Ecology Report | Ecology Report

Section 01

How Many Players Actually Win?

Profitability — what percentage of the field actually turns a profit?

Win rates range from 19% to 39% depending on the platform.

At NL200, the share of profitable players ranges from 19% (GG Poker) to 39% (WPT Global). Straddle-format platforms show consistently higher winner rates:

Global 39% · Gold 35% — straddle formats, high recreational volume
Coin 34% · ACR 33% — mixed fields
Stars 27% · GG 19% — reg-heavy fields, higher rake

The divergence is driven by field composition. Platforms with more recreational volume generate a larger pool of money flowing from losing to winning players.

WPT Global

39%

WPT Gold

35%

Coin Poker

34%

ACR

33%

PokerStars

27%

GG Poker

19%

WPT Global

49%

43%

8%

WPT Gold

52%

37%

11%

ACR

48%

44%

8%

Coin Poker

37%

57%

6%

PokerStars

67%

24%

9%

GG Poker

32%

58%

10%

BB/100 by percentile bucket at NL200. Wider spread = softer games.

Bottom 20% 20-40th 40-60th 60-80th Top 20%

Spread

WPT Global

-70

-27

-9

8

+28

98

WPT Gold

-66

-27

-10

4

+19

86

PokerStars

-67

-32

-15

0

+6

74

Coin Poker

-53

-17

-5

1

+13

65

ACR

-54

-21

-6

1

+11

64

GG Poker

-59

-28

-15

-4

+4

62

Spread = gap between bottom 20% and top 20% winrate in BB/100.

Winners vs Losers: Winners = positive BB/100 over sample period. Losers = negative BB/100. Unclassified = fewer than 500 hands, insufficient sample for classification.

Winrate Distribution: BB/100 by percentile bucket. Wider spread indicates more variance in player skill and more recreational money in the ecosystem. All values are net of rake.

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Section 02

The Winrate Ceiling

Skill Edge — how much can the best players actually win?

On straddle-format platforms, Experts (top 20%) remain profitable. On standard-format platforms, only End Bosses (top 5%) consistently profit.

At NL200, an Expert-level player (top 20%) earns +28.2 BB/100 on Global but 3.8 BB/100 on GG. The breakeven threshold varies significantly:

Gold & Global — Grinder-level players profitable
ACR & Coin — Grinder-level breaks even
Stars — Grinder-level needed
GG — Grinder-level needed

End Boss (top 5%) winrates range from +23.6 BB/100 (Stars) to +77.0 BB/100 (Global). Even at peak skill, platform selection affects earnings by 3x.

WPT Global

+28.2

WPT Gold

+19.2

Coin Poker

+12.8

ACR

+10.6

PokerStars

+6.4

GG Poker

+3.8

WPT Global

+77.0

WPT Gold

+48.6

Coin Poker

+30.6

ACR

+30.3

GG Poker

+26.9

PokerStars

+23.6

The format gap: At NL200, the Expert ceiling ranges from 3.8 BB/100 (GG) to +28.2 BB/100 (Global).

Minimum rank to break even at NL200:

WPT Global

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

WPT Gold

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

ACR

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

Coin Poker

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

PokerStars

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

GG Poker

Grinder-level players profit

Grinder

Full skill breakdown — BB/100 at NL200:

Skill Level	WPT Gold	WPT Global	ACR	Coin Poker	PokerStars	GG Poker
Master	+9.2	+8.6	+7.1	+6.8	+6.5	+4.8
Expert	+6.8	+6.2	+4.8	+4.5	+4.2	+3.0
Analyst	+4.6	+4.1	+2.8	+2.4	+2.1	+1.2
Grinder	+2.8	+2.4	+1.1	+0.4	+0.2	-0.8
Learner	-0.2	-0.6	-1.8	-2.0	-2.4	-3.1
Newcomer	-3.4	-3.8	-5.1	-5.4	-5.8	-6.2

Expert (top 20%): 80th percentile winrate among 500+ hand players. End Boss (top 5%): 95th percentile — elite. All values net of rake.

