VPIP and PFR: What a Player's Two Basic Stats Tell You
VPIP (Voluntarily Put money In Pot) is the share of hands where a player puts money in before the flop by choice; PFR (Pre-Flop Raise) is the share where they raise. A 25/20 player enters 25 hands out of 100 and raises 20 of them: they mostly play by raising. A 40/8 player calls a lot and raises little. Both numbers also translate into ranges: playing 222 combos out of 1,326 is playing 16.7% of hands.
Q♣5♦ in the big blind, heads-up
Heads-up at 100bb, the button opens to 3bb and you are in the big blind with Q♣5♦. Fold, call or 3‑bet to 11bb?
See the answer
Calling costs 2bb for a final pot of 6bb: it needs 33.3% equity. A 3‑bet to 11bb adds 10bb and, as a pure bluff, has to make the button fold 71.4% of the time. The author's baseline answer is the call; the author's answers by the button's profile, with the stats profile that usually goes with it:
| Button's profile | VPIP and PFR, usually | Author's answer |
|---|---|---|
| Tight regular | low VPIP, PFR close to VPIP | fold |
| Loose passive | high VPIP, low PFR | call |
| Loose aggressive | high VPIP, high PFR | 3‑bet to 11bb |
| Calling station | very high VPIP, very low PFR | call |
Turning a range into a VPIP
| Opening range | Combos | Share of hands |
|---|---|---|
| 22+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KJo+ | 222 | 16.7% |
| the same + 54s to T9s | 246 | 18.6% |
Out of 1,326 starting hands, a pair has 6 combos, a suited hand 4 and an offsuit hand 12. A real VPIP also depends on position and on the hands called, not only on the opening range.
Keep going
- Counting a range in combos: poker range.
- The full count of starting hands: poker combinatorics.
- Adapting to the opponent's profile: exploitative poker.
- Why ranges change with the seat: poker positions.
- Preflop with two players: heads-up preflop.
- One spot every day: the daily poker puzzle.
Sources
- Every combo is counted from the 52 cards, and every price computed with the app's pot odds module, checked on October 11, 2026.
- The answers by profile are the app author's, as they appear in the spot; they do not come from a solver. The "VPIP and PFR, usually" column describes the usual definition of each profile, not a measurement.