Even if this subject sounds a bit trivial to you, just give it a shot and maybe you’ll realise you’re forgetting something absolutely vital in today’s games.Let’s start by taking a quick look to some basic theory, from poker theorist David Sklansky’s Fundamental Theorem of Poker...
“Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponent’s cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose.”
Thus, the sum of your opponent’s mistakes minus the sum of your own mistakes equals your winnings.
Win-rate basics
You already know that your win-rate is traditionally your winnings (calculated in big blinds) per 100 hands. No surprises there. But I’m pretty sure that many players don’t think any further and are not aware of the potential behind all this. Let’s delve into some important facts.
- Each time you’re sitting at a table, you have a definite win-rate. It might be five times your ‘real’ win-rate if you have a good position on your opponents (based on their skills and their stacks). However, even if you are a winning player, it doesn’t mean your overall skills will always be enough to be +EV on every table. For example, if you’re playing five regular players on a six-max table, chances are you’re going to be slightly -EV! The good news, on the other hand, is that you could be a losing player but still manage to be +EV on some tables.
- Every time you play a pot against a better player than you, you lose (theoretically) and each time you play against someone less good than you, you win (again, theoretically). Thus you can say that you also have a definite win-rate against each player on your tables. Well, let’s say two different win-rates, one out of position (OOP) and the other in position (IP).
- Your overall win-rate is the average win-rate of all the tables you’ve played on in your life. Ways to boost your win-rate include picking tables where there’s at least one fish (any exploitable player) and quitting when there are only good/semi-good regulars.
Read Part 2...
Martin Fournier 'Giggy' Giguere is a highly succesful online poker player and part of the Bluefire poker team - you can use your PKR Points to subscribe to this hugely popular poker training site.