The Most Common Poker Leaks: Data From 147 Diagnosed Players
Last updated · Data from HoldemPro leak-quiz completions
For 46% of low-stakes poker players, the single biggest leak is passive postflop play — checking and calling hands that should bet and raise. That is the clearest finding from 147 No-Limit Hold'em players diagnosed by the HoldemPro leak quiz, which deals each player 7 real hands and scores every decision against GTO preflop charts and postflop heuristics.
This page publishes the full, ranked distribution — every leak, how many players had it as their #1 problem, and what share of the pool that represents. The numbers are measured, not estimated, and they refresh as more players are diagnosed. Below the table you'll find exactly how each leak is detected and the honest scope of what this data does and doesn't claim.
Key findings
For 46% of low-stakes poker players, the single biggest leak is passive postflop play — checking and calling hands that should bet and raise.
The three most common leaks — passive postflop play, postflop spew, and over-folding — account for 80% of every player's primary leak.
Preflop mistakes are the #1 leak for under 5% of players, even though most poker study content focuses on preflop ranges — the money is leaking after the flop.
At the free practice table, 76% of hands that see a flop go all the way to the river — players call down far more often than they fold or raise, the same passivity the quiz measures, seen hand by hand.
The average diagnosed player scores 62.3 out of 100 on the Edge scale (median 65), meaning meaningful money is leaking every session for the typical low-stakes player.
Passivity doesn't go away with skill: it is still the #1 leak for 48% of the highest-scoring players (80–100), versus 45% of the lowest band.
The most expensive leak is "calls too light" — those players average 51.2 out of 100, 11 points below the sample — while "spews postflop" is the leak of otherwise strong players (average 68.1).
Every poker leak, ranked by how many players have it
Each row is the share of the 147 diagnosed players whose single biggest leak was that pattern. Percentages are of all 147 players. Click any leak to read how it works and how to fix it.
| # | Leak | Players | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Too passive postflop | 68 | 46.3% |
| 2 | Spews postflop | 26 | 17.7% |
| 3 | Folds too much | 23 | 15.6% |
| 4 | Plays everyone the same | 11 | 7.5% |
| 5 | Calls too light | 6 | 4.1% |
| 6 | Bet-sizing tells | 6 | 4.1% |
| 7 | Too loose preflop | 4 | 2.7% |
| 8 | Too tight preflop | 2 | 1.4% |
| 9 | 3-bets too often | 1 | 0.7% |
| Total players diagnosed | 147 | 100% |
Bars are scaled to the most common leak. The list shows the 9 leaks that were at least one player's primary problem; the quiz measures 12 leak patterns in total, and the remaining ones were no player's single biggest leak in this sample.
How good is the typical low-stakes player? Edge score distribution
Every diagnosed player receives an Edge score from 0 to 100 (higher = fewer and smaller leaks). The average is 62.3, the median 65. Fewer than one in five players scores 80 or better.
| Edge score band | Players | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0–39 · Costly | 20 | 13.6% |
| 40–59 · Leaky | 37 | 25.2% |
| 60–79 · Solid | 65 | 44.2% |
| 80–100 · Surgical | 25 | 17% |
Do better players have different leaks?
Mostly no. Passive postflop play is the #1 leak in every score band — 45% of the weakest players and 48% of the strongest. What changes is the second leak: weaker players over-fold and call too light; stronger players spew. Each row shows how a leak's players are spread across the four score bands, plus that group's average Edge score.
| Primary leak | 0-39 | 40-59 | 60-79 | 80-100 | Avg score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Too passive postflop · 68 | 9 (45%) | 20 (54.1%) | 27 (41.5%) | 12 (48%) | 61.2 |
| Spews postflop · 26 | 2 (10%) | 6 (16.2%) | 11 (16.9%) | 7 (28%) | 68.1 |
| Folds too much · 23 | 5 (25%) | 4 (10.8%) | 8 (12.3%) | 6 (24%) | 61.8 |
| Plays everyone the same · 11 | 0 | 1 (2.7%) | 10 (15.4%) | 0 | 65.5 |
| Calls too light · 6 | 2 (10%) | 2 (5.4%) | 2 (3.1%) | 0 | 51.2 |
| Bet-sizing tells · 6 | 1 (5%) | 1 (2.7%) | 4 (6.2%) | 0 | 62.3 |
| Too loose preflop · 4 | 1 (5%) | 0 | 3 (4.6%) | 0 | 60 |
| Too tight preflop · 2 | 0 | 2 (5.4%) | 0 | 0 | 55.5 |
| 3-bets too often · 1 | 0 | 1 (2.7%) | 0 | 0 | 57 |
Percentages in parentheses are the share of that score band. Average-score highlights are only applied to leaks with at least five players; the smallest groups are shown for completeness, not for conclusions.
Who is in the sample
147 distinct players; 186 completed reads including retakes. All figures use each player's first read.
85 on a phone, 34 on desktop (28 unknown). Low-stakes players study on their phones.
