Poker Basics - VPIP

Whether you use tracking software or not, there is a lot it teaches us, especially the foundational stat known as VPIP.

You may not want to use tracking software or it may be that the sites you play on do not allow it, but there are a lot of stats that are useful to understand even if you do not use them. 

The one stat everyone uses on their Heads-up Display (HUD) is VPIP, which stands for Voluntarily Put Money Into Pot. 

As the name suggests it is a measure of how frequently an opponent plays hands, other than when they post their Big or Small Blind. It is essentially a metric which shows how loose or how tight a player is. 

VPIP varies depending on the format you play. It will typically be high in short handed or heads-up games but low in full ring games. This is because the more players there are, the more one of them is likely to wake up with a big hand. 

Change your strategy based on VPIP

Using Six Max cash as an example, an average grinder will have a VPIP somewhere between 20-30%. They will play something like 25% of the hands they are dealt. 

If a player has a VPIP of 12% in these games you can safely assume they are tight. If they have a VPIP of 38% you can just as easily ascertain they are loose. 

VPIP will change your strategy against different players. Against the loose players for the most part you want to avoid bluffing and value bet thinner. Against the tight players you can steal their blinds and bluff them more often. 

VPIP is not a signifier of aggression, however. A player with a VPIP of 38 could be very aggressive (Known as Loose Aggressive or LAG) or passive (Known as Loose Passive or Calling Stations). The strategy for countering these players is different based on their level of aggression.

Even if you do not use a HUD it is useful to frame your opponents based on how many hands they play relative to the game format, because it is perhaps the most reliable single statistic in poker. When you observe a player has been playing too many hands you can colour code them or make a player note so that you can adjust your strategy. Likewise when a player has been a complete Nit you can make a note that you can steal against them without much resistance.

If you do play on a site that uses a HUD and you are interested in using one, we recommend PokerTracker 4 which you can try for free right here.  

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