats have the following formulas:

Flop AFq:

((Cases(tot_F_B) + Cases(tot_F_R)) / (Cases(tot_F_C) + Cases(tot_F_X) + Cases(tot_F_F) + Cases(tot_F_B) + Cases(tot_F_R))) * 100

Turn AFq:

((Cases(tot_T_B) + Cases(tot_T_R)) / (Cases(tot_T_C) + Cases(tot_T_X) + Cases(tot_T_F) + Cases(tot_T_B) + Cases(tot_T_R))) * 100

River AFq:

((Cases(tot_R_B) + Cases(tot_R_R)) / (Cases(tot_R_C) + Cases(tot_R_X) + Cases(tot_R_F) + Cases(tot_R_B) + Cases(tot_R_R))) * 100

WSD:

(WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_C) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_X) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_F) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_B) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_R)) * 100 / (WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_C) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_X) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_F) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_B) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_R))

Final Formula to Target Fish-Maniacs:

((Cases(tot_F_B) + Cases(tot_F_R)) / (Cases(tot_F_C) + Cases(tot_F_X) + Cases(tot_F_F) + Cases(tot_F_B) + Cases(tot_F_R))) * 100 > 40 and ((Cases(tot_T_B) + Cases(tot_T_R)) / (Cases(tot_T_C) + Cases(tot_T_X) + Cases(tot_T_F) + Cases(tot_T_B) + Cases(tot_T_R))) * 100 > 40 and ((Cases(tot_R_B) + Cases(tot_R_R)) / (Cases(tot_R_C) + Cases(tot_R_X) + Cases(tot_R_F) + Cases(tot_R_B) + Cases(tot_R_R))) * 100 > 38 and (WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_C) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_X) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_F) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_B) + WonHandAtShowdownCases(tot_F_R)) * 100 / (WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_C) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_X) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_F) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_B) + WentToShowdownCases(tot_F_R)) < 48

We used the “and” operator to combine the conditions into a single formula. We also used the mathematical symbols ”>” and ”<” after each value to set the necessary thresholds.

Open “Statistics” (1), then click on the player nickname icon and go to “Multiple Players” (2).

In the Multiple Players window, find the parameters “VPIP” (3) and “Hands” (4) and set the required values (for fish-maniacs: VPIP - 50 or higher, hands - 100 or more). Then, switch the ADDITIONAL STATS menu to “Textual Mode” (5) and paste the formula (6) we created earlier to find fish-maniacs. When you paste the formula, Hand2Note will validate it, and if correct, a green checkmark (7) will appear below. Wait until the (8) area shows the number of players found by the criteria, their total hands, and nicknames, then click “APPLY” (9) to start merging their statistics.

After merging, you will see a popup with the combined statistics for fish-maniacs.

Key Preflop Stats of Fish-Maniacs

Based on the analysis, we can see the high-variance, wide preflop strategy of fish-maniacs.

They have wide open-raising ranges (1) and almost never fold to 3-bets from opponents (2), preferring to call.

They also show a tendency for wide limping (3) and limp-calling after an isolation raise from an opponent (4).

Their cold-calling ranges are also wide (1). Their 3-bet play looks typical, except for their very low fold to 4-bet (2), often turning into a 4-bet call (3).

Also, pay special attention to their wide cold-calls versus earlier 3-bets from opponents (4).

Key Postflop Stats of Fish-Maniacs on the Flop, Turn, and River

On the Postflop (Flop, Turn, and River), after the fish-maniac has open-raised, they tend to play wide and aggressive, with a high percentage of weak hands in their continuation range (% weak) - both in position (1) and (2), and out of position (3) and (4).

At the same time, note their extremely low fold to raises from opponents.

The “EXPLOIT HUD BASE” stat package allows us to break down their postflop play by bet sizing. By opening the special tab in the popup, we can see that the number of weak hands fish-maniacs continue with in various postflop lines after a preflop open-raise, considering their bet sizing, is very wide. Both in position:

And out of position: