Origin Of The "winning Players" Statistic

[hblask 1]

I see the following statement here frequently, reported as a known fact:"Only 5% of all players will ever be winning players."Where is this from? How does anyone know this? Has this been verified?It just seems too low to me, since I became a (marginally) winning player after only 30,000 hands or so (it took a bit more than that to get back to even from those 1st 30,000, but that's a fair estimate of when I went from -EV to +EV). And I'm not particularly gifted at the game, I just like playing it and read a few books. Do 95% of players never even read a book? Or do people just give up too soon?

[Dogpatch 2]

87% of statistics are made up.

[handsfactor 0]

87% of statistics are made up.

63% of the people in the world know thatFOCUS:I think the quote is only 5% of the people who play are capable of making a living by playing the game. I don't know how much truth there is to it, but I believe that's what the quote your thinking of is

[AngloBoy 0]

I see the following statement here frequently, reported as a known fact:"Only 5% of all players will ever be winning players." Do 95% of players never even read a book? Or do people just give up too soon?

It's quite simple, 98% of people are idiots. But 3% of them are insanely lucky, 2% are good players giving you the 5% winners.

[Jeepster80125 0]

87% of statistics are made up.

36% of the people here know where that quote came from.

[ReraiseAllIn 0]

80% of the time, it works every time.

[Dogpatch 2]

80% of the time, it works every time.

What, the "Captain Tom" move?

[mentallyretardedpear 0]

What, the "Captain Tom" move?

nh sir nh....

[No_Neck 0]

63% of the people in the world know thatFOCUS:I think the quote is only 5% of the people who play are capable of making a living by playing the game. I don't know how much truth there is to it, but I believe that's what the quote your thinking of is

I would say 5% is pretty high.... but then again so am I.(That rhymes and you know it does Marge.) God I crack myself up.

[UncleHoot 0]

I see the following statement here frequently, reported as a known fact:"Only 5% of all players will ever be winning players."Where is this from? How does anyone know this? Has this been verified?It just seems too low to me, since I became a (marginally) winning player after only 30,000 hands or so (it took a bit more than that to get back to even from those 1st 30,000, but that's a fair estimate of when I went from -EV to +EV). And I'm not particularly gifted at the game, I just like playing it and read a few books. Do 95% of players never even read a book? Or do people just give up too soon?

According to SharkScope's FAQ (SharkScope only tracks SnG's), about 1/3 of the players are winning players. If I may be so bold, I would figure that 1/3 are losing players, and the other 1/3 are probably only losing due to the rake/fees. Did I ever mention the guy I saw with the -54% (that's negative) ROI with over 3,000 games played?

[hblask 1]

Did I ever mention the guy I saw with the -54% (that's negative) ROI with over 3,000 games played?

What level was that at? I hope not $50 and $100s.

[Royal27 0]

According to SharkScope's FAQ (SharkScope only tracks SnG's), about 1/3 of the players are winning players. If I may be so bold, I would figure that 1/3 are losing players, and the other 1/3 are probably only losing due to the rake/fees. Did I ever mention the guy I saw with the -54% (that's negative) ROI with over 3,000 games played?

Yikes!

[NoSup4U 0]

I would have assumed this had been answered by now. This stat came from one of the online poker sites (Party I think?) having it leaked that only 7% of the players on their site make money. There might be other sources, or people might say whatever, but thats the only actual data I've ever heard. Obviously the poker sites don't want this information out there because it shows how much of a losing proposition poker is for most people, so its not like they will ever confirm/deny this.Mark

[UncleHoot 0]

What level was that at? I hope not $50 and $100s.

Low stakes. I wish I could remember his username. I've seen others close, though, with around 1,000 games and ROI's near -50%. "Play Keno, the odds are better." I've also looked up a few high-stakes players with ROI's around -30%, but since I don't play high-stakes myself, it's only out of curiousity...Just a funny aside... I once had a player at my table who pushed (or bet huge) on every pocket pair preflop. He couldn't believe how often someone else had a bigger pocket pair. He was convinced that "something was up." I thought that perhaps, just maybe, pushing pocket 6's UTG wasn't a good move at a table nearly full.

[TylerSalzman 0]

Avg profit Avg Stake ROI ProfitH@££INGGOL 344 -$209 $3,132 0% -$72,003 - PokerStars

[GWCGWC 83]

It's a good thing my cash games can feed my MTT habit. immaMTTandSNGdonkerasuasuerus...us