Learn Texas Holdem

Question: Hello,

Thanks again for all your help.

My question is: I always see that 3BB per hour is a good average, but is this regarding limit holdem or NL? I play all NL, typically .25/.50 and jump in .50/1.00. My hour rate has been averaging around $13.00-$15.00 per hour. I'd like to here what you think.

Thanks again,

Matt

Answer: Most of the people who promote the idea of hourly rates would consider 1BB per hour to be a solid rate. Three big bets per hour would be really high. That may be possible at lower limits where the players are very inexperienced, but at upper limits it wouldn't be reasonable. A couple months ago there was another question regarding hourly rates and I wrote basically that I'm not a big proponent of them. There are so many factors that play into how your table and day goes that it is hard to average it out in any useful way.

For me, poker isn't just clocking in and clocking out. There are crappy tight games and there are loose crazy games. There are days when I feel good and alert and days when I'm just off on my reads. As for your situation, I think it is reasonable to make that much even at such a small limit because the players are making such huge errors. As your edge goes down, the advantage you have over the other players, the amount of money you make also does.