Standard Deviation in Heads Up play

[Steve]

Would the standard deviation (of your win/loss per session) be higher in a Holdem ring game w/ 10 players, or a heads up match?

Obviously in the ring game you will win many fewer hands, roughly 1 out of 10, and those wins will be bigger pots. So that would seem to indicate the stddev would be bigger for the ring game, since you could very easily go a long time without winning a hand.

But in the heads up match, you are entering the pot more often, bluffing and calling bluffs more often, and dealing more hands per hour. So that would indicate its stddev would be higher.

[Daliman]

[Steve]

For what reason? Is it just because you can play so many more hands per hour?

[Daliman]

It's because you're involved in so many more hands per hour. Full table, you will only be involved in about 25% of the hands. Shorthanded, the table will be 2-3 times faster and you will be playing about 50% of the hands. Heads up, you can play 5 times as many hands per hour as full table, and you are involved in 100% of the hands. This applies more so to online play, to a lesser extent in live play.