HUD stats and their relevance in modern poker. What stats should be displayed in the HUD What stats should be displayed in the hud for tournaments
The HUD in Holdem Manager 2 is the best assistant for reading your opponent and bluffing.
So, HUD is a tool that serves to display data about your opponents in real time.
All players who are going to profit from playing poker need information about their opponents: what kind of player is he, how often does he play and how can he be exploited. This is especially important if you play a large number of tables.
Here is what the standard HUD looks like in HM 2:
HUD in HM2
What does hud show us?
In the standard version of HUD "a, you get information:
1. TOTVPIP(voluntarily invested money in the pot) - an indicator that displays how often you or your opponent enters the pot.
Bets must be voluntary, so posting blinds does not count. There are no ideal values, someone plays more aggressively, someone less, but both of them can play a plus.
The optimal values for 9-max tables are 15-25%. I advise everyone to have averages from the spectrum that I have outlined. 19-21% VPIP will be very cool.
2. TOT PFR(preflop raise) - characterizes how often you or your opponent raises preflop.
This takes into account not only the open raise, but also the 3-bet and subsequent raises. Optimal values are from 10 to 20%. PFR and VPIP are two fundamental stats in Holdem Manager 2 preflop. The difference between them should not exceed 6%.
If you want to add an indicator to your HUD that determines the frequency of open raises, then it is called RFI (raise first).
3. Postflop Aggression Factor(aggression factor) - determines the player's aggressiveness and is calculated using the following formula: (%bet + %raise) / %call.
Let's say your opponent has an aggression factor of 4.1 - that's a lot (your opponent plays aggressively postflop). Try to play more carefully against him, he may not have the strongest hands in the showdown. And if your opponent has an indicator of 1.6, then he plays much more calmly, without particularly accelerating the bank.
Maxim chart. Before using the software:
After using the software:
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Poker software with HUD function such as Hold'em Manager, PokerTracker are very important tools for successful game poker, so we'll figure out how to properly set up your HUD.
When talking about preflop, I usually focus on PFR, VPIP, and 3-bet and 4-bet frequency. In addition to all of the above, I also want to know how often opponents fold their cards after 3-bets and 4-bets, And the more statistics displayed on the screen using the HUD, the more important it becomes to organize them compactly and conveniently. My advice to you is to start with fewer parameters, and after you feel confident, add a few (one or two at a time).
As for postflop statistics, I advise you to focus on the following parameters:
Fold frequency after someone else's continuation bet (Fold to Flop C-bet),
The frequency of the continuation bet on the flop (C-bet Flop),
In what percentage of cases does a player fold after an opponent rearranges his bet-to-continue with a raise (Fold to Flop Raise After C-betting).
Raise frequency after someone else's continuation bet (Raise C-bet),
But keep in mind that in situations like heads up, your opponent will be less likely to fold after your continuation bet compared to multi pots (this also applies to preflop 3bets). In the Poker Tracker 4 program, you can display such a parameter as Fold to Flop C-bet When HU (fold frequency after an opponent's continuation bet in heads-up situations). All of these indicators are very useful in determining your fold equity. But when planning your play based on these stats, be very careful and most importantly remember this: “If you are in the blind or button (and if you have not shown aggression against your opponent before), your fold equity is lower than implied stats.” Or vice versa, if you have a tight playstyle and are not out of the blind or the button, then your fold equity may be higher than what PT shows. For example, statistics show that on the flop the opponent makes a continuation bet 70% of the time, and in the case of a counter raise, he folds his cards 50% of the time. However, in a blind versus blind situation, his flop fold frequency is likely to be significantly lower. But how much lower, it depends on the characteristics of his game.
It's also important to keep an eye on how often your opponent folds on the turn.
Some opponents are very hard to knock out of the pot on this betting round - they fold their cards much less than 50% of the time. However, other players tend to do the opposite: they call with a wide range of hands on the flop, but when they re-bet heavily on the turn, they fold very often. These players tend to have a low Fold to Flop C-bet (fold frequency after someone else bet in continuation on the flop) and enter the turn with a wider range of hands. This statistic is really useful because it helps you determine whether re-betting the turn would be a very profitable move or if it would be a waste of your chips.
