Ask any home-game regular how they’re doing and you’ll hear “about even”. Ask them to prove it and most can’t. Tracking your results takes a minute after each game, and it replaces a hazy feeling with numbers you can actually trust, as long as you know which numbers to keep and how to read them.
What to record after each game
- The date, and where or with whom you played.
- The stakes and the currency.
- Everything you put in: buy-in, rebuys and add-ons.
- What you cashed out.
- How long you actually played.
That’s enough to work out every number below. If your game uses Tally Poker, this record is created for you when the host closes the game, using the buy-ins you approved and the time you were seated.
The numbers worth keeping
| Metric | How it’s worked out |
|---|---|
| Net result | Total cashed out minus total put in, across all games |
| Win rate | Winning sessions divided by winning plus losing sessions; break-even nights shown apart |
| Average per game | Net result divided by games played |
| Hourly rate | Net result divided by hours actually played |
| Biggest win and loss | Your best and worst single sessions |
| Current streak | Consecutive winning or losing sessions, ending with the latest |
| Rebuy frequency | Games where you rebought at least once, divided by games played |
Fourteen games, worked through
Here are one player’s last fourteen home games, in US dollars, oldest first:
+$55.00, −$40.00, +$120.00, −$95.00, +$30.00, +$85.00, −$20.00, +$15.00, −$60.00, +$145.00, −$35.00, −$10.00, +$40.00, +$80.00
- Net result: +$310.00.
- Win rate: 8 winning and 6 losing sessions, so 8 ÷ 14 = 57%.
- Average per game: +$310.00 ÷ 14 = +$22.14.
- Hourly rate: 52.5 hours played, so +$310.00 ÷ 52.5 = +$5.90 an hour.
- Biggest win and loss: +$145.00 and −$95.00.
- Current streak: won the last two.
Notice that a single night, the +$145.00 win, is almost half of the total. Take it away and the same player is up only +$165.00 over thirteen games. That’s normal in poker, and it’s exactly why the next section matters.
How many games before it means anything
Poker results swing. One big pot can be worth more than a month of small wins, so a handful of sessions tells you very little about how well you play. A player can be losing over fifty games and still be the best at the table, or winning over fifty and lucky.
- Under 10 games: an anecdote. Enjoy it, don’t conclude anything.
- 10 to 30 games: early hints, still easily overturned by one big night.
- 50 or more games, or 200 or more hours: trends start to mean something.
Tally Poker marks any pattern built on fewer than three games as a small sample rather than drawing a trend from it, and shows how many games each figure is based on, so you can judge for yourself.
One total per currency
If you play in more than one currency, keep separate totals. Adding ¥12,000 to $180 gives a meaningless number, and converting at today’s exchange rate rewrites history every time the rate moves. A result in each currency, side by side, is honest. If you ever need a single figure, convert each game at the rate on the day it was played and say so.
Keeping the record honest
- Record every session, especially the losing ones. People skip bad nights far more often than good ones.
- Separate poker from everything else. A loan to a friend, money paid outside the game or a share of missing chips changes what you owe, not how you played.
- Use the time you were seated for hourly rate, not the length of the evening.
- Write it down the same night, before the details blur.
The easiest way to get all of this right is to record the game as it happens. Start from recording every buy-in, and the results take care of themselves.
Settle your own tableEnter buy-ins and cash-outs and get the fewest payments, in any currency.
Open the calculatorQuestions
- What is a good win rate in home poker?
- Win rate here means the share of sessions you finish ahead, ignoring break-even nights. Anything above half means you win more sessions than you lose, but it says nothing about how much; a few big losses can outweigh many small wins, so read it alongside your net result.
- How do I calculate my hourly rate?
- Divide your net result by the hours you actually played. Use the time you were seated, not the length of the whole night, or late arrivals and early departures will distort it.
- Should I count loans and missing chips in my results?
- Keep them apart. Your poker result is cash-out minus buy-ins. Loans between players, money paid outside the game and adjustments for missing chips change what you owe, not how well you played.
- How many sessions do I need before my results are reliable?
- Far more than most people expect. Ten games barely tell you anything, and even fifty can be swamped by a few big nights. Track everything, and treat early trends as a hint rather than a verdict.
Hosting soon? Start a game in Tally Poker and let each player approve their own buy-ins.