121 players in the United States, 26 elsewhere (by IP at the time of the read).
| Month | New players diagnosed |
|---|---|
| June 2026 (from Jun 25) | 111 |
| July 2026 | 17 |
| August 2026 | 19 |
Does the same pattern show up when people actually play?
Yes, so far. The free play-vs-AI table records an anonymous per-hand summary — position, the street the hand ended on, net result and the Professor's verdict; never hole cards or the board. Between July 26, 2026 and August 31, 2026 that is 638 hands from 47 devices. Of the 394 hands that reached a flop, 298 went to the river (76%) and only 96 ended on the flop or turn (24%). Against opponents who bet most streets, that is a calling-down rate, and it matches the quiz's top finding: the typical low-stakes player's default is to check and call.
Read this as a cross-check, not a second study: the sample is small, 14 of the 47 devices played 8+ hands, and the table has dealt playable hands more often by default since late August, so preflop figures (fold rate, VPIP by seat) are not published until hands carry a recorded deal style. The river rate is conditional on seeing a flop, which makes it the least deal-sensitive figure the table produces.
How this was measured
The data comes from completions of the free HoldemPro leak quiz. Each player is dealt 7 real hands at a simulated table — they see their cards, the board, the pot and an opponent — and choose a plain-language action. Preflop decisions are scored against GTO opening and defending charts; postflop decisions are scored against postflop heuristics (value-betting, bluff-catching, sizing and board-texture rules). Every decision maps to one or more of 12 measurable leak patterns, and the highest-weighted pattern becomes that player's recorded primary leak.
Sample: 147 distinct players (186 completed reads — retakes are excluded, only each player's first read counts), diagnosed between June 25, 2026 and August 31, 2026. These are self-selected — people who chose to take a poker-improvement quiz — so they skew toward players actively trying to get better rather than a random cross-section of everyone who plays. The population is predominantly low-stakes No-Limit Hold'em.
Scope, honestly: this is a diagnosis tool, not a solver. It is built to reliably identify a player's biggest recurring, exploitable pattern from a short set of hands — not to compute exact GTO frequencies or an exploitative solution for a specific opponent. "Biggest leak" means the pattern that cost the most across the quiz, which is a strong signal but a single reading, not a full HUD sample of thousands of hands.
The figures on this page are measured, never estimated, and they update as more players complete the quiz — so the exact percentages shift over time while the shape of the distribution (postflop passivity on top, preflop leaks rare) has stayed consistent.
Cite this data
These figures are free to republish with attribution to HoldemPro and a link to this page. A copy-ready citation:
According to HoldemPro's leak-quiz data (147 low-stakes players diagnosed as of August 31, 2026), passive postflop play is the single biggest leak for 46% of players — more than every other leak combined among the runners-up. Source: HoldemPro Research, holdempro.app/research
The full dataset (every leak with counts and percentages, sample dates, and the average Edge score) is available as machine-readable JSON at holdempro.app/research/data.json. Each key-finding card above has a stable anchor for deep-linking (e.g. #stat-passive-postflop). Questions about methodology: see how this was measured or the FAQ.
Which of these is costing you the most?
The same quiz that produced this data can diagnose your game. It deals you 7 real hands and names the one leak bleeding the most from your sessions — free, in about 2 minutes.
Free · 2 minutes · 7 real hands · no signup
Questions about this poker leak data
What is the most common poker mistake?
Playing too passively after the flop. Across 147 low-stakes players diagnosed by the HoldemPro leak quiz, passive postflop play — checking and calling hands that should bet and raise — was the single biggest leak for 46% of them (68 of 147), more than every other leak combined among the runners-up.
Do most poker players make preflop or postflop mistakes?
Postflop, by a wide margin. In this sample, preflop leaks (too loose, too tight, or over-3-betting) were the #1 issue for under 5% of players combined, while postflop leaks — passivity, spew, over-folding and misjudging opponents — accounted for the rest. Most study content focuses on preflop ranges, but that is not where the typical low-stakes player is losing the most.
What are the biggest leaks in low-stakes poker?
The three most common primary leaks are passive postflop play (46.3%), spewing postflop by bluffing players who never fold (17.7%), and folding too much to small bets (15.6%). Together these three account for about 80% of players' single biggest leak.
How leaky is the average low-stakes poker player?
The average diagnosed player scores 62.3 out of 100 on HoldemPro's Edge scale, where higher means fewer and smaller leaks. A score near 60 means meaningful money is leaking every session for the typical low-stakes player — not from one catastrophic error, but from a repeated, exploitable pattern.
Go deeper on any leak
Each leak in the table above has its own guide — what it is, the stat behind it, and the fix protocol:
- Too tight preflop
- Too loose preflop
- Doesn't 3-bet enough
- 3-bets too often
- Too passive postflop
- Spews postflop
- Calls too light
- Folds too much
- Bet sizing tells
- Weak equity intuition
- Plays everyone the same
- No plan for later streets
See all 12 leaks, or work one new spot every day with the daily poker spot.