VPIP – This stat is very useful in determining how loose or tight a player is. The looser the player, the hgher the VPIP as they will be entering more pots voluntarily. Since this stat is affected by every hand dealt, and most players do not vary their playing style very much, VPIP is a stat which converges rather quickly, bet I still don’t put too much into it before 100 hands unless it is real extreme. A player with an extreme VPIP of 90% or 5% for instance, tends to illustrate the broad type of player they are relatively faster because you can already get a good feeling for what type of player they are in regards to their loosness/tightness. Most tight-aggressive (TAG) players will not VPIP 40 of their first 50 hands no matter how hot they are running. Be careful here though! The threshold of error margin is much smaller on the tight side of the spectrum. Imagine a 15% margin of error for both a 5% and a 90% VPIPer. If you compare a 75% VPIP to a 90% VPIP, the ranges (at least when trying to hand read) will still be so broad that this player will always be classified as loose. Conversely, comparing a 5% VPIP to a 20% VPIP will yeild a very large difference in player type (tightness).

Ranges for VPIP are going to vary for player types, but a reasonable range (for a good, tight player) will be 17%-22% for Full-Ring (FR) games and 23% - 30% for 6-max games. The shorter the game, the higher your VPIP should be. People who play heads-up games will have a VPIP range of 60%-85% since they are always playing against a single opponent and nearly every hand is also raised pre-flop. Players who are just starting to play limit online (vs live play), or players who stopped playing limit before the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will notice a big difference in the game play especially at the micro and small-stake limits. Compared to live and pre-UIGEA games, current limit games play much tighter. How does this affect your VPIP? There are now less spots to open-limp small pocket pairs, or over limp various suited hands which were profitable in large multi-way pots. As an example, my pre-UIGEA FR VPIP was ~22%, but post-UIGEA VPIP has dropped to around 20%.

VPIP is a great number to use for putting your opponents on a starting hand range, but remember that VPIP alone will not give you a complete picture which is why you will see VPIP paired with PFR, and often AF to describe a player from a statistical point of view.

For your opponents, which you will see all kinds, the breakdowns of player types will differ between FR and 6max (or shorter) greatly. Here is a small break down of various ranges to help you understand what your opponents are typically playing

VPIP 5% (5.6%) is represented nearly by 88+,ATs+,KQs,AKo
VPIP 10% (10.3%) : 77+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,AJo+
VPIP 15% (15.1%) : 77+,A7s+,K9s+,QTs+,JTs,ATo+,KTo+,QJo
VPIP 20% (20.4%) : 66+,A4s+,K7s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo
VPIP 25% (25.2%) : 66+,A2s+,K6s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,A7o+,K9o+,QTo+,JTo
VPIP 35% (35.3%) :55+,A2s+,K3s+,Q5s+,J7s+,T7s+,97s+,87s,A4o+,K8o+,
Q9o+,J9o+,T9o
VPIP 50% (50.7%) : 33+,A2s+,K2s+,Q2s+,J4s+,T6s+,96s+,86s+,76s,65s,A2o +,K5o+,
Q7o+,J7o+,T7o+,98o
VPIP 75% (75.9%) : 22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q2s+,J2s+,T2s+,92s+,83s+,73s+,63s+,5 2s+,43s,
A2o+,K2o+,Q2o+,J4o+,T6o+,96o+,86o+,75o+,65o