Understanding Variance in Poker
There is a lot of mathematics involved when determining the variance in poker, but for anyone to understand what a variance is, the concept should be explained in a simplistic, non-mathematical method.
Simply put, the variance in poker is the ups and downs of the game. Settling with that explanation, though, would be overly simplistic and not very complete.
A more detailed description of the variance is this: it is the difference between the average amount of money a player is expecting to win in the long run and the results s/he is seeing over a short period of time. For example, if you expect to win $200 on average but you lose $1000 instead, this is due to variance (or your lack of knowledge about it).
Variance in a game of poker can only be monitored and deduced over a long period of time. If you’ve only been playing poker for a day, it’s close to impossible to compute the variance of your games. Variance is also a tricky value to compute because it is controlled by one thing: one’s stroke of luck.