Standard deviation?

[limodude]

Can someone point me in the right direction to a place that I could learn more about standard deviation. I dont understand how this plays a part in reading my stats. Thanks in advance.

[Mangatang]

Standard Deviation is a measure of variance. Basically it's the average amount each sample point is from the average (mean).

If you took 10 tests, scored 0% on five and scored 100% on the other five, your average would be 50%. This would be a very high standard deviation.

If instead, you took 10 tests and scored 49, 51, 50, 48, 52, 50, 49, 51, 50, 50, you would still have an average score of 50%, but you would have a very small standard deviation.

So a small standard deviation in poker means that you will have smaller swings. So, you might be able to get away with keeping a smaller bankroll.

Playing tight, conservitive poker usually results in a smaller standard deviation. But, to maximize your overall win rate, you may have to play more aggressively. This will result in a larger standard deviation (more variance).

Look in a statistics book or Excel help files for the exact calculation of standard deviation.

[MycroftX]

Well said.