Percentage of playable hands

Although I've been playing poker for decades, I've only recently been approaching it in a studious manner. Which is why I post this here. I've been experimenting with how to apply the S&M hand groups to preflop play in the low-limit games on Paradise and have had a long patch of what I think is bad cards.


Last night my plan was to play Group 3 or better from early position, 4 from the middle and 5 from late(with a couple positional plays with looser hands in late position). This is tighter than I normally play. Although this is too small of a sample to draw any real conclusions from, I kept track of 100 hands and came up this:


I called 18 hands preflop, including free rides on the BB. Voluntarily playing about 15% of hands seems really low, so my QUESTION is: Is this just a string of bad cards, or is to be expected to see an average of Group 4 hands only 15% of the time.


Of those 18 "playable" hands, only seemed 6 worth betting on after the flop, of which I won 4. At the end of the session I was down 13 big bets. My second question is similar to the first: Is having only a third of my "playable" hands worth postflop play reasonable, or am I playing too tight/passive? Playing only 6% of hands seems like a losing proposition considering blinds and the rake, even I were to squeeze every last drop out of my winners. Thanks.

There are 6 of each pair, 4 of each suited, and 12 of each non-suited hand. Add up the total hands in each group, then the total you'll play in each position. Then divide by the total hands 1326. This will give a good idea how often you "should" expect to play, although the actual number is less since, for instance, you won't be calling raises late with group 5 hands.


Controversial opinion: Playable hands early is probably less than 5%. Playable hands on the button should be about 40% when nobody is in, about 25% over-all.


15% voluntary at a 10 handed table overall is "reasonably" selective. This should result in about a win rate of 2 hands/hour (2/3rds of your "fair share") in a reasonably good loose game.


- Louie

When I first started playing hold'em about four years ago, I kept track of how many hands I played and how many pots I won. I discovered over a 200 hour period of playing $6-$12 that I was actively involved in about 15% of the hands and that, on the average, I won 2.2 pots per hour. My win rate at $6-$12 was $10.78 per hour.

It's also a less than linear increase until the button. There's a big increase in playable hands on the button compared to the cutoff, going from maybe 25% to 40% in a low limit raked game. If the blinds are very loose or very tight you can play more than half your hands on the button, and of course any two when they almost never defend.

I mostly agree here. That's why I count position as Button(1), Late(2), Middle(2), Early(2), and Hopeless(rest).

just remember that playing a hand that someone else has already entered the pot is a whole lot different than you being the one that opens the betting. if you dont understand that real well post a question about it.

I think I do understand (in theory) that there is a big difference between being the first in vs. calling a bet.


One problem I have might be due to playing stakes that are too low for the kind of game I would like to learn. I've been playing $.50/$1 on Paradise, where I see hand after hand being won by cards I wouldn't dream about playing. Between that and a few times of getting my high two pair beaten by pocket 2s that catch a third on the river, I have a hard time not loosening up.


I'm working on the required discipline, but when playing a very loose game, it sometimes seems like a good idea to be in more hands with reasonably cards - at least when its only one bet. Or am I wrong about that?

mostly wrong. as when you see alot of people in with bad hands it seems that you can loosen up as it gives a bigger advantage. true but false. you loosen up by playing more big suited connectors but at the same time tighten up a real lot by folding many big unsuited cards that you might have played in a tighter game. also you will play more pairs and ace suited. overall when the game is very loose you need to play very tight. i know it doesnt make sense but its true kinda. good luck.

Please note this reality: if regularly one good hand is playing against 4 bad hands, bad hands will win more often than good hands. If the good hand wins one time in 4, he's still making money since he's getting 4:1 money for his 3:1 dog hand.


With more people in the average winning hand will increase. You generally, therefore, need to play hands that tend to make stronger hands, even if less often. This means play more suited hands (to make flushes) and pairs (to make sets). Play less unsuited hands. Unsuited connectors like 87 are still pretty weak.


In the loose games with few pre-flop raises, your actual play frequency will increase a lot (you can play 87s and 44 UTG). With lots of pre-flop raising your implied odds for your draw hands go drastically down making many unplayable, and therefore your play frequency will drop.


- Louie