I have found that River Aggression in general is one of the most unnecessary stats in PokerTracker. The parameter does not help much in detecting a bluff from a strong opponent (although it allows you to read weak players pretty well). When making an important decision about your call on the river, it is best to rely on your observations of the opponent, his range of hands. If you are up against a weak player whose aggression grows steadily from flop to river, then try to catch him on a bluff. For opponents who start the hand with a wide range of hands and do not want to fold after someone else's continuation bet - on the flop, then this pattern says a lot.
As we said before, the statistics can be a bit of a lie when it comes to the blinds. For this simple reason, I prefer you to display several indicators on the screen that characterize the game of opponents in these positions. ATS (Attempt to Steal Frequency) reflects how often a player tries to steal your blinds when given the opportunity. I really like to display this parameter in two versions: ATS First-In From The SB (Small Blind Steal Rate) and ATS First-In From The Button (Button Steal Rate). These indicators reflect how often a player opens a raise in the small blind or button when everyone folds in front of him. These statistics are very important, and professional players are much more aggressive than others in stealing blinds in these positions.
In my experience, regs use a wider play style on the button than in any other position. I've also found that some players on the button steal the blinds with a wide range of hands, while others only marginally increase their raising frequency.
All of the stats listed above are a great starting point for your HUD. You can also customize the highlighting of these numbers in different colors, so that "abnormal" indicators immediately catch your eye. For example, if your opponent's 3-betting frequency is in the normal range (5-15%), PokerTracker will color all those numbers blue, but if the 3-betting frequency is incredibly high, for example, 15-30%, then the numbers will be displayed in deep red. Coloring statistical parameters in different colors is very useful in a multi-table game.
Finally, remember not to rely solely on numbers - never leave the game and always keep an eye on your opponents. Although PokerTracker can calculate many other interesting parameters, experiment with them and try to determine their practical value depending on your own playing style. Your brain is the most powerful tool you can use. No amount of statistics can take the place of table feel, history of playing certain opponents, or observations about other players.
The first line in your HUD might look something like this:
Player Name / VPIP / PFR / 3-Bet / 4-Bet
The second line of my HUD looks like this:
PFR By Position: EP% / MP% / CO% / BTN%
I use the second line of the HUD to study differences in PFR across positions. So, in the cutoff position, many players open the game with a much wider range of hands than in the middle position. Another example: in the first position, some LAGs open the trade with a fairly wide range of hands, while many TAGs play very tight.
The third line of my HUD looks like this:
Fold 3-Bet % / Fold 4-Bet % / 5-Bet %
The third line of my HUD is still about preflop: it shows what percentage of the time opponents fold after other people's 3-bets and 4-bets. I also want to know how often my opponents are 5-betting so I don't over-4-bet against over-aggressive players and throw money away.
Postflop stats are only displayed on lines 4 and 5 of my HUD. So it was brought out for a reason. In my experience playing online poker at six-seat tables, pre-flop statistics are more useful than post-flop statistics because pre-flop numbers become statistically significant faster. This is especially noticeable if you look at the statistics of the opponent on the turn and river, when the sample on him does not exceed 500 hands. Although some of you may have a different idea of the usefulness of turn and river statistics. This may be due to one of two things: either you play more tables at the same time and play more hands, which allows you to collect a larger sample of individual opponents, or you play poker networks without a large number of storefronts in which players often change their aliases. Never forget that building a HUD allows for a lot of creativity and customization. Customize it the way you want. Many players color parts of their HUD in different colors to make the data easier to read.
As far as postflop stats go, one of the best things to look at is the Fold to Flop Continuation Bet parameter. Since continuation bets are relatively frequent, this parameter is very important. Also if I want to know how often the opponent makes a continuation bet on the flop. Knowing his preflop raising range and flop betting frequency, I can narrow down his hand range significantly.
