The Average Player
Are you better than average?Hopefully, you are already keeping records of all of your poker play or you are in the process of setting up your record-keeping process. A few sources are available to assist the online player with storing and analyzing hand histories, but Poker, Inc. endorses Poker Tracker as the tracking software to use. Once you begin to collect the information on your play, you will likely begin to ask yourself how you compare to the average online player and whether or not you are better than average. As a service to the common poker player, Poker, Inc. is providing a up-to-date comparison of online players broken down by site and stake so that you can compare yourself to the "average" player. This information has been collected by our own Poker Tracker tool(s) and represents play tracked for the last 12 months. The numbers will be updated at the beginning of each quarter. The numbers tell a story that is quite enlightening and can be used to educate you on where you need to improve and what site(s) are best for you to play. These figures are strictly on low-limit players ($5/$10 and below) and full, fixed-limit cash games. As we collect more data on middle and high limit games, we shall post those as well. A short-handed (6-person max tables) version is also forthcoming. The following terms are used in all of the charts: VP$IP - Voluntarily putting money into the pot pre-flop
PFR% - Pre-flop raise %
W$SD - Win dollars at showdown
Winners - % of players who won money during their documented play
Losers - % of players who lost money during their documented play
BB/100 - Average big bets won/lost per 100 hands played
BB/HR - Average big bets won/lost per hour Without further ado, here are the numbers with our interpretation to follow... By poker site | | Players | Hands | VP$IP | PFR% | W$SD | Winners | Losers | BB/100 | BB/HR | | Party Poker | 7,501 | 295,928 | 26.2% | 6.9% | 48.3% | 42.0% | 58.0% | (2.81) | (1.98) | | Cryptologic skins | 1,670 | 87,906 | 21.5% | 7.1% | 56.1% | 44.1% | 55.9% | (1.95) | (1.27) | | Prima skins | 1,423 | 86,508 | 22.0% | 7.5% | 49.4% | 44.4% | 55.6% | (2.16) | (1.49) | | Absolute Poker | 1,589 | 94,485 | 24.4% | 7.4% | 48.6% | 42.2% | 57.8% | (2.74) | (1.89) | | Poker Room skins | 1,509 | 72,889 | 24.3% | 7.8% | 48.4% | 41.8% | 58.2% | (3.21) | (2.30) | | Poker Stars | 631 | 23,465 | 24.2% | 6.9% | 48.6% | 44.2% | 55.8% | (1.76) | (1.26) | | Paradise Poker | 905 | 37,680 | 31.3% | 6.1% | 48.0% | 41.6% | 58.4% | (2.47) | (1.51) | | Full Tilt Poker | 430 | 21,474 | 25.2% | 8.7% | 48.1% | 43.3% | 56.7% | (1.87) | (1.30) | | Doyle's Room | 224 | 10,669 | 30.8% | 6.9% | 48.1% | 39.3% | 60.7% | (3.03) | (2.03) | | Ultimate Bet | 20 | 847 | 26.1% | 5.7% | 44.0% | 45.0% | 55.0% | (4.86) | (3.43) | | TOTALS | 15,794 | 731,851 | 24.9% | 7.2% | 49.3% | 42.5% | 57.5% | (2.59) | (1.79) |
The most obvious information from this chart is that the average online player is a loser, and a fairly big one at that. A good player should be averaging between 1.5 to 2 bb/hr at the low limits, and with the average player losing between 1.5 and 2 bb/hr, the money is there to be made. It does not appear to matter where you play as the numbers are fairly consistent across the sites. The small number of players tracked at Ultimate Bet may skew the numbers for that site, so we must withhold judgment before declaring UB the best site to play. The information can provide a player with some possible insights on how to adjust their game depending on the site they choose to play. For example, with way above average VP$IP and below average PFR%, the average player at Paradise Poker is loose and passive pre-flop. This means it will often be harder to put players on hands and it will often be better to wait for your premium hands and play them strong despite the higher chances for bad beats. Without specific post-flop stats, we are uncertain how the average player at Paradise might play, but it is usually safe to say that loose pre-flop play often translate to loose post-flop play at the low-limits, so you may find bluffing much less successful at Paradise than say at the Cryptologic sites where the pre-flop play is much tighter. Other facts on the average online player... They play too many hands pre-flop. The VP$IP of the winning player is usually between 16% and 20% at a full ring game. That requires a 20% to 40% reduction in the starting hands played by the average player. Eliminating small pairs and Ace-x suited from early position or in the face of a raise is a good start to improving pre-flop play. They are not aggressive enough pre-flop. A winning player with a good selection of starting hands will usually have a PFR% in excess of 9%. This means an increase in the frequency of the average online player's raises by over 20%. They are not letting go of losing hands post-flop often enough. The fact that every site except one shows a W$SD of less than 50% means that too often, more than one player is losing when the hand goes to showdown (also known as overcalling). Certainly, one or more of these players should have had a clue that they did not hold a winner and folded their hand on the flop or turn. Ideally, a winning player should have a W$SD in excess of 55%. There will still be times when you are heads-up that calling on the river is appropriate despite the fact you think you might be beat.
Now that we have looked at the breakdown by poker site, let's review the numbers by low-limit stakes... By fixed-limit stakes | | Players | Hands | VP$IP | PFR% | W$SD | Winners | Losers | BB/100 | BB/HR | | less than $1/$2 | 936 | 22,486 | 30.9% | 5.7% | 47.1% | 41.0% | 59.0% | (3.47) | (2.06) | | $1/$2 | 7,255 | 364,169 | 23.6% | 7.0% | 49.9% | 42.2% | 57.8% | (2.60) | (1.81) | | $2/$4 | 3,994 | 156,423 | 26.7% | 7.3% | 49.5% | 43.0% | 57.0% | (2.41) | (1.61) | | $3/$6 | 3,926 | 176,440 | 25.3% | 7.5% | 48.5% | 43.3% | 56.7% | (2.65) | (1.87) | | $5/$10 | 273 | 12,333 | 25.0% | 8.7% | 48.8% | 44.0% | 56.0% | (2.06) | (1.47) | | TOTALS | 15,794 | 731,851 | 24.9% | 7.2% | 49.3% | 42.5% | 57.5% | (2.59) | (1.79) |
There is not a great deal of information that can be gained here except that most low-limit levels play host to equally bad players. Note, however, that the PFR% goes up with nearly every level. This does not always translate into better players, just more aggressive ones. This trend continues into the middle and high limits, so as you move up in stakes, you must make sure that you are prepared to combat aggression as well as dole out your share of it. Notice the "bonus whore" effect at the $1/$2 level? Since most bonus whores will simply grind out the raked hands they need at the $1/$2 level, their super-tight play causes that level to have the lowest VP$IP of any level. In conclusion, when you play at the low-limits, the need for clever plays and imaginative strategy is just not as important as solid tight-aggressive play. The fact that the low-limit player is anywhere from 20% to 40% looser than he or she should be is reason enough to maintain a tight strategy and then play your winning hands aggressively enough to make those calling stations pay you the maximum price. You must also be cognizant of the times you may be playing in a sea of bonus whores, and adjust your play to take advantage of their ultra-tight play by bluffing more frequently. |
