Re: Poker & 10NL,25NL VS 100NL, 200 NL Originally Posted by Desiatpoker I understand its hard work and that's why I think maybe do that hard work on stakes where you can make decent money. No, it’s not OK. If you really could beat 25nl solidly, I guarantee you can crush 10nl. And if you can actually crush 10nl, you’ll be rolled for 25nl in a few weeks playing just a few tables at a time. Moving level by level from 2nl to 25nl is a great way to learn poker one step at a time. Robb’s Microstakes Learning Curve. Preflop this is a fold based on the ranges I use but it's very close as KTs is a call. Postflop you played it fine imo. And just a heads up button wasn't a limper he was a cold caller (cc for short) a limp is when you just call the amount of a big blind.

1. 25nl Poker Meaning Dictionary
2. 25nl Poker Meaning Slang
3. 25nl Poker Meaning Urban Dictionary
4. 25nl Poker Meaning Synonym

People often ask me what is VPIP in poker. Well here is a simple answer:
VPIP is a technical term that we use in modern poker tracking programs such as Pokertracker and Hold'em Manager. It stands for Voluntarily Put $ in Pot. More specifically it means what percentage of hands a poker player plays.
VPIP is probably the most useful stat that I use at the poker tables. In this article I am going to describe how I use the numbers and make decisions with it at the poker tables.

What is VPIP in Poker? - It Tells You About Player Type

Understanding the type of player that you are up against is one of the most important things in poker. This can often dramatically affect my decision making at the tables.
For instance, if I am up against a very tight regular opponent I might be cautious about getting AK all in preflop even in a 6max game.
However, if I am up against a loose aggressive recreational opponent, then this is a slam dunk all in for me with a fist pump included. This is because I very likely have the best hand.
Once you start to get used to using a poker tracking program like Pokertracker 4 for instance, you can setup your HUD (heads up display) and start showing this stat for your opponents at the tables.
By the way, for a full breakdown on this I would recommend checking out my how to setup your HUD article. You can also download my own HUD setup for free and start using it yourself right away.

VPIP Numbers and Player Type

So let's talk about some concrete numbers now. So when the stats for my opponents start showing up on my screen I will roughly apply player types like this:

• 0-10: very tight
• 11-20: tight
• 21-30: loose
• 31-40: very loose
• 40+: recreational player (fish)

I want to note one important caveat here. It is crucial that you have a sample size of at least 10 hands before drawing any conclusions about the player type.
The reason why is because even an extremely tight player could happen to just pick up a few good hands in a row. Or vice versa, a really loose player could be card dead.
So always make sure that you have a bare minimum of 10 hands on your opponent before making any judgments about them with regards to VPIP.

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Poker Strategy with VPIP

So now that I know what type of player I am up against this will influence my decisions at the poker table in a number of ways.
1. The Hands That I Play
So first off, the hands that I choose to play preflop will be affected by my opponent's VPIP.
Say it is folded to me on the button for instance. If I see that the two remaining players in the blinds are both 10% or less VPIP, then I will probably try and steal the blinds with any two cards.
Why? Because these players are both extremely tight and I expect to take it down a lot.
However, if I notice that both players are say 35% VPIP (and especially if they are aggressive as well), then I will probably be much more selective with the hands that I play. The reason being that I know I will not take down the blinds uncontested anywhere near as much.
2. Postflop Play
My postflop play will also be heavily affected by my opponent's VPIP. If I am against one of the tighter opponents I will often give them more credit after the flop.
So for instance, if I have 8♦7♦ on a board of:
2♥2♣7♥4♦3♦
I might choose to just check back the turn for instance for a little bit of pot control and deception (and then bet the river). The reason being that I don't expect them to have too many worse hands in their range that will call me on all 3 streets.
Versus a loose opponent though I might choose to just bet all 3 streets because they are much more likely to have a worse made hand or a draw on this board.
Also, it should be noted that loose players are much more likely to be fish or bad poker players. And bad poker players love to call more than anything in the world. Tighter players on the other hand are more likely to make a tough fold.

VPIP Hand Ranges

In terms of actual hands played we can also create a rough breakdown of that depending on the numbers.

• 0-10: Any pair, any premium and most broadways
• 11-20: Any pair, any premium, any broadway, most suited aces and most suited connectors
• 21-30: Any pair, any premium, any broadway, any ace, most kings, any suited connector, any suited one gapper
• 31-40: Any pair, any premium, any broadway, any ace, any king, any connector, any one gapper, any suited two gapper
• 40+: Almost any two cards depending on how high the VPIP is

This is just a very rough guide but hopefully it gives you a better idea of how to put a player on a range of hands according to their VPIP.
Basically, the higher it is, the more hands you need to start adding to their range. Once you get to the very loose players and the recreational opponents (e.g. 30%+ VPIP) it honestly becomes a little bit pointless to even bother constructing a range of hands for them.
The reason why is that they are playing so many hands that it becomes almost impossible to narrow it down properly, at least in the early stages of the hand.
Based on the decisions that they have made throughout the course of the hand though, we can often narrow down their range by the later streets.
For much more on advanced hand reading I recommend checking out The Upswing Poker Lab.

