Poker Player Stats

Poker player stats help you make good decisions

One of the best ways to make poker more profitable is to understand how your opponents play their hands before you even sit down at the table.

How often do they play hands and from what position? Do they raise many hands before the flop? Do they like to three-bet (re-raise after a raise) a lot?

Knowing all of this information is what makes poker pros very successful. It gives them a clear picture of how their opponents like to play and allows them to act accordingly.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to play the hundreds or thousands of hands it takes – like the pros have - to get an intuitive feel for all of their opponents' player stats.

This is where Poker Crusher comes in. Poker Crusher is always there, tracking and taking notes on thousands of players and distilling the most essential poker player stats for you.

Three poker player statistics in particular give you a tremendous advantage over your opponents:

1) VP$IP – Is your opponent loose or tight?

VP$IP, or voluntarily put money in pot, is how often someone puts money into the pot in order to see the flop.

For example, if your opponent is playing every other hand, his or her VP$IP would be 50. Knowing this number helps you understand how they play (depending on the type of game of course).

For example if you are playing a full-ring game (9- or 10-player table), a VP$IP of 25 and above is considered high and the player is likely a loose player, willing to take chances with a lot of hands.

Someone with a VP$IP of 8 however is considered very tight, and is almost always playing premium hands like pocket pairs or ace-king.

If you are playing heads-up or six-max games, those stats are interpreted a little differently. A VP$IP of 25-35 would be considered average, since you naturally play more hands (and put more money in pre-flop) if there are less people at the table.

Either way, it's a simple way to gauge your opponent's basic playing style.

2) How often does your opponent raise before the flop? PFR knows.

PFR stands for Pre-Flop Raise, and it tells you how often you might encounter a raise from your opponent before the flop.

This number is best understood in comparison with the VP$IP. If the two numbers are very close, then your opponent is an aggressive player who likes to raise hands instead of just call pre-flop.

This might be a good opportunity to re-raise if his or her VP$IP number is also high.

If the PFR number is much lower than the VP$IP number, your opponent's poker player statistics indicate he or she is not aggressive pre-flop, and perhaps likes to see flops cheaply to try and hit a hand.

In that case it might be a good time to raise so your opponent does not get that cheap shot at the flop and you win the hand immediately.

Again: very useful opponent player stats and valuable pieces of information to have.

3) Know if you're facing a lame duck or a maniac post-flop with (FL-See)Aggr.

The third essential poker player stat Poker Crusher provides is labeled (FL-See)Aggr.

This somewhat cryptically named statistic gives you a number that is not a percentage, but a number based on an opponent's aggressive action percentage divided by his or her calling percentage.

For example, if a player bets or raises 10 times after the flop, but only calls five times, the post-flop aggression number will be 2. The higher this number, the more aggressive your opponent is.

Again, it is a good idea to look at both this number and VP$IP. Is your opponent playing very loose poker, but also betting or raising a lot after the flop?

If so, you can probably assume that some bluffing and foul play is going on here. Someone playing lots of hands will not be “connecting” with every flop! Maybe you can stick in a raise and see if they will fold.

If VP$IP is low but Aggression is high, then you likely have a tight and aggressive opponent who is probably playing good cards and playing them hard. Get out of the way when they start betting and raising after the flop.

As said before; these three poker player statistics in particular give you a tremendous advantage over your opponents, so get Poker Crusher and find out yourself.