If you hang around regularly on poker forums, you can’t help but hear bb/100 all the time. Most poker tracking programs have plenty of statistics and this is one of the most important ones you’ll come across. But even when it’s a common term in poker, many players may not fully understand its meaning.
Reliable Info to Boost Your Winnings
A majority of live poker players and some online players prefer to track their results by the hour. If that’s the case for you, there’s a chance bb/100 is a confusing concept to grasp. You can’t improve what you can’t measure – that’s why you’ve got to know how to track win rates in a smarter way. In this guide, we’ll be checking out everything you should know about the BB/100 term and much more.
What does bb/100 mean
bb/100, or big blinds won per hundred hands, is a parameter poker tracking apps use to document your game results. Most popular apps like Holdem Manager 3 use this metric for measuring your win-rate as a poker player. It’s one of the essential stats people want to see when going over their previous session. Whether you play Pot-Limit Omaha or Texas Hold ’em, a small and big blind must be present, and measuring your profits in big blinds is feasible.
To better understand what bb/100 stands for, let’s go through an example. Using a regular $1/2 game with a $2 big blind, let’s delve into what bb/100 is:
- You bought into a $1/2 game for 100 blinds at $200
- After playing 100 hands, let's say your stack stands at $280, which means you've made 40 big blinds in profit ($2 per blind x 20 = $40)
- At this stage, your observed win-rate is 20bb/100 based on this sample. Please note that the sample is too small to draw statistical conclusions from, but you get closer to your accurate win-rate as you play more hands
A common misconception is how reliable win-rates are in online poker. It would help if you quite had quite large sample sizes to see how hard you’re crushing the poker games. If you’re just getting started in poker or play micro stakes, you can benefit by reading our poker cheat sheet to sharpen your strategies.
What's the difference between bb/100 and BB/100 in capitals
Capitalized BB/100 stands for big bets won per 100 hands. Several poker tracking apps (except PokerTracker) use this term for measuring win-rates as well.
Similarly to bb/100, Big Bets per 100 is used for measuring your win-rate of hundred hands played at a poker game. For example, let’s say you’re already in a $2/$4 No-Limit Hold ’em cash game. If you’ve got a 14bb/100 win-rate, it translates to you winning eight big bets every 100 hands played, or 7BB/100. If you’re in a $1/$2 Pot-Limit game and lose $10 over 1000 hands, your sample will reveal minus 0.25bb/100.
In most cases, BB/100 is used in measuring win rates for fixed limit games. Such games usually have the big bet units at a more prominent focus than the blinds.
What is PTBB/100?
There’s no massive difference between BB/100 and PTBB/100. Effectively, PTBB/100 measures the amount won in big bets per 100 hands. But, you won’t find the PTBB/100 term often unless you’re using Pokertracker 4. Pokertracker leverages its status as a pioneer tracking software for poker players.
Some poker players use this term regardless of what tracking app they’re using. In most tracking apps, you can calculate bb/100 by doubling your PTBB/100 number (for example, 4 PTBB/100 = 8bb/100).
BB/100, bb/100, and PTBB/100 - Which is the most Popular Metric?
As we’ve seen above, slight differences are common when comparing the terms used by various tracking software. When it comes to the most popular one among all three terms, the bb/100 ranks highest. Most tracking apps use bb/100 in calculating win-rates, if not all of them. You’re less likely to find PTBB/100 on poker tracking apps.
No-Limit Hold 'em (NLHE) & Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) Big Bet Games
A few game formats in the poker world get referenced with the ‘BB’ tag to diffuse any mix-up. No-Limit Texas Hold ’em (NLHE) and Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) are also called big bet games in some circles. Big bet games should not be mixed up with formats played in HORSE, like Omaha8, Razz, and so on. On the other hand, NLHE and PLO shouldn’t be confused with Limit games either, as you have a much smaller betting limit on each street.
