Bankroll Management
How to Track Your Poker Results
What to track, which metrics matter, and how to analyze your data to find leaks and improve your game.
Tracking your poker results is one of the most important habits you can develop. It's how you identify leaks, manage your bankroll properly, stay motivated during downswings, and make data-driven decisions about your poker career.
The players who improve fastest are those who treat poker like a business. And like any business, that means keeping meticulous records.
Why Track Your Results?
Find Leaks
Discover patterns - maybe you lose money in early morning sessions, or from the blinds, or against specific opponent types.
Bankroll Management
Know exactly where you stand financially and whether you're properly rolled for your stakes.
Tax Documentation
The IRS requires detailed records of gambling wins/losses. Proper logs protect you during an audit.
Motivation & Validation
Progress graphs show improvement over time. During downswings, long-term data keeps you grounded.
What to Track: Live Players
Essential Data Points
Optional (But Valuable)
- • Table conditions: Soft game? Tough lineup? Short-handed?
- • Your mental state: Tired? Tilted? In the zone?
- • Notable hands: Key observations that affected results
- • Expenses: Transportation, food, dealer tips
Key Metrics to Calculate
Hourly Rate
For live poker: $/hr (profit ÷ hours). For online: bb/100 (big blinds per 100 hands) or bb/hr.
What's good?
- • $1/$2 live: $15-25/hr for serious winners
- • $2/$5 live: $30-50/hr achievable
- • Online: Over 4bb/100 is very good
Tournament ROI
ROI = (Total Profit ÷ Total Buy-ins) × 100
Example: $50 profit from $100 in buy-ins = 50% ROI. Above 10-20% is quite good. You need 100+ tournaments minimum for meaningful data, ideally 1,500+.
Session Length Patterns
Track win rates by session duration. Many players discover they play best in 4-6 hour sessions but their results drop significantly after 8+ hours due to fatigue.
What to Track: Online Players
Online tracking is more detailed because software captures every hand. These HUD stats help you analyze your own game and exploit opponents:
| Stat | What It Measures | Target (6-max) |
|---|---|---|
| VPIP | How often you voluntarily put money in | ~23-28% |
| PFR | How often you raise preflop | ~18-23% |
| 3-Bet% | How often you re-raise preflop | ~6-10% |
| AF | Aggression factor (bets+raises ÷ calls) | ~3 |
| ATS | Attempt to steal blinds | ~35% |
The gap between VPIP and PFR reveals passive play. If your VPIP is 28% but PFR is only 15%, you're calling too much preflop.
Tracking Tools
For Live Players
- PokerLog - Track sessions, manage bankroll, view statistics (iOS)
- Poker Analytics - Comprehensive metrics and automatic leak detection
- Poker Bankroll Tracker - Session tracking with hand replayer
- Spreadsheets - Excel/Google Sheets for maximum flexibility
For Online Players
- PokerTracker 4 - Industry standard, LeakTracker tool, customizable HUD
- Hold'em Manager 3 - 25+ reports, situational analysis dashboards
- Leak Buster - Runs 55+ filters checking 465+ potential leaks
- GTO Wizard Leak Finder - Compares your frequencies to optimal play
Sample Size: The Critical Factor
You need significant volume before drawing conclusions. Poker has enormous short-term variance - results over days, weeks, or even months can be misleading.
- • Online cash games: 100,000 hands minimum, some argue 1M
- • Tournaments: 1,500+ events minimum
- • Live sessions: 500+ hours for meaningful trends
One study showed: after 300,000 PLO hands, possible win rates spanned ~10bb/100 due purely to variance. A winning player could look like a loser, or vice versa.
How to Analyze Your Data
Position-Based Analysis
Are you winning in late position but bleeding chips from the blinds? Most players should expect to lose money from SB/BB and profit from later positions.
Time-Based Patterns
Many players discover insights like: "I lose money in early morning sessions" or "My win rate drops after midnight." These patterns reveal fatigue effects or game selection opportunities.
Stake-Level Analysis
Some players crush $1/$2 but struggle at $2/$5. This could indicate skill gaps against tougher competition, or bankroll-related pressure affecting decisions.
Common Tracking Mistakes
Not tracking losing sessions
Makes all your data useless. Track everything.
Drawing conclusions from small samples
10 sessions or 5,000 hands tells you almost nothing.
Tracking results but never studying them
Data without analysis is just numbers.
Obsessing over short-term results
Daily/weekly swings are mostly variance.
Failing to record context
Just logging buy-in/cash-out misses valuable info.
Real Insights from Tracking
Examples of actionable discoveries players have made:
"I'm a net loser from the small blind but profitable everywhere else" → Tightened SB defense
"My win rate drops 40% after 6 hours" → Now enforces strict session limits
"I win on Monday afternoons but lose on Friday nights" → Adjusted schedule for softer games
"My tournament ROI is 25% in turbos but -15% in deep stacks" → Focused on strength
"My red-line (non-showdown) is negative" → Worked on adding aggression
Frequently Asked Questions
›What should I track for live poker sessions?
At minimum: date, location, game type, stakes, buy-in, cash-out, and hours played. From this you can calculate profit/loss and hourly rate. Optionally add: table conditions, your mental state, and notable hands.
›What's a good poker win rate?
For online cash games, anything above 0bb/100 is winning, over 4bb/100 is very good. For live poker, serious winners often target $15-25/hr at $1/$2 and $30-50/hr at $2/$5. Tournament ROI above 10-20% is quite good.
›How many hands do I need for my win rate to be accurate?
Online cash games need 100,000+ hands minimum to estimate true win rate - some argue 1 million. Tournaments need 1,500+ events. Variance is enormous in poker; small samples tell you very little.
›Should I track losing sessions?
Absolutely - this is the most important rule. Only logging winning sessions makes your data useless. Track every single session, wins and losses alike, or your analysis will be meaningless.
›What HUD stats should I focus on?
Start with VPIP (how often you play hands - target 23-28% in 6-max) and PFR (how often you raise - target ~18-23% in 6-max). The gap between VPIP and PFR shows your passive play. 3-bet%, aggression factor, and ATS are next level.
Start Tracking Today
PokerLog makes it easy to track sessions, manage your bankroll, and see your stats over time. Free for iOS.
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