Knowing how many hands per hour you have is crucial when setting up sessions and calculating your hourly rate. Here’s what I discovered after diving into the statistics and doing some investigation.

In poker, how many hands do you play per hour? At a 6-max table, you’ll play about 75 hands per hour, while at a 9-max table, you’ll play about 62 hands per hour. In fast-fold online games such as Zoom, Zone or Snap, you’ll play between 200 and 250 hands per hour. For live poker, players play an average of 25 hands per hour.

These numbers, of course, change depending on where you play. Let’s take a look at the variables that can affect your number of hands per hour.

In soft games, there are fewer hands per hour

Hands per hour tend to decrease as VPIP increases. For comparison, let’s compare Bovada/Ignition with Winning Poker Network (WPN). I played hundreds of thousands of hands on both networks and compared the results in my database.

On Bovada and Ignition, I average 68 hands played per hour in 6-max games. On ESL, I play 77 hands per hour each. In 9-max games, the numbers are 55 and 62, respectively.

What’s the deal with this discrepancy?
It’s because the VPIP on Bovada and Ignition is much higher. This means that it is logical. Games will obviously play slower if more people are huddling and seeing flops. I don’t play live, but I assume that 5/10 players get more hands per hour than 1/2 players.

On each side, how many hands per hour do you get?
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 data is as follows:

The number of hands in each hour is different from the number of hands played in an hour

If you search the internet, you will find even higher numbers than the ones I list here. This is because they refer to hands per hour when you are actually dealt.

When dealt, the raw hands per hour for 6-max and 75 for 9-max are about 90 and 75, respectively. The lower numbers, on the other hand, are more practical unless you plan to stick to one table and play for hours.

They overlook the fact that you are not always dealt a hand when you sit at a table. The time players spend getting on and off the table, as well as sitting and waiting for the big blind, is not counted in the number of hands per hour. Therefore, when calculating your hourly win ratio, you should use the actual hands played every hour.

Fast-Fold (Zoom/Zone) Poker Hands Per Hour

The popularity of fast-fold poker has increased dramatically in recent years as a result of the increasing number of hands available per hour. You no longer have to sit and wait for a hand to finish after folding. With the push of a button, you move on to the next hand.

At each table, this allows participants to play between 200 and 300 hands per hour.

This means that a player can use less desk space and concentrate on only one or two tables at a time, still playing a significant number of hands per hour.

Disadvantages of Fast-Fold poker

The game of Fast-Fold poker is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it requires a completely different approach than playing at a standard table. Maximizing hands per hour can be an important factor in deciding how to play.

Fast-fold poker does not appeal to me because of strategic differences or the pace at which it is played. Rather, I believe the game is not even close to being poker.

The essence of poker is watching your opponents and then modifying your strategy depending on what they do. Fast-fold poker eliminates this by putting you in a different mix of opponents with each hand. So much for using the flow factors of the game.

Related questions

In poker, how can I calculate my hourly rate? Divide your total profit by the number of hours you played to get your hourly rate.

What is a reasonable hourly rate in poker? What constitutes a fair hourly rate in poker will vary depending on the player and his goals. It will also be determined by the stakes at stake. Instead of focusing on the hourly rate, it is better to focus on the win rate. Multi-tablers should expect to win 2-4 big blinds per 100 hands, while single-tablers can expect to win between 4 and 10 big blinds per 100 hands. Live players, on the other hand, will often have a much higher win rate due to the excessive softness of some live games.

In a tournament poker game, how many hands are dealt per hour? Since there is no table selection in tournaments, the number of hands dealt each hour will be higher than in cash games. 6-max players can expect to play 90 hands per hour online, while 9-max players should expect to play 75 hands per hour. As the game has evolved into a push-fold, hands tend to play faster as the blinds increase. Players in live tournaments typically play 30 hands per hour.