Poker Statistics for Monitoring

Poker analytics software provides various statistics that demonstrate the pattern of your play. Some of the statistics will become easier to understand when you begin to play but it is important to grasp the basics of them before you start. This can put you in a much better position to analyse your performance in your early stages – the point at which you are most likely to lose money. The following descriptions also provide some broad numbers regarding what your statistics should be if you are playing well. These are rough guides and will vary according to the type of game you play. In the early stages of your poker career there are 5 performance statistics that are most relevant to help you improve very quickly from a standing start:

VP$IP – Voluntarily Put $ In Pre-Flop

This shows how often did you bet (excluding the Big Blind) or call a bet Pre-Flop. This statistic shows how well you stick to the primary rule of Texas Hold’em – fold your poor pocket cards before the flop. Good players will generally have a VP$IP of less than 20%. Beginners usually have VP$IP levels of as high as 50%.

W$WSF – Won $ When Saw Flop

This shows how many times you win if you see the flop and should be approximately 35% for good players.

PFR% – Pre-Flop Raising %

This describes the percentage of times that you raised before the flop. It should be very low for Texas Hold’em novices, possibly as low as 2%. As you improve your Texas Hold’em skills your PFR% should increase but should not go above 7%.

W$SD – Win $ at Show Down

This shows the percentage of hands that you win at Showdown, and therefore how effective you have been at folding weak hands on the Flop, Turn, and River. As your play improves you will only play to Showdown with good cards and your W$SD should move above 50%.

BB/100 – Big Bets won Per 100 hands

This statistic is more relevant to limit games of Texas Hold’em rather than no-limit games. It shows how much you have been winning per 100 hands. Since it makes no sense to measure your performance in individual hands, you must determine your winning performance in relation to a more statistically significant number of hands. Although 100 hands is still a low number it is better than 1 or 10 for measuring performance. This statistic takes your average winnings per 100 hands and converts it into the number of “Big Bets” for the game of Texas Hold’em being played. A good Texas Hold’em player should win at a rate of roughly 2 Big Bets per 100 – 2BB/100 e.g. a $5-10 limit player should win an average of $20 per hour.