A poker HUD (the abbreviation HUD stands for ‘Heads Up Display’), as described here at LAWeekly, is a software that displays statistics/numbers in an overlay box about the opponents at your table. It can increase your win-rate by helping you analyze players in cash games and narrowing down their hand ranges on different aspects, such as their playing style and how aggressive they are. A good HUD can analyze and show you easy to read graphs stats like PFR% (pre-flop raise), VPIP%, 3bet%, and AG (aggression post-flop), which are displayed by different color numbers and lines, all help you to understand an opponent’s playing style and relative hand strength in a pot.
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Who needs to use a poker HUD?
To put it brief – pretty much everyone who plays poker online and likes to WIN! Every good poker player who plays above the micro-stakes games online will be using a HUD, and inevitably you’ll need to start using one to make serious profits in online poker. Generally, you should always be looking for ways to get an edge over opponents. You can try reading various poker eBooks as a starting point but ultimate you’re going to have to start using a Poker HUD tracking software if you want to play micro to high stakes games profitably. The most obvious advantage is that it lets you do is exploit the opponents and regulars at your table.
Incorporating a poker Heads Up Display and player statistics into your strategy lets you increase your bb/100 win-rate. You can control more pots, bluff weak players and know when you’re behind on flop, turn or river. We agree it can seem a little scary paying for something you have no clue about, but we honestly recommend anyone who plays cash tables even at the micro-stakes level should get one. In fact, if you’re multi-tabling at Nl25 or above then you practically need one to make real profits. Most poker players actually get stuck at these stakes, because there’s such a steep gap between NL25 and NL100, you need to be far more aggressive and even 4bet regularly at these stakes. We think overall you’ll need to use live tracking software like Hand2Note to do this, and if you’ve watched any training videos from the pros then you’ll see them using this.
How a poker HUD will improve your game?
Firstly, a HUD breaks down your opponents into clear categories. You can sense who the pros are at the table, which helps you avoid tricky situations in bad pots. Likewise, you can also pick out the fish and spend more time bluffing/extracting value from these players. Secondly, it enables you to narrow down your opponent’s hand range on each street. By viewing their VPIP%, PRR% (Pre-Flop Raising), or FIR% figure, you can accurately break down their strength of hands, for example, if a player has a 10% 3bet stat, then it shows he is 3betting light with very weak hands.
Finally, a poker Heads Up Display can make multi-tabling more profitable. Normally when you multi-table you lose the ability to pick up reads on every player because of a lack of concentration on each table. However a HUD means that you can rely on statistics and figures to make up for a lack of reads or notes. This is great when you run into an opponent who 3bets you from CO for example, and then you are unsure whether to 4bet bluff him or fold, depending on his relative hand strength. A high RFI% or Attempt to Steal will probably mean he is 3betting light, which means you can 4bet bluff him or re-raise in the long term to pick up more chips.
In conclusion
If you are serious about playing poker online it makes perfect financial sense to make a small investment into a good poker HUD to help you play better. The cost of the poker HUDs have gone down significantly over time and and now you can get one for less that 10 USD a month. We recommend anyone playing online poker for the long term, or NL 50+ cash games, to start using a HUD. It gives you such a great advantage at the tables, and if we can be honest, We reckon you’ll add an extra 25% minimum to your profits after getting used to using one. We also strongly suggest multi-tablers who usually spend their time on 4 or more tables to start using a HUD.