PFR in Poker: Preflop Raise Percentage, and What Yours Should Be
Of the two numbers at the top of every tracker, PFR is the one that separates players. VPIP says how many hands you played. PFR says whether you played them like someone who wanted the pot.
What PFR counts
PFR is your Preflop Raise percentage: how often you raised before the flop, out of every hand dealt to you. Opening the pot, re-raising someone who opened, jamming over a 3-bet. All raises, all counted.
What doesn't count is just as useful to know. Calling a raise puts money in the pot, so it lifts your VPIP, but you didn't raise and your PFR stays where it was. Limping in is the same. So is checking your option in the big blind.
That's the whole definition. The interesting part is what your number does next to your VPIP.
PFR and VPIP are one reading, not two
Every raise is also money in the pot, so every hand in your PFR is already counted in your VPIP. PFR can never be the larger number. If your tracker says otherwise, your import went wrong.
Subtract one from the other and you get the hands you entered by calling.
| VPIP | PFR | Calling range | The player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 20 | 2 | Raises or folds, almost nothing between |
| 25 | 20 | 5 | A typical winning shape |
| 27 | 17 | 10 | Calling too much, usually out of position |
| 45 | 9 | 36 | Paying to see flops |
The tighter that gap, the better most players do. Calling has one way to win: hold the best hand at the end. Raising has two, because the whole table might fold. Give up the second one often enough and it shows in your results long before it shows in your memory of the session.
What a good number looks like
| Table | Winning PFR | Alongside a VPIP of |
|---|---|---|
| Six-handed cash | 18 to 22 | 22 to 26 |
| Full ring, nine seats | 12 to 17 | 15 to 20 |
| Heads-up | 55 to 75 | 65 to 85 |
Full ring runs lower for an obvious reason. With nine players, four of them yet to act behind you, the hands that can profitably open get scarcer. Raise the same range you'd open six-handed and you're walking into better hands all night.
The number that matters more: PFR by seat
A single PFR figure hides the thing worth knowing. Split it by seat. Every tracker does this, and almost nobody looks.
Here's roughly the shape a winning player's breakdown has at a six-handed table.
| Seat | PFR |
|---|---|
| Under the gun | 14 to 17 |
| Hijack | 17 to 20 |
| Cutoff | 24 to 28 |
| Button | 40 to 48 |
| Small blind | 30 to 40 |
Look at the spread. The button raises roughly three times as often as the first seat, and that isn't a preference. It's what acting last is worth. On the button only two players can still be behind you, and after the flop you see what everyone does before you decide.
Two shapes to look for in your own breakdown:
- A flat line across the seats. You're playing the same way wherever you sit, which means you're too loose early, too tight late, or both. Most common in players who learned from a single chart and applied it everywhere.
- A small blind figure below 25. That seat should be raising often, because calling from it is the most expensive routine habit in the game. Our guide on rake and 3-bet-or-fold explains why the call goes first.
When your PFR is too low
This is the common one, and it usually isn't a decision anyone made. It builds up from small habits.
- Limping. Every limp is a hand you played without raising. A few an hour is enough to drag the number down and hand the initiative away every time.
- Cold-calling opens. Someone raises, you call with a hand that's decent but not great, you play a pot out of position without the lead. This is the single biggest contributor to a wide VPIP-to-PFR gap.
- Folding the button too often. The seat is worth more than any other, and a button PFR under 35 means you're leaving that on the table.
- Flat-calling from the small blind. You act first for the rest of the hand and the big blind gets a cheap look behind you.
When it's too high
Less common, more dramatic. Above roughly 30 at a six-handed table, you've run out of hands that do well when someone calls. You'll get re-raised more often, and you'll be holding the weaker side of it.
The players who make a high PFR work are strong after the flop, because that's where those extra hands live or die. If you're raising 35 percent and your win rate is negative, the raising isn't the problem by itself. It's the streets that come after.
What to do with the number
Open your tracker and write down three figures: your VPIP, your PFR, and the gap. Then pull the breakdown by seat.
If the gap is under five and the seat spread climbs steadily toward the button, your preflop game is in reasonable shape, and your money is being lost somewhere later. If the gap is wide or the line is flat, you've found something worth a week.
For the hands themselves, the preflop charts give an opening range per seat. For the other half of the reading, start with VPIP.
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Frequently asked questions
What does PFR stand for?
Preflop Raise. It's the percentage of hands where you made a raise before the flop, out of every hand you were dealt. Raising, re-raising and 3-betting all count. Calling a raise doesn't, and neither does limping.
What is a good PFR?
Around 18 to 22 percent at a six-handed cash table, and roughly 12 to 17 at a full nine-handed table. What matters more than the number is how close it sits to your VPIP. Winning players keep the two within about five points of each other.
Can PFR be higher than VPIP?
No, and if your tracker shows that, something is wrong with the import. Every raise is money in the pot voluntarily, so every raise counts toward both stats. PFR is a subset of VPIP and can at most equal it.
What does it mean if my PFR is much lower than my VPIP?
You're calling a lot. The space between the two numbers is exactly the hands you entered by calling rather than raising, and it's where most losing players lose. A gap above ten points is worth a session of attention on its own.
Should my PFR be the same from every seat?
Definitely not, and if it is, that's the leak. Your PFR from the button should be more than double your PFR from under the gun. Acting last is worth real money, so you can profitably raise far more hands from late seats.
Is a very high PFR good?
Up to a point. Above about 30 at a six-handed table you're opening hands that struggle even when nobody plays back, and you'll face more re-raises than the hands can handle. The players who profit from a high PFR are good after the flop, which is where those hands get decided.
How is PFR different from 3-bet percentage?
PFR counts every preflop raise you make, including the first one. 3-bet percentage counts only the times you re-raised someone else's raise. A 3-bet is one kind of preflop raise, so it's included in your PFR and measured separately as well.