The fourth line of my HUD looks like this:
C-Bet Flop % / Fold to Flop C-Bet % (FFCB %) / Fold F-C-bet 3-Bet Pot % (FFCB3B) / Raise Flop C-Bet %
Well, the last line of my HUD is dedicated to statistics, which I use exclusively in the blinds. In this line, I suggest that you display following parameters: Fold To Steal% HU, Steal% HU, Attempt To Steal% , as well as any others that you think can help when playing in the blinds. The PokerTracker program has the widest possibilities, and it is important not to overdo it with the output information, otherwise you simply will not be able to process it properly. Make sure to display the most relevant stats that your brain can easily read and process when playing multiple tables at the same time. Your HUD is an invaluable aid in processing information, especially when playing at multiple tables, so make sure it works effectively for you!
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This excerpt is taken from Exploiting Your Opponents in No-Limit Hold'em by Paul Ratchford, a professional player from Vancouver who has achieved an incredibly high win rate at mid/high stakes. His book contains many examples and solutions from real game to help you deepen your understanding of NLH and improve your skills.
HUD is an extremely useful tool that makes a big difference online poker from live play. HUD stats help us keep track of information about our opponent in real time. Poker is a game of information, the more data we have, the better we can play.
If you are not already using a HUD, then you should seriously consider this possibility. But, of course, any information is useless if you do not understand how to use it, so this tutorial was created specifically to delve into HUD stats, and analyze the question of how to use them most effectively.
(Remember that this post, of course, will be about those HUD stats that I use. Of course, we can spend the whole day analyzing all the useful stats that the corresponding software offers us, but in the end we don’t have screen space there are so many so you should make your choice carefully and choose the stats that you can use the most effectively and from which you can get the most information.It should also be noted that HUD settings are quite individual.Different players use different stats.I prefer play LAG so you will notice that my stats revolve around how often Villain is going to fold against my play, if you play TAG style you will most likely need stats that will tell you how often your opponent will call you with the worst hands (it's worth experimenting with the most comfortable stats for you and constantly looking for the most convenient placement for you personally).
Basic HUD stats
VPIP:
This is one of the most needed stats. It tells you how often your opponent will put money into the pot on their own (so just taking the player's blind out of the vpip is not included). Personally, I mark this stat with a separate color so that I can quickly find it in the table, in order to know how often this player enters the game and determine his style of play.
PFR:
This stat goes hand in hand with VPIP (and it is also desirable to mark it with a separate color). It tells us how often a given player raises preflop. It should only be included in the calculation together with VPIP. 15% PFR may seem like a high percentage, but there is a huge difference between 17/15 and 72/15 players. This stat can also be well tied in ATS, which will be discussed later.
AF (or AFq):
I won't review this stat since I don't use it, but Mphety's article covers it from all angles, so check it out.
ATS:
A player's attempt to steal the blinds is extremely important for us. This stat gives us a clear understanding of how much this player knows how to use his position, which is invaluable information for us. That is, a player can be, for example, 16/13, and have ATS at the same time 35%, or 16/13 and have ATS 15%. And based on this data, we can understand that a player with 15% ATS is not very good at using his position, and clearly does not evaluate his hands from position LP in the same way as a 35% ATS player. This allows us to get a lot of information. Everything from their 3bet range to their open raise range with MP2. But also don't forget that ATS directly depends on the player's VPIP and PFR.
ATS is extremely useful in that it allows us to build our 3-bet range. Let's say they steal, they have high ATS and high Foldv3B, then we can use a bit of math to go to Poker Stove, do a little calculation of O-Range vs. Cont-Range in this situation, and thus determine the optimal range for 3-betting , its size and frequency.
3b:
This stat tells us how often a player 3bets preflop. It can help us highlight a player's 3-betting range and frequency, but it can also help us read whether a player is stealing or playing a particular strategy preflop. But before making a decision, carefully study a player's 3-betting stats from different positions, as many players play tight in terms of 3B in EP / MP positions, but expand their range when they get to the button and blinds (most often due to their a high percentage of restyl).
