Poker HUD: an explanation

Winning poker players realize that a large part of beating online cash games is based on developing good reads on their opponents.

When you are multi-tabling, getting reads on your opponents can be difficult as your attention is not focused on each table.

A poker heads up display (HUD for short) is a tool which is used by many online players, especially mass multi-tablers to display useful statistics of other players in real time.

Without a poker HUD at your disposal, it is very hard to compete and to make money in online poker cash games and online tournaments, because most players are also using poker HUDs to gain an advantage.

More so, when you are playing multiple tables at the same time, it enables you to get reads on your opponents which you wouldn't otherwise be able to get if you didn't have the aid of the software and statistics.

HUD poker advantages

Most of the poker software tools in the market include a HUD. For example, PokerEdge is a widely used poker software which comes included with a heads up display.

Its an amazing piece of software which differs from other poker tracking software tools on the market in that it doesn't need your own local poker stat database to gather the statistics on players, because it has access to a huge database with millions of online players which are tracked.

Getting started with a poker HUD is a relatively straight forward process.

First of all, you want to make sure that the poker software you have is compatible with the online poker room you are playing. If it is compatible, once you correctly install the software it will automatically display the stats for each player at the table if you have the software application running at the same time.

At first, to make life easier for yourself you may want to go with using the default HUD stats. Once you get familiar with using the poker HUD you can then customize the settings to suit your needs. To begin with, the following list includes some of the more important HUD stats which you should display, and tend to be displayed by default with most poker software tools.

VPIP (Voluntarily Puts Money in Pot): This shows the percentage of hands a player voluntarily put into the pot. This is one of the key HUD stats as it will indicate if a player is tight/loose.

PFR (Pre-Flop Raise): This stat shows the percentage of hands a player raises pre-flop.

CBet %: This stat shows the continuation bet frequency of the pre-flop raiser when given the opportunity to do so.

3Bet % : This stat shows the 3bet frequency when given the opportunity to do so. A 3Bet is when a player decides to re-raise a pot that has been already raised.

Less is definitely more when you are just getting started with using a poker HUD.

If you display too many stats in the pop-up display it will only confuse you especially if you are a new player. By displaying the VPIP/PFR/3Bet/CBet stats for each player, it will give you a pretty good idea of the tendencies of the other players, so you will know if they play a lot of hands, and how aggressive they are pre-flop before a considerable amount of chips are invested.

Knowing this information is really important, because it will help you decide how you should react to their aggression if they are aggressive.

For example, if a player to your left in the blinds is constantly 3-betting you when you open raise from the button, you will know it is impossible for them to always have a strong hand, so you can being to play back at them when the time is right and make the necessary adjustments.

It is only by playing that you can get comfortable with the poker HUD and understand its power.

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