tracking winrate

Cracked_Jacks11

I have been playing poker about 4 years, but just started getting more serious about it a year ago. I have been tracking my stats for roughly 18 months, but in reading about win-rates from various sources a question has come up: should I be tracking in $/hr, bb/hr, bb/100, or something else altogether? Or is it simply a matter of preference?

I don't play online at all, so bb/100 would be hard to track in my live game. Thanks in advance for the input. I've been learning a lot here, and I look forward to many more insightful discussions!

NTD12

All I play is live cash, maybe 2-3 tournaments a year. I track $/hour. I'll look at Std deviation and the BB/Hour but to me the $$/hour is what is important.

jeffnc

I have an Excel spreadsheet and I track all of it. Getting it set up is a pain, but now that it's done I just enter my results and I get graphs and stats on all those things. It is a matter of preference and sometimes I want to know one thing, sometimes another. Have I made more in local games or in casinos? Do I make more per hour in Holdem or Omaha? Are smaller games more or less profitable than bigger games? I guess I lied, I don't track BB/100, but I do track many other things.

Eazzy

What worked best for me is to do it after expensiveness. I simply count the money in my wallet before I leave for the casino, and then count my money when I get home. I do this weather its a 4 ours of play ,,or I stay a couple of days.


Hourly is calculated by looking at my reward credits...I get 26 tier credits per hour of play, I simply see how much my tier credits have gone up an divide it by 26. If I play in other casinos I use my phone to get a rough estimate of time as I also have an app to track my poker play on my phone.

I simply enter these numbers into a spread sheet, to get an houly average....and I chart it to get a feel for the slope and what down swings look like.

I try to treat it as much as a business as possible. If I decide to drop $20 in a video poker machine ....its a poker expense in my opinion. If I sell some comps, its added in a poker profits. I pay for a room (taxses of $5.28 is charged on comped rooms ) is a poker expense...tips (food is generally free or I use comps) is a poker expense. Cost of transportation is a poker expense (or if I get more back from the free slot play and direct bet a poker profit)

This keeps it the simple and keeps me honest with myself. Ive known players to tip dealer out of their pocket, to claim a few $ more poker profit per hour.

For me its the bottom line....If I can only play 3 hours against drunks making $30 an hour is not as good as playing 5 hours against regs making $20 an hour...

Cracked_Jacks11

Great, thank you all for the input. I have been tracking $/hr and bb/hr so far, but didn't know if any other metrics provided a better analysis. My personal goal for the year is to maintain a rate of 10 bb/hr, which I think is high for a fairly new player. However, it gives me something to aim for and to challenge me to keep improving.

NTD12 wrote: »

I'll look at Std deviation and the BB/Hour but to me the $$/hour is what is important.

Standard deviation is something I've seen discussed briefly, but it's something I'm not at all familiar with. My very limited understanding of it is that it gives an idea of what the ups and downs of poker can be expected to look like. Up to this point I haven't missed not looking at it, but I'm certainly open to having my mind changed if there is value to it that I'm not yet aware of.

TheGameKat

Standard deviation is almost completely useless in this context unless you're doing something bizarre like Monte Carlo simulations of your future expected results. If you want to go beyond hourly rate by looking at moments of the distribution, I'd suggest analyzing the skewness. It tells you if you're making classic mistakes such as eating like a bird while crapping like an elephant.

Cracked_Jacks11

TheGameKat wrote: »

Standard deviation is almost completely useless in this context unless you're doing something bizarre like Monte Carlo simulations of your future expected results. If you want to go beyond hourly rate by looking at moments of the distribution, I'd suggest analyzing the skewness. It tells you if you're making classic mistakes such as eating like a bird while crapping like an elephant.

Haha I appreciate the feedback, and especially the metaphor. I'll continue to disregard SD. So far my results have been fairly steady, or at least steadier than I expected them to be.

TheGameKat

Cracked_Jacks11 wrote: »

TheGameKat wrote: »

Standard deviation is almost completely useless in this context unless you're doing something bizarre like Monte Carlo simulations of your future expected results. If you want to go beyond hourly rate by looking at moments of the distribution, I'd suggest analyzing the skewness. It tells you if you're making classic mistakes such as eating like a bird while crapping like an elephant.

Haha I appreciate the feedback, and especially the metaphor. I'll continue to disregard SD. So far my results have been fairly steady, or at least steadier than I expected them to be.

One of T.J. Cloutier's gems.

KemahPhil

If you want more sophisticated analysis, try https://pokerresultsmanager.com

Chibber

There are plenty of mobile apps that can be used to track your results. Most all of them will give you the snap shot you’re looking for - hours played, money won/lost.

Cracked_Jacks11

KemahPhil wrote: »

If you want more sophisticated analysis, try https://pokerresultsmanager.com

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it.

Chibber wrote: »

There are plenty of mobile apps that can be used to track your results. Most all of them will give you the snap shot you’re looking for - hours played, money won/lost.

Thanks for the advice, but unfortunately I'm an old man at heart and still use a flip phone :)