(I hope -- this is what I could glean from several other sites -- but there is no way to tell at this point if they are correct)
PVI Stands for "Player Value Index"
GGPoker's advertised rake chart for each game is easy to find:
On the "House Rules" page use the drop-down "Games" to select the game to view.
Example: Texas Hold'em
These charts show the amount taken from the pot and -- as far as I can tell are correct. I compared the amount shown by PokerTracker as "rake" to the amounts in the charts, and they were almost exactly correct.
When you win a pot, you win everyone's contribution to the pot, minus the rake, the same as every other poker site.
On almost all other poker sites, you get credit for the rake in proportion to the amount you contributed to the pot.
So in a $10 pot, with $1 rake if 1 player put in $5 and two others put in $2.50 each, one player would be credited with $0.50, and the other two would be credited with $0.25
PokerStars uses this system -- or did -- I didn't verify this.
Not on GGPoker.
On GGPoker the PVI determines how much of that $1 is credited to you.
A player with a very low PVI may get $0.01 and a player with a very high PVI may get much more.
The cashback (not really rakeback) is based on the total of rake credited to you using the PVI formula -- which no-one knows.
Sites like PokerStars -- although they may divide the rake proportionally -- they assign the reward points for the rake preferentially to some players.
Would it be possible to calculate backwards to find your PVI?
Would it work if you played a single session until you had earned a Fish Buffet spin.
You would then know how much rake you had been credited with: If you won the lowest (10%) and received $1 you would know that you had been credited with $10 rake.
You could then download your hand histories, and use PT4 to find the total rake from all pots into which you had contributed some $
You would then know what your PVI was for that session
You can also calculate as follows (thanks Kyyberi)
You can calculate your PVI by checking your points total and balance before the session. After the session you cansee from your balance how much you have won/lost. Compare that to PokerCraft won/loss amount. The difference is your rake. Now compare that to your points total from the session. Points divided by rake, divided by 100 is your PVI.
Since PVI is calculated after each session, it would be different next time anyway.
Some other site (sorry, can't link, since they're PokerStrategy.com competitors) have mentioned the following factors that may influence PVI
Since no-one knows for certain, this is largely speculation
pot size
swing (winning and losing large pots in the same session)
jackpot wins ?
tournament overlays, buy-in, skill
blind level (4 groups -- Featured, High, Medium, Low)
Deposits (good for PVI) and Withdrawals (bad for PVI)
Volume (# of hands played)
PVI is updated after each session.
You have a different PVI for each game (hold'em omaha, short-deck) and each type (cash, tournament, all-in-or-fold)
If you know of any factual errors (or things I've left out) in this -- and bear in mind that most of this is speculation -- please let me know, and I'll correct this post or add to it.
Cheers,
VS
