You have probably heard players boasting or moaning about their BB/100 in the game they play, but what are they talking about? In this article we are going to learn how to track your edge in the game you frequent, using this very popular metric.

What is BB/100

To put it simply, BB/100 is a measure of win-rate in a cash game and might be positive or negative. This stat is available on all major tracking software and measures how many big blinds you win or lose for every 100 hands that you play.

For example, if you have a BB/100 of +5, that means you make an average of five big blinds for every 100 hands played.

Aspiring players track their BB/100 in order to understand how big a margin they are beating their current stake by and whether or not it is sensible to take a shot at the next level up. Another use of this stat could be to research who the stronger regs are in your pool so that you can avoid tables containing them.

As poker is such a high variance game, where it is impossible to judge your ability from short-term results alone, BB/100 provides a little order among the chaos, giving a glimpse of your true skill level relative to the stakes you play. But beware, we need a large sample of hands before we take this stat too seriously.

How is BB/100 Calculated?

Your BB/100 win rate tells you how much profit you have made on average over 100 hands. The formula for working it out is as follows:

Winrate (BB/100) = (Total profit in BBs / Number of hands) x 100

For example, you’ve made +500 BB over 10,000 hands. Divide 500 by 10,000, then multiply by 100, and you have a win rate of 5BB/100.

You can track this manually using spreadsheets, but it’s much easier using tracking software. The formula already accounts for rake, as the amount you win in BB will have rake subtracted from it.

Remember to track your cash game win rate only at one stake level, such as the micro stakes or higher stakes. Mixing games will skew your results and won’t give you an accurate reading about one particular game or the other.

Understanding BB/100 Values

BB/100 values can range from negative numbers to positives, with zero representing a break even player. Here’s a guide to what BB/100 values mean in poker:

-5BB/100 or worse: You still have a lot of work to do to become a winning player, or even break even. Try to see this phase of your poker career as the learning phase; not the profit phase. Make sure that you do not move up in stakes or you’ll make your learning more expensive, not to mention more painful. Instead, focus on your decision making, develop a study routine, and frequently try to analyze your play; discussing hands with stronger players wherever possible. If you can move down in stakes temporarily while you improve your game, this is recommended.

-5BB/100 to -2BB/100: You are a small to moderate losing player. You are doing some things right and, in fact, you are probably considerably better than the average player in your pool. However, the rake is still beating you and there’s lots of room for improvement. Keep slogging away and make your next goal to become break even or achieve a small win rate. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but do not think about moving up in stakes yet. Keep improving and look to plug major leaks in your strategy that are holding you back.

-2BB/100 to 2BB/100: This is the range of a roughly break-even player. Your variance will be high and your results neither great nor terrible over a big sample. Some months will be a lot better or worse than others and there is substantial work still to be done on your game. The good news is that you have developed enough skill to be far better than the average player in your games. The next step is to continue balancing your ranges while finding more ways to exploit your opponents in common spots.

2BB/100 to 4BB/100: You are a solid winner who can now consistently beat your chosen stakes and rake. This is an awesome moment for any poker player, so stop and take stock of how far you have come. Consider consolidating this win-rate by continuing on your learning journey, while integrating some shots at the next stake up, provided that your mental game and bankroll are ready for it.

4BB/100 to 7BB/100: This is the win-rate of a player who destroys the competition. Good job in getting to this point! Your edge pre-rake is enormous, and this carries over to give you a healthy profit even after you have paid your poker tax, so to speak. You could keep on grinding out this win rate with a fairly low variance, but you should definitely consider moving up as soon as practical requirements allow.

7BB/100 to 10BB/100: You are an absolute crusher. You annihilate the pool in just about every situation imaginable. What are you still doing playing these games? Move up immediately and start propelling yourself through the stakes. You are so good that you can probably beat the next two stakes up as well, provided that you have the bankroll and can keep tilt at bay.

10BB/100 Or Better: Such a win-rate is mainly only seen in live games, which can be absurdly soft. It is not uncommon for me to take a live 2/5 player who is breaking even and get him beating the games by 20BB/100 or more. Online, where it is rare to be on a table with eight massive losing players, such win-rates are reserved for the poker immortal.

Sample Size Win Rate

You might be sitting here thinking: “I win at 35BB/100 at 5NL” No, trust me, you do not. It is very possible for win-rates to run wild in either direction over small samples. I’m constantly urging students to ignore their BB/100 because they are obsessing over it with tiny samples.

