interested in seeing the actual benefits of position tailored play , where the late positions have the strategic edge, I examined a number of Poker Stars hand histories from late 2008. Comparing $0.25/$0.50 blind no limit to $3/$6 no limit games, the latter expected to show more intelligent play.
Starting at the bottom line: This real world Texas Hold’em history data reveals that the biggest winning table position in terms of the number of wins and moneys collected is, by a mile is the big blind. But the most important statistic, the Return On Investment is actually a loosing proposition for the Big Blind.
Percentage of wins or pots collected without shootout, by table position
The first graph above, showing the relative number of wins vs table position, for tables of 3 to 9 players, is an indicator of the more aggressive play being forced to bet on all hands up front (the blinds) causes.
ROI (Purple), Wins and $ collected vs Table Position. $3/$6 nl game
While the graphs showing the way bigger activity of the blinds positions, are academically interesting. The important numbers are shown here in the Return On Investment graph (in Purple). Notice only the Big Blind is a clear money loser returning $0.88 per $1 invested. The other green shaded bars show the relative amount collected by the table positions, though not all representing a profit. The dark green bars are winning in the showdown, while the light green bars are pots collected after opponent fold outs.
Wins and $ Collected vs Table Position $0.25/$0.50 nl game
This graph shows the relativ number of hands won (blue and red) and the dollar amount won or collected. The overall average pot size is $6.16, the average pot won at the big blind position is $4.40.
Wins by table position, 5 player table $3-$6 blinds
This graph is similar to the previous one but for a higher $3/$6 blinds game. Oops reversed the Red and Blue legends. It does appear fewer hands reach the showdown in the higher stakes game.
Another indication of the different play style in the blind positions, this graph shows the ranking of hole cards that shown by the winner at the showdown. Note the larger number of low quality hands won by the blinds, suggesting the number of uncontested small pot games they win.
The 1326 possible combinations can be reduced to 169 unique ranked values used here by eliminating redundant suit variations, for example the 12 variations of 11th ramked pair: As-Kh, As-Kd, As-Kc, Ah-Ks, Ah-Kd, Ah-Kc, Ad-Kh, Ad-Ks, Ad-Kc, Ac-Kh, As-Kd, As-Ks sharing the same ranking are representated by AKo.