The subject of win rates is a very complex one with regards to Texas Hold ’em poker and one that could fill an entire encyclopedia in its own right. Let us look at a game like no-limit hold ’em for example. You can look at win rates in all sorts of different ways. If you are using software like PokerTracker then you will be used to looking at rates expressed as ptbb/100.
This stands for “poker tracker big bets per hundred hands”. A big bet is twice the big blind and this dates back to limit hold’em but the term big bet applies to the no-limit Texas Hold’em variation as well. So a big bet at says $0.50-$1.00 isn’t $1 but $2. So when you see something like 5ptbb/100 then this is someone quoting an earn rate based on their tracker program that is showing ten times the big blind of the game that they are playing in.
The ptbb/100 is seen as a more accurate method of looking at earn rates in online poker because game speed differs widely from site to site based on the number of players and site software. Also thinking times are longer on some sites over others and so this leads to fewer hands per hour in games like no-limit Texas Hold ’em. Another way at looking at win online gambling for real money rates is in $/hour.
This is a critical statistic and in many cases more critical than ptbb/100. To give an example then I will do so to highlight what I mean. Imagine if a very good player was playing one table of no-limit Texas Hold ’em at the $100 level and was making 5ptbb/100 over significant sample size. This is an excellent earn rate and is $10/100 at that level. To get to this level then the player was only playing one table.
On the other hand, another player who was playing the same $100 level at no-limit Texas Hold’em was only making 2ptbb/100 because they were playing more tables and six tablings. So at first glance, it seems that the figure of 5ptbb/100 is far superior to the figure of 2ptbb/100 (assuming equal and highly significant sample sizes). But yet the strong player is only playing one table at 60 hands per hour and so it takes him 1hr 40 minutes to play 100 hands.
This breaks his $10/100 into about $6/hour. However, the multi-tabling player who is on a far smaller amount per 100 hands is seeing not 60 hands per hour but 360 hands per hour. He is only making $2/100 hands but times this by 3.6 gives his hourly $/hour figure which is $7.20/hour. So it is clear then that playing no-limit Texas Hold em and looking at earn rates isn’t as straightforward as you may think.
A lesser player at Texas Hold ’em in terms of bb/100 could be making more money in $/hour which then assumes its importance. So technically the first player was a better player at NL100 but the second player was amassing more money and so the trade-off between bb/100 and $/hour becomes clear and vitally important.