Final Thoughts

VPIP is a very valuable tool that you should be using at the online poker tables. It tells you so much about a player. More than any other stat in fact.
This is because the biggest difference between the various opponents that you will face at the poker tables is how tight or loose they are. The VPIP stat gives you that exact information.
This is especially important in the fast paced multi-tabling world of online poker where it can be difficult to keep track of everybody. Having the numbers right there on your screen makes it much easier to identify the player type.
So make sure that VPIP is a stat in your arsenal at the online poker tables and you will be able to make better informed decisions. And therefore you will ultimately profit and win more!
Lastly, if you want to learn how to start consistently making $1000+ per month in low stakes games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
How do you use VPIP at the poker tables? Let me know in the comments below.

Poker Stats:VPIP : PFR : Std Dev : The Red Line

Standard deviation ('Std Dev' or sometimes just 'SD') is one of those terms you've bumped in to a few times, but you've never fully got to grips to with it. Or, you've heard about it, but it just sounds far too mathsy for you to understand.

So to help you out, I've decided to explain what standard deviation in poker is all about and what it means to you as a poker player. You don't need a background in statistics to enjoy the pleasures of the SD stat, I promise.

What is standard deviation in poker?

Your standard deviation stat gives you an indication of how “swingy” your game is.

• The higher your standard deviation, the higher your variance.
• The lower your standard deviation, the lower your variance.

Standard deviation can also give you an indication of how far you can expect to veer from your current winrate over 100 hands (hence why Std Dev stats are shown in BB/100 ['Big Bets' or 'Big Blinds' per 100 hands]).

That's simple enough, but it doesn't give us much to work with. For a better understanding of the poker std dev stat, we'll need to find out what this standard deviation stuff is all about.

An introduction to standard deviation.

Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out numbers are from the average.

To give an example, lets say you go to your local supermarket and measure the width of 5 loose oranges. The widths of these 5 loose oranges are:

• Widths of 5 loose oranges.
• 6cm
• 7cm
• 13cm
• 5cm
• 10cm
• Average width of these 5 oranges = 8.2cm

Now, instead of measuring 5 loose oranges, you decide to measure another 5 oranges from a pack of “medium oranges”. The widths of the 5 oranges from the pack are:

• Widths of 5 'medium' oranges from a packet.
• 7cm
• 8cm
• 9cm
• 8cm
• 9cm
• Average width of these 5 oranges = 8.2cm

You'll notice that the average widths of these two sets of 5 oranges are the same, despite the width of each individual orange in each set being quite different.

• In the first set of loose oranges, the results are varied and spread out.
• In the second set of 'medium' oranges, the results are very close together.

Now, because standard deviation is a measure of the spread of results from the average, we can say that:

The standard deviation of the loose oranges is higher than the standard deviation of the 'medium' oranges.

I could run through an equation and give you an exact number for the 'standard deviation' of each of these two sets of oranges, but I don't want to get too mathsy (and you don't necessarily need to know how to work it out). If you are interested in the equation though, check out this very straightforward article: basic standard deviation example and equation.

This standard deviation video on youtube is also very helpful.

Note: Okay, I can't leave any stone unturned. The SD of the loose oranges is 3.3, and the SD of the 'medium' oranges is 0.8. These numbers tell us the average spread.

Standard deviation and poker winrates.

Okay, that's enough about oranges. How does standard deviation in poker work and what does it tell you about your winrate?

Well, instead of measuring oranges, what if you split up your poker career in to 100-hand mini-sessions (or 'chunks'), and measured your winrate for each of these sessions?

From a set of results like this, you could work out your mean average winrate (this will give you the average winrate stat that you're used to seeing) and also your standard deviation. The more your winrate varies in each chunk of 100 hands you play, the bigger your standard deviation will be.

Additionally, if you plotted the frequency of the winrates (how often each winrate occurs) over each of these 100 hand chunks in a graph, it would look something like this:

This is called a “bell curve” or a “normal distribution”. There are 2 important things to note about this graph of your winrates:

1. Your average winrate is in the very centre of the curve (the peak).
2. The further you move from the centre of the curve, the lower the chances of these sort of winrates occurring over 100 hands.

This makes sense, because more often than not your winrate will remain close to your average, but there will be rare occasions where it ends up being quite far from average.

