VPIP
Voluntarily Put money In Pot — the share of hands a player pays to enter. The first number on a HUD, and the fastest read on how loose someone is.
Two players sit down with you. One plays fourteen hands out of a hundred; the other plays fifty-two. You have not seen a single showdown yet, and you already know almost everything that matters about how to play against them. That number is VPIP: the percentage of hands a player voluntarily puts money into the pot with — limping, calling, raising, three-betting, anything that is a choice.
The word voluntarily is doing real work. Posting the big blind is not VPIP; nor is checking your option in the big blind when nobody raised. The stat only counts hands where the player decided to put chips in. That is why it maps so cleanly onto range width: someone with a 50% VPIP is playing five hands in ten, which means most of what they hold is worse than what you would open with under the gun.
Rough bands for six-handed play: under 15% is a nit, 20–28% is where solid regulars live, and anything past 35% is a player paying to see flops. Full-ring numbers run five or six points lower, because there are more seats to get through. Live cash games run far higher than online ones — a 45% VPIP in a Friday night game is normal, not remarkable.
The mistake is reading VPIP alone. It tells you how many hands someone plays and nothing about how they play them, and those are different problems: a 40% VPIP that raises is dangerous, a 40% VPIP that calls is a paycheque. Read it next to PFR, and the gap between the two numbers tells you which one you are sitting with.
FAQ
What is a good VPIP in poker?
For six-handed cash games, roughly 20–28%. Tighter than 15% and you are folding away too many playable hands; looser than 35% and you are paying to see flops with holdings that cannot win the pot. Full-ring play sits five or six points lower, and live games run much higher.
What does VPIP mean?
Voluntarily Put money In Pot. It is the percentage of hands where a player chose to put chips in before the flop — by limping, calling or raising. Blinds you were forced to post do not count, and neither does checking your option in the big blind.
What is the difference between VPIP and PFR?
VPIP counts every hand a player pays to enter; PFR counts only the ones they raise. PFR can never be higher than VPIP, and the gap between them measures passivity — a small gap means an aggressive player, a wide gap means a caller.