Best Poliwrath Cards to Grade
The Poliwrath cards worth grading, ranked by expected profit per submission — every grade outcome weighted by how often the card actually receives it — after current grading fees. The PSA 10 best case is shown on every row but does not decide the order. Top pick: Poliwrath (Expedition Base Set) at an expected +$3,321.
Ranked by expected profit 11
| # | Card | Raw | PSA 9 | PSA 10 | Cost | Best case | Gem rate | Expected | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expected +$3,321 per submission: 1.7% of 898 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($156,000), and a PSA 9 ($3,885) still clears the $6,753 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $174 | $3,885 | $156,000 | $6,579 | +$149,247 | 1.7% | +$3,321 | 898 high |
| 2 | Expected +$2,114 per submission: 18.2% of 741 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($10,606), and a PSA 9 ($1,900) still clears the $1,669 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $544 | $1,900 | $10,606 | $1,125 | +$8,937 | 18.2% | +$2,114 | 741 high |
| 3 | Expected +$298 per submission: 8.7% of 264 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($3,250), and a PSA 9 ($250) still clears the $434 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $32 | $250 | $3,250 | $402 | +$2,817 | 8.7% | +$298 | 264 high |
| 4 | Expected +$214 per submission: 3.8% of 14,999 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($1,138), and a PSA 9 ($736) still clears the $144 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $33 | $736 | $1,138 | $111 | +$993 | 3.8% | +$214 | 14,999 high |
| 5 | Expected +$198 per submission: 42.5% of 167 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($690), and only a PSA 10 covers the $171 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $84 | $143 | $690 | $87 | +$519 | 42.5% | +$198 | 167 high |
| 6 | Expected +$188 per submission: 11.3% of 256 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($2,325), and only a PSA 10 covers the $277 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $35 | $84 | $2,325 | $242 | +$2,048 | 11.3% | +$188 | 256 high |
| 7 | Expected +$83 per submission: 46.3% of 149 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($360), and only a PSA 10 covers the $120 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $36 | $78 | $360 | $84 | +$241 | 46.3% | +$83 | 149 high |
| 8 | Expected +$34 per submission: 2.4% of 4,669 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($3,457), and a PSA 9 ($130) still clears the $419 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $15 | $130 | $3,457 | $404 | +$3,039 | 2.4% | +$34 | 4,669 high |
| 9 | Expected +$4 per submission: 22.6% of 84 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($300), and only a PSA 10 covers the $91 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence medium on that sample. | $8 | $40 | $300 | $83 | +$209 | 22.6% | +$4 | 84 medium |
| 10 | Expected +$2 per submission: 2.2% of 1,205 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($2,800), and a PSA 9 ($148) still clears the $452 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $55 | $148 | $2,800 | $397 | +$2,348 | 2.2% | +$2 | 1,205 high |
| 11 | Expected loss −$55 per submission: 14.4% of 146 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($120), and only a PSA 10 covers the $96 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $15 | $37 | $120 | $81 | +$24 | 14.4% | −$55 | 146 high |
Expected = every grade outcome weighted by its share of the card's graded population, minus the raw price and the grading cost (PSA tier fee for the graded value plus ~$20 round-trip shipping, fees as of 2026-09-26). Best case is the PSA 10 leg alone. Gem rates come from a self-selected population — collectors grade their cleanest copies — so read them as an upper bound. Raw is a blended market price, not a sale of your copy. Full method and filters on the grading index.
How to read the Poliwrath ranking
Every Poliwrath card listed here clears one bar: its PSA 10 price beats its raw price by more than the cost of grading it. 11 Poliwrath printings pass. 11 of them (100%) have a gem-rate sample of at least ten graded copies in the population reports, and 10 of those keep a positive expected value once every grade outcome is weighted by how often the card actually receives it.
The order is expected profit, not the PSA 10 best case, which rewards the widest raw-to-gem gap whether the card gems one time in two or one in fifty. Here the top row, the Poliwrath from Expedition Base Set, gems 1.7% of the time across 898 graded copies: +$3,321 is what a long run of submissions would average, $149,247 is what one lucky copy returns.
The median gem rate across the sampled Poliwrath cards is 11.3%. Roughly one submitted copy in 9 came back PSA 10, and most rows here still cover raw price plus fee at PSA 9, so the PSA 9 price does most of the work. Of the 11 ranked cards, 6 still cover raw price plus fee at PSA 9, 5 need a 10 to break even and 1 loses money on expectation. 10 rest on a hundred or more graded copies.
Before you submit a Poliwrath card
Grading pays on condition. The four things every grader scores — centering, corners, edges and surface — can be checked at home before paying a fee, and a copy that is visibly off-centre or has a whitened corner will not gem whatever the population says. Those gem rates come from a self-selected population of clean copies, so a random copy does worse.
The cost column assumes a PSA submission at the tier covering the card's PSA 10 value, fees as of 2026-09-26, and raw is CardTrack's blended near-mint price, not a sale of your copy: pay more, or hold a lighter copy, and the break-even moves against you. Test a card with your own numbers in the ROI calculator, see the printings that fail the bar on the Poliwrath card list, or see how gem-mint premiums run across the whole catalogue on the PSA premium index.