What does BB/hour mean?

[twang]

New member (but long time lurker) here saying hello.

I have a somewhat stupid question:
When people are talking about whether they are winning players or not, they usually describe their win rates in terms of <number here>BB/hour. What does that mean?

Does that mean one big bet per hour, as in averaging 1 dollar per hour in a .5/1-game? Or does it mean winning one big pot/bet per hour?

Thanks.

[Sheriff Fatman]

It means Big Bet per hour. Your 1st example is correct.

Sheriff

[twang]

Ok, thanks Sheriff.

[Girazze]

I'm a little confused by this so maybe someone can help me out. If I'm playing a .5/1 table and I make 1BB/hr, it seems I'm way behind. In that hour, I've posted SB/BB (.25/.50) at least 10 times which means I'm already down $7.50 with just the blinds. If I am only making 1BB/hr, I'm down $6.50 every hour I play. Am I not grasping something here?

[twang]

I suppose it means blinds included (correct me if I am wrong, someone). Example: If you bring 50$ to a .5/1 table, you play for one hour and end the session at 51$, you are 1BB/hour.

[Girazze]

Ummmm.....why didn't I think of that?? /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Sounds good to me.....thanks!

[James Boston]

It has nothing to do with blinds, or what you literally make in a given hour of play. At the end of a session, divide your profit by the number of hours you played. This gives it to you in dollars per hour. Now, divide that by the size of the big bet....voila, BB/hour.

[MrFroggyX]

And also in NL games (maybe PL also??) BB means Big Blind.. not Big Bet. (Beacuse you don't have a Big Bet)

But I'm not completly sure.. it can also means 2xBig Blind..
Can someone tell me what is right?

[jdl22]

In no limit if you see the term bb it can mean both. In discussions other than win rate it means big blind(s). In NL there is no big bet as it's defined for limit - the minimum bet for the later rounds of betting. In NL the minimum bet is the big blind no matter the betting round.

However, most people on the forum here use poker tracker. Poker Tracker is basically setup for limit so they report BB/hr and that is big bets per hour which they automatically calculate as 2xbig blind. Hence, in the NL forum you will see people put their win rate in terms of big bets (twice the big blind).

In general you will also see bb/100 which is similarly big bets per 100 hands dealt. If you use pokertracker this is more informative because it controls for multitabling. For example if your win rate is 2 bb/hr and you play 2 tables it is a little ambiguous whether that means 2 bb/hr for each table (and hence you make a total of 4 bb/hr) or you make 1 bb/hr at each table for a total of 2 bb/hr. If you say bb/100 it doesn't matter whether you're playing 1 or 6 tables at once - you will just get to the 100 hands faster. This is why you will more commonly see phrases like "I earn 3 bb/100 playing 4 tables" than using bb/hr.

[MrFroggyX]

Thank you very much Jdl!