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Section 03

Where Should You Play?

The Full Picture — combining profitability, skill ceilings, and field composition.

Each platform has trade-offs. Softer fields come with higher-action formats that also increase variance.

Action Rating

How loose and volatile are the games?

PlatformVPIPPOTMULTI

1

WPT Global

34% 58.3 45%

2

WPT Gold

31% 54.1 37%

3

GG Poker

29% 18.9 17%

4

PokerStars

28% 19.9 14%

5

Coin Poker

27% 25.3 13%

6

ACR

27% 14.4 12%

Difficulty

What's the mix of winners and recreational players?

PlatformWinnerRec Vol

1

WPT Global

39% 43% Soft

2

WPT Gold

35% 37% Soft

3

Coin Poker

34% 57% Soft

4

ACR

33% 44% Soft

5

PokerStars

27% 24% Soft

6

GG Poker

19% 58% Mixed

Ceiling

What's the upside for skilled players?

PlatformExpert

1

WPT Global

+7.6 Grinder

2

WPT Gold

+4.4 Grinder

3

Coin Poker

+1.2 Grinder

4

ACR

+0.7 Grinder

5

PokerStars

+0.2 Grinder

6

GG Poker

-3.6 Grinder

Platform	W / L	Avg Pot	VPIP	% Postflop	% Multiway
WPT Global Straddle	39%61%	58.3 BB	34%	-	45%
WPT Gold Straddle	35%65%	54.1 BB	31%	-	37%
ACR	33%67%	14.4 BB	27%	-	12%
Coin Poker	34%66%	25.3 BB	27%	-	13%
PokerStars	27%73%	19.9 BB	28%	-	14%
GG Poker	19%81%	18.9 BB	29%	-	17%

Field — rates the difficulty of the player pool based on winner/loser ratio and field diversity. Soft = high % recreational players. Mixed = balanced field. Tough = reg-heavy.

Ceiling — based on the Expert (top 20%) winrate and minimum skill tier needed to break even.

Action — combines VPIP, average pot size, and multiway frequency into an overall looseness rating.

Section 04

Data Deep Dive

Full transparency on methodology, sample sizes, and inclusion criteria. Every metric in this report is derived from the data below.

Stake	Players	Hands	Date Range	Platforms
NL100	71K	757M	2024–2026
NL200	56K	624M	2024–2026
NL500	20K	235M	2024–2026
NL1K	17K	160M	2024–2026
NL2K	2.5K	15M	2024–2026
NL5K+	3.0K	26M	2024–2026
Total	862K	1817M	2024–2026	6

NL2K+ excludes Gold and Global where these stakes are not regularly spread.

Metric	Definition	Used in
VPIP	Percentage of hands where the player voluntarily put money in the pot preflop	Section 1
Winners vs Losers	Percentage of sampled players with positive BB/100 after rake over 5K+ hands	Section 1 Section 3
Avg Pot Size	Mean pot in big blinds at showdown or last action point	Section 1
% Hands Postflop	Percentage of dealt hands that reach the flop — higher values indicate more action and recreational play	Section 1
% Pots Multiway	Percentage of flops seen by 3 or more players — higher values correlate with weaker fields	Section 1
Winrate Ceiling	BB/100 of the Nth percentile player after rake — Expert (80th) and End Boss (95th)	Section 2
Breakeven Rank	Minimum QuintAce skill tier needed to achieve positive BB/100 after rake on a given platform	Section 2
Field Win %	Percentage of the total player pool that is net profitable after rake at a given stake	Section 3
Winrate Distribution	BB/100 values at each 20th percentile bucket — shows how wide or narrow the skill/profit gap is	Section 1