So for example, if you have an average winrate of 4BB/100, achieving a winrate of 4.5BB/100 over 10,000 hands is very likely. However, achieving a winrate of 18BB/100 over 10,000 hands is highly unlikely.

High and low standard deviation graphs.

So, we know that if we plotted a graph of our individual winrates from many small 100-hand sessions it would form a bell curve, with our most frequent winrates collecting around the centre.

But what do high and low standard deviation graphs look like?

I'm hoping that you can make sense of these graphs by just looking at them. If not though:

• If you have a low standard deviation, your winrates are generally going to remain close to your average winrate over each 100 hand chunk.
• If you have a high standard deviation, you winrates are going to wildly vary over each 100 hand chunk.

The lower your std dev, the thinner the bell curve. The higher your std dev, the fatter it will be to account for the wide variety of winrates.

What does standard deviation tell us about our winrate?

Three useful things:

1. There is a 68% chance that you will be within 1 SD of your winrate over 100 hands.
2. There is a 95% chance that you will be within 2 SDs of your winrate over 100 hands.
3. There is a 99% chance that you will be within 3 SDs of your winrate over 100 hands.

Why these percentages? Because this is just how bell curves work. Here's another bell curve graph with some notes to help you understand what's going on.

For more information, here's a short wikipedia article that actually isn't overly complicated: 68-95-99.7 rule wiki.

Using standard deviation example.

Lets say that you're a $50NL player with a winrate of 5BB/100. You also have a std dev of 30BB/100.

25nl Poker Meaning Dictionary

Note: In this example we're using poker tracker BBs (Big Bets), which are equal to 2x the size of the big blind (i.e. 1BB at $50NL is equal to $1 instead of $0.50).

68% of the time.

There is a 68% chance that your winrate will fall between 1 standard deviation of your current winrate.

• 1SD = 5BB +/- 30BB
• 1SD = -25BB <=> 35BB
• 1SD = -$25 <=> $35

So there is a 68% chance that you will win (or lose) between -$25 and $35 over the next 100 hands given your current winrate and standard deviation.

95% of the time.

There is a 95% chance that your winrate will fall between 2 standard deviations of your current winrate (2 x 30BB = 60BB).

• 2SD = 5BB +/- 60BB
• 2SD = -55BB <=> 65BB
• 2SD = -$55 <=> $65

99% of the time.

There is a 99% chance that your winrate will fall between 3 standard deviations of your current winrate (3 x 30BB = 90BB).

3SD = 5BB +/- 90BB
3SD = -85BB <=> 95BB
3SD = -$85 <=> $95

What affects your standard deviation stat?

Your playing style.

If you have a LAG (loose-aggressive) playing style you will have a high standard deviation. This makes sense, as you should already know that maniacs and LAGs experience a lot of variance.

On the other hand, if you are a nit that only ever plays premium hands, your standard deviation will be low.

If you're a TAG, you'll be somewhere in the middle.

What's are low and high standard deviations in poker?

The majority of poker players' standard deviations lie between 35BB/100 and 50BB/100 (70bb/100 and 100bb/100).

If your SD is far outside of this bracket, you're probably playing too tight or too loose to achieve an optimum winrate.

Which is better, a high or low SD?

It doesn't matter. Your winrate is the most important thing.

It's like traveling to the next town in a car compared to traveling to the next town on horseback. You get the same destination in the same amount of time, you just take different routes (with one being bumpier than the other).

Most people would prefer the less 'swingy' route with a low SD, but don't change your game just because you don't like the look of your SD. Unless your std dev stat is huge and you're due for a myocardial infarction, I wouldn't worry about it.

See how standard deviation affects your results for yourself.

Play with this awesome poker variance simulator.

Keep your winrate the same and enter varying standard deviations and see how the affect your results over different sample sizes.

it just goes to show how you shouldn't worry (or get too cocky) about your winrate over small sample sizes. The differences in the results is surprising.

Poker standard deviation conclusion.

Standard deviation is a measure of how much you are likely to swing up and down during the course of small sample sizes of hands. The higher your SD is, the larger the swings you will face and the longer it will take for your results to converge to your actual win rate.

The higher your Std Dev stat is, the more (and the bigger the) swings you will experience throughout your poker career.

I'm hoping that this big article with all the graphs has helped you to understand standard deviation in poker a little better. It can be a little tricky at first (especially with some of those equations), but it's not so bad when you start to get your head around it.

Here are some more links that I found really helpful:

Go back to the interesting Texas Hold'em Articles.

25nl Poker Meaning Slang

Can You Afford Not To Use
Poker Tracker 4?

25nl Poker Meaning Urban Dictionary

“I wouldn’t play another session of online poker without it”

25nl Poker Meaning Synonym

“I play $25NL, and in under 1 week PT4 had paid for itself”

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