So, how accurate is the measurement over various hand samples? The following guide should clear it up. We have assumed the player in question has a true win-rate of 3BB/100 in his games. Here is how much his observed BB/100 is likely to fluctuate in the short-term.

• 5,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to plus or minus 11BB/100 away from its true long term value.
• 10,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to 8BB/100 away from its true value.
• 25,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to 5BB/100 away from its true value.
• 50,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to 3.5BB/100 away from its true value.
• 100,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to 2.5BB/100 away from its true value.
• 300,000 Hands: Your observed win-rate will commonly be up to 1.5BB/100 away from its true value.

There we have it. BB/100 is a long-term measuring device. Over the smaller samples that part-time poker players rack up over a month or two, the stat means almost nothing. Only in the long term will anything close to a player’s true BB/100 win rate start to show.

As a general rule of thumb, you’ll need a sample size of 30,000 – 50,000 for your BB/100 to be meaningful and 50,000 – 100,000 hands for it to become more reliable as a measurement.

How to Improve Your BB/100 Win Rate

Once you have identified your BB/100 win rate over a large sample size, you can track improvements that you make as you continue to learn and study poker. This is massively rewarding, as BB/100 allows you to actually see your progress as a player.

Studying fundamental poker strategy and applying it flawlessly is often enough to achieve a decent win rate at the micro or low stakes, as you’ll already be ahead of the competition. As you move up, you’ll need to zoom in closely on your own game to identify leaks. Potential leaks could include:

• Preflop ranges
• Postflop betting lines
• Bet sizing
• Hand reading
• Under or over-bluffing
• Specific leaks, such as overplaying a certain type of hand or overusing a particular bet

These are only a handful of the leaks that could come up in your game. The best way to identify these mistakes is to review your hand histories to look for patterns in your play. Identify weak spots where you are losing chips according to position or situation, then work on these elements of your game.

This should be a constant process of reviewing, learning and then applying your new knowledge next time you play.

Another area to work on is your mental game and application of strategy. It’s all well and good knowing what to do, but you actually need to be able to execute the correct move in the heat of the moment and play your A-game for the duration of your sessions. Work on optimizing your gameplay as well as studying strategy.

Table Selection and BB/100

In some online cash games and even casinos, you’ll have the option to choose your own table and seat. Naturally, you should aim to sit down with players who you can beat. This is not immediately obvious, but can be discerned from the quality of their play.

Remember to be aware of sample size. You’ll need tens of thousands of hands on your opponent for their BB/100 to be a reliable indication of skill.

In any case, mindful table selection is another way that you can bump up your BB/100 at the stakes that you play.

Seeing Through the Variance With EV BB/100

There’s another, similar stat that we can use to effectively see through the variance and short term luck element of poker. It’s known as EV BB/100, which stands for expected value in big blinds per 100 Hands. The stat is always based on your equity at the point that the final betting decision is made and shows you a “luck-adjusted” version of your win rate.

EV BB/100 calculates how much you would have won or lost if every all-in you were involved in played out according to exact equities. For example, if you have ace-king against pocket queens, you have 46% equity. If both players go all-in for 100 big blinds each (for a total pot of 200 big blinds) and you lose, you actually lose 100 big blinds. However, in terms of EV, you only lost 8 big blinds.

The EV BB/100 is perfect for if you only have a small sample size and your true 100/BB win rate won’t yet show. In this case, your expected value removes variance as a factor and tells you whether you are on the right track in terms of equity when you risk your stack.

Common Misuses and Misunderstandings of BB/100

Here are some of the common misuses and misunderstandings that players make when using BB/100 in poker as a measure of win rate:

• Small sample size – Relying on a small sample size is easily the most common mistakes that players make with BB/100. As we’ve mentioned, this stat is useless without tens of thousands of hands of data, preferably 100,000 hands to get a clear reading.
• Assuming all win rates are equal – Given that competition is softer at the micro stakes and low stakes, your BB/100 should be higher compared to when you move up in stakes. BB/100 can also vary on game type, such as being lower for Zoom.
• Confusing BB/100 with other metrics – BB/100 is easily confused with other metrics such as ROI or hourly. However, it doesn’t tell you how much money you are making unless combined with stakes and volume.

Final Thoughts

• BB/100 is a great way to measure your likely skill level in the game over large samples and determine whether or not you should take a shot at the next stake.
• BB/100 is often abused over smaller samples and can mean very little.
• Having a negative BB/100 is not a sign that you are weaker than the average player in your game, but just that you are not good enough to retain a profit after paying rake.