What to Do With Leaks in Poker: Tips From Poker Pro Ben Rolle

How to Identify & Fix Your Poker Leaks: Ben Rolle’s Guide

Realizing you have leaks in poker, correctly identifying them, and finding an effective way to manage them isn’t a a walk in the park for the majority of the poker community. It’s hard to do because of multiple reasons, considering you need to know:

• What do leaks look like
• How they differ from other problems 
• What tools you need to use to correctly “diagnose” yourself as a poker player
• Which poker “remedy” will be the most effective in your situation

So, how to manage all of that? Ben Rolle suggests that you just need to follow his practical footsteps.

Step 1: Ask Yourself: “Where Do I Feel Lost?”

…and write down 5 spots you feel lost in.

Do not spend time on describing just any spot — Rolle suggests choosing specific ones to make self-questioning more effective:

“Those are often situations that make you uncomfortable and you end up guessing. It will hurt your confidence and often leads to tilt. Bring certainty to your game and you are less likely.”

If you struggle to separate useful spots from trash ones — reach out to a poker coach or skilled player and ask them to help you.

Step 2: Share Your Hands & Thoughts

You can’t get to the bottom of things if you discuss your problems and doubts only with yourself. The only reliable way to review your decisions and decision-making process is to speak to others, listen to them and compare conclusions. In any case, that’s what Rolle is sure of:

“This means work. YES. This means opening up and letting people see how you think about the game. Don’t just post the hand. Let people know your thought process. That’s the only way to fix your Leaks.”

You can make dealing with leaks even more effective if you find a competent companion for discussion poker with or a coach who is, as Rolle describes it, “ahead of you and can clearly beat the stakes you are playing.”.

Step 3: Review Your Database With a Specific Focus

As Ben clarifies in his thread, you should focus on three major aspects:

• Win rate from different positions
• ITM% & ROI Ratio (will be explained below)
• Stats where you might be a bit of a station/passive (e.g., low 3-bet, high turn/river call, low flop check/raise, high WTSD, low fold to 3-bet, low turn and river bet/lead)

However, remember not to rely solely on GTO answers as the only correct ones:

“Be careful with analyzing your database. You might be doing things that are not ‘GTO approved’ but work well against the population. If you analyze your database, make sure to find REAL leaks and not just ‘GTO’ leaks.”

If you don’t have a database yet, it’s time to start using trackers as tools for collecting and analyzing your hands. Ben also warns to be cautious with these tools and use them properly:

“Of course, it is good to have some sort of tracking tool that you can practice with. It tracks your progress and provides data on the spots you struggle with.

HOWEVER, the point is not to get a good score. The point is to UNDERSTAND it. Ideally, you should be able to explain it to someone else. That’s why I am personally not a big fan of these endless solver score grinds. I would rather take one spot, adjust ranges and positions, and make a 360° analysis so I REALLY understand that spot. Then I can extrapolate and apply it to different situations.”

What is ITM% & ROI Ratio:

“I see a lot of students having a High In The Money % (It depends on the format, but it should be at least 15%).

I have seen students who have a decent ITM% (16,17 etc..) but have a very low ROI and can barely beat the games.

That often means, you are too tight/scared or too aggressive in the deeper stages. You are not able to make good deep runs. It looks you play solid and you can make it in the money often. 

More often than not, its you being too passive/tight and therefore not able to build a stack (in a profitable way). You miss out on loose but profitable rejams/bluff 3bets and you are not attacking weak opponents often enough.

For someone having a lower ITM% (10-15), but you are still somewhat profitable/+ROI, it usually means the opposite. You seem to navigate better in the deeper stages, but you too, to often “punt” off your stack in the earlier stages.

Try in general to improve both stages, play solid early on and get more SMART aggro in deeper stages BUT also learn when to be super tight when running deep (and all you can do is laddering).”

Step 4: Be Careful With Your Win Rate

As Ben assumes, poker players measure how many BB they win per 100 hands, but this approach can shoot you in the back and you need to be very careful about it:

“Lose ICM jams, -chEV PKO all ins (but profitable with PKO), are often not well reflected in those stats.

I have seen lower bb/100 players with a high ROI and vice versa. I would only use this as an indicator to find outliers but I would never make this stat alone responsible for any leaks (unless it is ridiculous low). Again you can looking your bb/100 win rates per position if you have a high enough sample.

I would also only use it for early game (filter for 50bb+ stacks).”

Some More Advice From Ben Rolle

• Ben Rolle’s 2024 Results & Advice for 2025
• Poker New Year’s Resolutions: Are They Worth Making?
• Poker and Self-Esteem: Their Connection