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Gold	7.5K	50M	33%	43%	58.6	34%	10.93
WPT Global	15K	109M	35%	49%	59.5	36%	10.40
ACR / WPN	6.0K	80M	28%	13%	14.9	28%	7.55
Coin Poker	2.6K	28M	26%	14%	25.4	34%	7.83
PokerStars	11K	175M	29%	15%	19.9	25%	7.71
GG Poker	29K	315M	29%	18%	18.9	18%	11.87

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Gold	4.2K	31M	31%	37%	54.1	35%	8.40
WPT Global	22K	185M	34%	45%	58.3	39%	6.64
ACR / WPN	4.4K	60M	27%	12%	14.4	33%	5.67
Coin Poker	2.0K	25M	27%	13%	25.3	34%	6.33
PokerStars	6.8K	114M	28%	14%	19.9	27%	5.98
GG Poker	17K	209M	29%	17%	18.9	19%	10.71

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Gold	1.8K	14M	30%	32%	50.3	38%	6.28
WPT Global	3.1K	30M	32%	36%	44.4	33%	6.66
ACR / WPN	2.5K	29M	28%	11%	14.5	40%	4.01
Coin Poker	1.0K	11M	29%	13%	27.0	41%	3.68
PokerStars	2.3K	36M	27%	11%	19.5	38%	3.50
GG Poker	8.8K	116M	27%	13%	18.5	22%	8.59

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Gold	932	5M	30%	27%	47.9	39%	5.14
WPT Global	1.7K	10M	33%	35%	44.6	32%	8.85
ACR / WPN	3.8K	38M	27%	9%	15.2	38%	2.52
Coin Poker	650	3M	29%	15%	27.4	45%	4.49
PokerStars	1.4K	12M	27%	10%	20.2	44%	2.07
GG Poker	8.4K	91M	27%	11%	19.7	22%	7.53

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Global	288	1M	37%	28%	40.9	39%	8.06
ACR / WPN	1.1K	8M	28%	8%	15.3	48%	1.14
Coin Poker	339	1M	29%	16%	27.5	48%	3.60
PokerStars	576	3M	28%	10%	20.4	52%	1.16
GG Poker	208	530.2K	27%	12%	21.2	45%	6.95

Platform	Players	Hands	VPIP	Multiway%	Avg Pot	Win%	Rake bb/100
WPT Gold	18	35.2K	39%	14%	21.2	44%	1.78
WPT Global	76	264.6K	42%	30%	45.8	50%	8.89
ACR / WPN	917	8M	28%	8%	15.4	45%	0.57
Coin Poker	203	1M	31%	12%	25.1	45%	1.40
PokerStars	258	939.7K	29%	9%	21.1	54%	0.47
GG Poker	1.5K	15M	27%	10%	19.5	33%	3.68

Only 4 platforms included. Gold and Global do not regularly spread NL2K+ cash games.

Data provenance:

Hand histories aggregated from HH tracking databases and platform APIs. Cross-validated with independent third-party tracking tools where available.

Anonymization:

All player identities are fully anonymized. No screen names or personally identifiable information appear in the dataset.

Rake methodology:

Rake calculated from actual hand-level data, not published rake schedules — accounting for rake caps, promotions, and rakeback.

Survivorship bias:

High-stakes samples subject to survivorship bias — losing players at NL2K+ quit faster, skewing the remaining pool toward stronger players.

Platform comparisons:

WPT Gold and Global run straddle/ante formats that structurally inflate VPIP and pot sizes. Direct VPIP comparisons should account for format differences.

Temporal weighting:

More recent data (2024-2026) is weighted slightly higher to reflect current ecology conditions.

Skill mapping:

QuintAce ranks mapped using a composite algorithm: VPIP/PFR/3-bet profiling, positional awareness, aggression frequency, and showdown performance. Calibrated against known solver-optimal play.

Full analysis:

Raw data tables and extended methodology available on Confluence — Ecology Analysis workspace.

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