Where does the term big bet games come from then? In most NLHE and PLO games, bets usually get larger as the hand progresses to the later streets, with the biggest wagers taking place on the turn and the river – hence the term ‘big bet’.
The Effect of Luck on Poker Win-rates
In the short term, poker is primarily a game of chance before it’s anything else. What this means is that if you rack up 1000 poker hands, you could end up winning many buy-ins straight up or lose almost every big pot. It doesn’t always mean you’re the next Phil Ivey or just a terrible player – you have to analyze your play to see whether your wins or losses came from pure luck or skilled plays. A good rule of thumb to use is only making assessments on how you’re doing after approaching fifty thousand hands.
While it’s hard to make peace with variance in poker, it’s something you need to do sooner or later if you want to do well in this game. There’s no better weapon in your arsenal than having a piece of mind when going through a stretch of negative results in poker.
What is a Good bb/100 in Poker
There’s no accepted consensus in the poker community on what a ‘good’ win rate is. When you’re playing online poker, it could get murky to pinpoint the ideal win-rate. Besides, the competition and the flow of games constantly changes – so does your win-rate.
A consistent winner might make 3-6 big blinds per 100 hands. If you take a look at the top players in NLHE, you can find astonishing win-rates posted as Hold ’em Manager screenshots, like +10bb/100 over large samples in 6-max ring games. For heads-up specialists, the number can be even higher. Now, does this mean you should be worried if you can’t achieve these numbers? Absolutely not!
You see, your edge in poker is determined by what stakes you play, your opponents, rake taken by the poker room and rakeback, and your skill level. No two games or stakes are alike in poker. When determining an excellent win rate in a particular game, you have to consider quite a lot of factors. Yet, the rule of thumb is simple – don’t end up with a negative number! If you can’t sustain a positive win-rate, you won’t be able to move up in stakes.
Poker players tend to compare win-rates with their buddies. Even if it’s an unhealthy practice to compare yourself to others, there’s a silver lining to it: You might learn some strategies that were previously hidden from you.
Conclusion
Being obsessed with having a tremendous bb/100 rate doesn’t always cut it when you don’t take the right steps. First off, you’ve got to remember that poker isn’t a one-day game. It’s a marathon rather than a sprint. Before analyzing your bb/100 rate, know that tens of thousands of hands have to be played.
When you’re targeting a crazy-high, positive bb/100 win rate, you’ve got to make time for studying poker strategy and analyzing your game. An excellent way to do that is by signing-up on poker training sites.
Lastly, keep emotional plays in check, stick to correct decisions, and select the suitable games for your bankroll and skill level – then you’re good to go. By playing fundamentally sound poker and working on your game, your bb/100 win-rate will keep reaching new heights as you rake in more money from poker. Best of luck at the tables!
BB/100 FAQ
How to calculate bb/100?
You can calculate bb/100 by taking the amount won, dividing it by the size of the big blind in your game, multiplied by 100 and divided with the number of hands you’ve played. For example, if you’re playing $1/$2 Hold’em for 1000 hands winning $200 in total, your bb/100 would be $200/$2*100/1000 = 10bb/100.
Why bb/100 is a better indicator than ROI?
BB/100 is a great indicator for cash games in poker, yet it’s terrible for tournaments. ROI doesn’t tell you much about your skills and edge in cash games, as it doesn’t factor in the time and amount of hands you’ve played. In tournaments on the other hand, you’re tracking the average profit per each tournament played - hence ROI is useful for tournaments but not cash games.
What is all-in adj bb/100?
All-in adj bb/100 means the win-rate of all-in adjusted big blinds per 100 hands. It’s more useful for short-term samples than the bb/100, as it removes the effect of luck in all-in situations for calculating your win-rate.
Author
Johannes Turunen
Johannes is the Editor in Chief at Beasts Of Poker and is an expert in both live & online poker. Johannes played online poker semi-professionally for 5 years while completing his Master’s Degree in Technology.