CB:
It's also important to know how often your opponent c-bets the flop. If he has a high CB, say 80% or more, then we know that more often than not, such an opponent will invest just to see the flop, regardless of what he has in his hand. If he has a low CB, say 40%, and they c-bet the flop, then we can assume that they have a fairly strong hand. Remember, the value of a hand is always relative, so everything will have to be tested by experience, as usual.
Sometimes you can use the CB indicator to plan your preflop play. It can also help us make decisions on the flop to better play the hand. Let's say villain 14/8 CB: 55% raises from UTG, we call with OTB with 22 in hand and go heads up on the flop. The flop shows Js 6c 5h and Villain checks. His CB% suggests that he only CB strong enough hands, so his check betrays a weak position. So we can push and in most cases he will drop his logical AK/77/88/99/TT out of range.
Hands:
Another extremely important stat. We must always take into account how much time we follow the opponent. If we have 500 hands of watching someone, then we can assume that his stats are more in line with "reality" than if only 30 hands saw him play. 200 hands, from my point of view, is already something that can be used, 500 is a decent example, and if the number of hands has exceeded a thousand, then there is no doubt about the accuracy of the stats and general knowledge of the player’s tactics. But, of course, it is worth remembering that people change their styles. Therefore, I display only stats for the last 3 months on certain player. The old stats are useless, especially if he used to play 11/7 and now plays 16/14.
Average HUD Stats
FoldvCB:
Pretty useful stat for us. If we know that this player is constantly folding when someone else c-bets, then naturally we will want to fold CB almost constantly when we face him, regardless of the hand, since such a player tends to immediately fold. If he has a low FoldvCB, say 35%, then we know that we can safely value bet a good hand without fear of him folding, but still know that CB, or a few barrels of bluff against him will be disadvantageous. You can also use the "CallflopCB" stat if you want, but it doesn't take into account how often Villain will raise the CB, and since my style is based mostly on folding, I prefer to use FoldvCB.
Foldv3B:
For players who often resteal, this stat is a must. He talks about how often the opponent folds, meeting a 3-bet. This could mean that they could open the game with a raise, or even call before it, but then they saw a 3-bet and folded. If I ever start restealing, I would like to know how often this player steals and then do a little calculation of O-Range vs. Cont-Range to see how profitable my 3-bet would be in that situation. As the game itself continues to mature and more and more experienced players, then the figure of this stat will gradually decrease. 80% Foldv3B used to be a pretty common sight, but these days most good stealers try to keep their Foldv3B stat somewhere around 65%.
This stat has many uses. For example, it can be used when playing a squeeze, as you can look at the Foldv3B of the first raiser and callers. You can also use it to bluff. You can also use it for value betting in 3B. If you know that someone only has Foldv3B at 15%, meaning they are constantly calling 3B no matter what, then you can safely 3-bet AA, or even raise to squeeze more value. But do not forget that this stat should be taken into account in conjunction with an open-raise. It is clear that a 10/8 stat player will have a Foldv3B of 40% since his O-range is so strong that he is unlikely to fold when you 3bet him.
FoldvTurnCB:
And this stat lets us know how often our opponent folds when we raise preflop, c-bet the flop, and last hit on the turn. It is useful for both bluffing (we can easily take the initiative from floaters who often reach the turn) and for VB (here we can win back on players who do not want to let go of a pair when the pot grows). Again, you can also use the "CallvTurnCB" stat if you are a TAG player and thus decide to go for a few barrels with KQ on a Qxxx table.
WTSD:
A stat that I personally don't use in my HUD, but it definitely has a use. If you see that someone high level WTSD, then you know that such a person will rarely fold in his hand, and they will hold tightly to hands that they consider valuable. Try to keep their VPIP in mind when considering this stat. A 12/10 player with 25% WTSD is not even close to a 60/5 player with 25% WTSD. The 12/10 player will undoubtedly have a stronger range and will only play to the end of the hands he is confident in, trying to get to showdown. The 60/5 has a correspondingly weaker range, but will still try to get to showdown most of the time, and of course with weaker hands.
