Poker - Basic Stats Explanation

Poker - Basic Stats Explanation

Poker - Basic Stats Explanation

Basic stats

This article will cover the most basic usage of stats. Stats are used by programs like Heads-Up-Displays and poker tracking software. How to use the different kinds of stats are a wide topic and this article will only give you little insight, but with the article you will be able to start using basic stats in your poker game.

The article will cover following stats:

VPIP

PFR

AF

WTS

Now let's take a look at some of the basic stats:

VPIP (Voluntary put $ in pot)

This stat is the most basic stat. VPIP shows in percentage how often the person voluntarily will put money in the pot preflop. If someone has 34 VPIP they will play 34 % of the cards they are dealt. As the blinds aren't voluntary they will not count towards this stat. Everything apart from posting blinds will count: raising, limping and calling. Remember that only putting money into the pot preflop counts towards this stat.

VPIP is very useful to determine whether a person is loose or tight preflop. A low VPIP will often be a sign that your opponent is tight preflop. People with low VPIP will often only play the strongest hands; hence you will need a good hand to play against those people. It also works the other way around with loose opponents.

PFR (Preflop Raise)

PFR shows in % how often the player raises preflop. This is a good indication of how aggressive the opponent is preflop. Open-raise (raise as the first person), raising limpers and 3bets all count towards this stat.

AF (Agression factor)

The AF stat is calculated like this : (All bets + All raises)/(All calls) = AF. This means that the higher the aggression factor is, the more aggressive the opponent is. AF is a good indication of how aggressive the opponent is. The AF stat is useful postflop.

WTS (Went to showdown)

The WTS stat will show how big a percentage of hands the opponent will see a showdown with when he have seen the flop. This stat is useful to determine whether the opponents will see the showdown often or not. If the opponent is going to showdown a lot he will not have as strong hands at showdown as someone who go to showdown less.

Final note

One very important thing to keep in mind is: Sample size. Sample size is very important as a small sample size will lead to inaccurate stats. The sample size is the amount of hands you have on your opponent. Some software programs will share a database and with those programs you will often have a big sample size. But most poker programs will use your own database and you will often have only a few hands of your opponents. So always remember to look at your sample size when you are using your stats.

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