How Many Poker Hands Per Hour | Live vs. Online
Knowing how many hands per hour you have is crucial for arranging your sessions and calculating your hourly charge. This is what I discovered after diving into the statistics and conducting some investigation.
In poker, how many hands do you play per hour? On a 6-max table, you’ll play roughly 75 hands every hour, while on a 9-max table, you’ll play about 62 hands per hour. You’ll play 200 to 250 hands per table hour in online fast fold games like Zoom, Zone, or Snap. On average, live poker players will play 25 hands every hour.
These figures will, of course, change depending on where you play. Let’s look at the variables that can influence your hands-per-hour experience.
In soft games, there are fewer hands per hour.
The hands per hour tend to decrease as the VPIP increases. Let’s compare Bovada/Ignition to the Winning Poker Network for the sake of comparison (WPN). I’ve played hundreds of thousands of hands on both networks and compared the results in my database.
On Bovada and Ignition, I average 68 hands per hour in 6-max games. I play 77 hands each hour on WPN. The numbers are 55 and 62 in 9-max games, respectively.
What’s the deal with the discrepancy?
It’s because the VPIP on Bovada and Ignition is significantly greater. That is to say, it makes logic. The games will obviously play slower if more people are hobbling and seeing flops. I don’t play live, but I assume 5/10 players get more hands each hour than 1/2 players.
On each site, how many hands per hour do you have?
Hold’em Manager has a multi-table report that shows how many hands are played every hour depending on how many tables are active at the same time. My figures are as follows:
6-Max
| Poker Network | 6-Max Hands per Hour |
| Ignition/Bovada | 68.47 |
| Winning Poker Network | 76.53 |
9-Max
| Poker Network | 9-Max Hands per Hour |
| Ignition/Bovada | 55.36 |
| Winning Poker Network | 61.89 |
Surprisingly, the more tables I played, the more hands per hour I was able to accumulate. This makes sense, because when you’re mass multi-tabling, game selection pretty much goes out the window.
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The number of hands dealt each hour differs from the number of hands played per hour.
If you search around the internet, you’ll find even higher figures than the ones I’m mentioning here. That’s because they’re referring to hands per hour when you’re really given a hand.
When dealt in, raw hands per hour for 6-max and 75 for 9-max are around 90 and 75, respectively. Lower numbers, on the other hand, are more practical unless you plan on sticking at the same table and playing for hours.
They overlook the fact that you are not always dealt in when you are seated at a table. The time players spend getting on and off tables, as well as sitting and waiting for big blinds, is not included in the number of hands dealt every hour. As a result, while calculating your hourly win rate, you should utilize actual hands played each hour.
How Do Hands Per Hour Affect Live Games?
Because there is no multi-tabling and a player will generally sit at the same table for hours, live dealt numbers are much closer to reality. Despite this, the number of hands played each hour is far fewer than that seen online.
In live games, the number of hands per hour might range from 20 to 30. It takes time for the dealer to shuffle and deal because the game is nearly exclusively 9 or 10 hands. This leaves little time for genuine poker play. I have a lot of admiration for live grinders’ patience and mental toughness.
Hands per Hour Is Affected by Aggressive Table Selection
The longer you stay at a table, the more hands you’ll be dealt per hour. This is due to the fact that you must set up a new table, seat down, and then wait for the large blinds to open. This will take some time. As a result, switching games frequently reduce your hands per hour.
Now, I’m not saying you should stop choosing games. Robust table selection is how money is generated in today’s challenging poker environment. Adding one extra table is one method to solve this problem while still maintaining your desired number of hands per hour. Try three tables if you usually only have two.
Multi-Tablers in Bulk The Games Should Be Slower
I’ve found a link between the maximum number of tables allowed on a site and the number of hands played every hour. This is due to the prevalence of mass multi-tablers, who frequently time bank and so slow down the games.
For example, Bovada and Ignition both limit players to four cash game tables at a time. WPN still enables players to play 24 tables at once. It’s time bank city when two or three guys play 24 tables on one table. As a result of atrophied hands every hour, your hourly rate will decrease.
Why Do Full Ring Games Take Longer Than 6-Max Games?
Because there are more players on the table who must act during each hand, full ring has lower hands per hour. In addition, 9-max games are more passive than 6-max ones. As a result, 6-max games are typically 20 percent faster than 9-max games.
What if I want to play full ring games and have the same number of hands each hour?
You will just need to add more tables if you want to play the same amount of hands per hour at 9-max as you do at 6-max.
Assume you currently play at 8 6-max tables and average 600 hands per hour. Because the average number of hands dealt every hour at 9-max is 62, you can simply divide 62 by 600 to get the optimal number of full ring tables.
It’s 9.68, or ten tables, in this example.
- 600/62= 9.68
Must Read: Poker Win Rate Explained
Fast-Fold (Zoom/Zone) Poker Hands Per Hour
The popularity of fast-fold poker has risen dramatically in recent years as a result of the increasing number of hands per hour available. You no longer have to sit and wait for a hand to finish after you’ve folded. You move on to the next hand with the click of a button.
On each table, this permits participants to play between 200 and 300 hands every hour.
This means that a player can use less desktop real estate and concentrate on just one or two tables at a time while still completing a significant number of hands each hour.
Fast-Fold Poker’s Downfalls
It’s not for the faint of heart to play fast-fold poker. In fact, it necessitates a completely different approach than when playing at a standard table. Maximizing hands per hour can be an important consideration when deciding how to play.
Fast-fold poker does not appeal to me because of the strategic differences or the pace with which it is played. Rather, I believe the game isn’t even close to being poker.
At the essence of poker is observing your opponents and then modifying your strategy according to what they do. Fast-fold poker eliminates this by placing you in a different mix of opponents with each hand. So much for taking advantage of game flow considerations.
Last Thoughts
I must caution you if you are reading this article in order to begin mass multi-tabling because you believe it will significantly improve your hourly rate. As the number of hands per hour increases, the ability to focus on what is going on and accurately select a game goes out the window.
So, until you’re a 6bb/100 winner at one or two tables, I wouldn’t even think about trying to increase your hands per hour just yet. Trying to boost your hourly rate is far less significant than trying to improve your poker game.
Once you’re ready, you’ll know how many hands per hour you’ll be playing at the tables. I hope this information helps you choose the best amount of tables to play in order to meet your hourly rate targets. What is your ideal amount of tables? Mine is around 6, what is yours?
Related Questions
In poker, how can I figure out my hourly rate? Divide your total profit by the number of hours you’ve played to get your hourly rate.
What is a reasonable hourly poker rate? What constitutes a fair hourly wage in poker will differ from player to player depending on their objectives. It will also be determined by the stakes involved. Instead of focusing on the hourly rate, it is much better to concentrate on the win rate. Multi-tablers should expect to win 2-4 big blinds per 100 hands, while single tablers could expect to win 4 to 10 large blinds per 100 hands. Live players, on the other hand, will often have a substantially greater win rate due to the excessive softness of some live games.
In a tournament poker game, how many hands are dealt every hour? Because there is no table selection in tournaments, the number of hands each hour will be higher than in cash games. 6-max players can anticipate to play 90 hands each hour online, while 9-max players should expect to play 75 hands per hour. Since the game has evolved into a push-fold, hands tend to play faster as the blinds rise. Players in live tournaments typically play 30 hands every hour.