[email protected]:
Another stat that I personally don't use in my daily game. He talks about how often a player wins money when he gets to showdown. This is a useful stat if you want to know how often this player comes to showdown with weak or strong hands. But it should be considered in tandem with WTSD. If you see a player with WTSD: 16% [email protected]: 60%, then you will know that such a player comes to showdown only with the strongest hands, and throws out marginal garbage in the process of drawing. But if you see a 42/17 player with WTSD: 34% [email protected]: 41%, then it is worth considering that it will be extremely profitable to value bet against him, and sometimes play an “easy” value bet.
Advanced HUD Stats
Specific Fold & Resteal stats for blinds:
I just started using these stats more often in my game and they are incredibly useful if the game gets too aggressive in terms of stealing and restealing. I personally set two stats: SB resteal&foldvsteal and BB resteal&foldvsteal in my HUD. I gave up on “callvsteal” because 100-restyl-folvsteal=callvsteal… And again, I'm not going to pollute my HUD panel with junk that I can count myself in 2 seconds. These two stats are enough for me to know who to steal from, who to avoid, and who to play a planned and balanced 4-bet against. It also allows me not to go deep into the pop-up window, which can display something like: "Sorry, I'm going to take a quick look at your stats now to decide if you can be 4-bet, so wait a second, please."
FoldvFlopCR:
Undoubtedly, this is an extremely important stat for those who are fighting for the pot. I always like to know if a given opponent will only continue with the best cards my range when I check/raise them. If that's the case, then I can sometimes check/raise with a bluff against their continuation bet.
This is also a useful stat in case I flop a great hand. Let's say I flop a set, but Villain has a FoldvFlopCR of 85%. Then I probably won't want to check/raise him as he will fold too often. So I'll probably check/call the flop and donk the turn. Or I decide to check/call the flop and check/raise the turn. Again, this is a course of action that I would never consider as optimal if I did not have such information.
RiverCallWin%:
I love this sta. It lets me know how often such a player wins if he calls the river. Of course, it cannot be taken on its own, but in general, looking at the hand draw, this stat can tell a lot. If I decide to donk (bet the flop/check the turn/bet the river) and I see that Villain has an extremely low RiverCallWin%, then I can bet a little more when I value bet. I will also know that it is not advisable to bluff against such opponents, as they will often call automatically.
I can also use this stat with things like WTSD and [email protected] If I know Villain gets to showdown a lot and his RiverCallWin% is extremely low, then I can value bet them to death. If, however, their RiverCallWin% is high, then I can understand that they only get to showdown with their strongest hands. So against such a player, value betting will usually be unprofitable.
I started my career as a tournament player, but gradually moved to cash games. It is clear that I needed to revise part of my strategy in order to start making money at the cash tables at the limits that I was used to. In the process of learning, I watched a bunch of videos, and had joint sessions with friends, chatting with them on Skype. Immersion in the thought process of other players is the most fast way improve your game, in my opinion, and this method cannot be overestimated.
The first video I watched was about the analysis of the stats that the Grindcore coach used in his game. He explained in detail those stats that can cause bewilderment, and also plunged into the issue of the interaction of some stats with each other. Then I started watching videos on odds, where this issue was also raised, but this is not particularly relevant to the topic.
I'd like to talk to you about how important your HUD's stats can be in your decision making process.
I will quickly go over the main stats that should be taken into account during the decision making process. I will not explain the meaning of stats (this information is already abundant on the Internet), but simply I will try to outline the thought process that should take place in those 30 seconds in which you must make a decision. Thus, you will be able to maximize the amount of perceived information in this limited time.
In the cash game, our goal is always to maximize value, and this can only be achieved by provoking our opponent into action. It is with this thought in mind that we should look at our opponents' stats (or any other notes we have made) in order to maximize the possible value in this situation.
For all these situations, I will assume that you already have a sufficient database of your opponents. Again, all of this information is taken from other sources, and the hands are considered in terms of 6-max games. All stats are mentioned as they are described in Hold'em Manager, although Poker Tracker should no doubt have their equivalents.
Downtime
The analysis of our opponents should start from the moment the hand begins, and, in my opinion, studying the stats of our opponents is a much more important thing than studying what is happening around for the sake of reads. The first stat I look at is bb/100. I want to know which of my opponents is winning and which is losing. I understand that almost all players are careful when choosing a table to play, but when I sit down to play the fish, I want to know where he is.
Quite often, such a player will be easy to spot: the values 45/12/1.2 and 45/35/19 (VPIP, PFR, 3B) are usually immediately noticeable, but sometimes you have to dig deeper. The easiest way to identify a fish is to look for "extreme" stats, i.e. those stats that have gone far up or down from the expected norm. And then you need to think about a way to drive your opponent into a situation where this face can be used. If you are playing against a fish, then the strategy for withdrawing his money is worth starting to think over even before the cards are dealt.
Before the action started
When faced with some sort of action, or faced with the choice of whether to open the game or not, we need to look at our own stats first. Hold'em Manager shows our own stats separately for each session, so it's important to keep your image in mind as it will influence opponents' play trends. Even a very weak opponent who will fold to a 3-bet 90% of the time will start adjusting if we play 100% of our hands and c-bet 20% of the time.
Also, these stats are incredibly important if you are not playing with regulars. After all, the regular with whom you have already played, looking at your HUD, will see the stats from all your past meetings. So remember that even if you've been playing tight this whole session, your opponent may still think you're a loose player. This is especially true for regulars, which this moment multi-table - they just don't have time to pay attention to your playstyle changing.
It is also important to look at the win rate (bb/100) of players who have already entered the hand. The point is obvious enough, but people often forget that we should get into the hand more often with players who are losing rather than winning.
Preflop in an open pot
This is one of the easiest situations, but we need to keep in mind the 3-bet frequency of the opponents behind us and the Fold/Call stats of the small and big blind players and adjust our range accordingly. In many places we can open play from the button with any two cards if the small blind and big blind have close to 80% fold stats, especially if they have a high Fold to C-bet stat.
Preflop after limp
When faced with a limp, the first thing to look at is VPIP/PFR stats. In general, limpers tend to be loose-passive players like 43/12 who are a pleasure to play with. But beware of strong regs and tight limpers who limp into the pot. This could very well be a strong hand if the table is aggressive enough. And even if not, then a good regular in such situations will be balanced enough to easily block us. And playing guessing games with a strong player, given the fact that he took the initiative, is not the best situation to play, especially if you are playing out of position. Here you can also view the Limp Re-Raise stat, but you will have to deal with it yourself.
The next stat I look for in situations like this against loose/passive fish is the Limp Fold. Maybe the limper will just give up? Let's say a loose-passive fish limps into the pot from a hijack and we raise to 4.5xBB from the button. We are risking 4.5BB for the opportunity to get 2.5BB. In this case, our opponents should fold 64% of the time so we can break even if we forget for a second about the cards we're sitting with. That is, if we check-fold postflop every time we get called preflop (which, of course, is not true, since sometimes we will catch a hand, or we can force a passive player to fold with a c-bet).
If your opponent has a low Limp Fold level, then check his Fold to Flop C-bet, Fold to Turn C-Bet stats and Fold to River C-Bet. If any of these stats have a high percentage, then we can squeeze that limp and shove it on the flop, turn or river, again without looking at our own hand. But it is worth noting that these stats must be really high. If a player limps 35% of their hands, but only folds 10% of them to a squeeze, then shoving against them is worth only having a good value hand, since it will be quite problematic to knock them out of the hand.
The more stubborn our fish preflop and postflop, the better hand we need to squeeze his limp.
While we can still keep raising with a wide range, raising with any two hands becomes extremely unprofitable. It is better to wait for a hand that fits well on the board and allows you to extract value from the worst/dominated hands. Problematic hands like KJ and A9 also work well against such an opponent, as quite often you will encounter a similar hand, but a worse kicker.
However, if we catch a strong hand on the flop, it's worth using the reverse strategy against loose-passive players who fold post-flop. Under these conditions, we prefer to check the flop or the turn to extract the maximum value from our opponent, who is unlikely to call us with a wide range on all three streets.
It is also worth noting that in those cases when we will shoot out several barrels, we will need to check the opponent's Check Raise Flop C-Bet and Check Raise Turn C-Bet stats. If our loose-passive opponent has a low Fold to C-Bet stat and a high Check Raise stat on one of the streets, then we're only setting ourselves up when we fold barrel after barrel with a weak hand. Against these types of opponents, value betting is the main weapon. You need to shove with strong hands and hope that your opponent check-raises us with a wide range. And in order to determine when to call them wider, you need to develop a separate skill.
Also, before squeezing against a limper, it's worth looking into the 3-bet/squeeze stats of other aggressive players who haven't moved yet. Squeezing against loose-passive limpers comes in such a way that many regulars can play resqueeze in this situation, especially if they are in position. Let's say a loose-passive fish limps from UTG+1 and we raise to 4.5xBB from the cutoff. A strong regular then raises to 15bb from the button. Quite often he will do this with a wide range. Although it's still impossible to read the cards he's sitting with right now, a high 3-Bet and stat squeeze can be a beacon for you, signaling that your opponent is most likely playing this move without a strong hand.
If you encounter a requisition after being active, check your opponent's Fold to 4-Bet stat. If this stat and his 3-bet/squeeze stats are high enough, you can 4-bet bluff something like 2.2x his raise, especially if you think your opponent is reacting this way because of your aggression. Quite often, this bet will be enough to knock your opponents out of the game, plus it will prevent further encroachment on your squeeze against a limper. And if your opponent goes all-in, you will know that you will be able to extract more value from him with big hands in the future, since even your 4-bet is not very trusted anymore.
Another risky move is to limp after limp a loose-passive player with AK, Q-Q+ in his hands, in the expectation that one of the aggressive players will make a move behind you. This move will be especially effective if you have maintained a tight or passive image. But for such moves, you need to have a good database of players at your table, and a fairly well-established image.
Raising Preflop
Again, when faced with a raise, we first need to know how often our opponent is raising. Make sure you're looking at the RFI (Raise When First to Move) metric. You want to know exactly what range a player is raising from this position. After all, two different 22/17 players can have completely different open-raising ranges with UTG. Quite often people look at the overall preflop raising range, forgetting about position and the fact that their stats will differ depending on position. Some players may play loose but only raise with premiums from UTG, while others may play extremely tight but raise all the time from the button.
Then you need to check the Fold to 3-bet stat. Make sure you correct for position here as well. Some players, for example, can play very stubbornly from the button or small blind but often fold from other positions, so it's important to know how our opponent will react to our actions from this position, and not just rely on the general values of your HUD's stats . If a player's Fold to C-bet is over 70%, then it's technically profitable to raise against him with any two cards (of course, I'm not saying that you should do it, it's better to play it safe, playing medium-strength hands, suited semi-connectors, broadways etc).
Conversely, if your opponent has a very high Fold to c-bet, then it would be preferable to just call if you have premium hands. If your opponent opens the pot 35% but folds to a 3-bet 90% of the time, then you definitely don't want him to fold when you finally have AA/KK. When you encounter this situation, don't forget to check the stats of the players who haven't moved yet. If there's a LAG or short stack behind you, it's worth checking out his Squeeze percentage stat. If any of these stats are high (say, above 10%), then I would recommend calling in order to provoke an opponent into a squeeze.
If a player has a low Fold to 3-bet stat, many players will avoid 3-betting against them, which is basically a mistake. Let's say our opponent opens 30% of the time from the cutoff but folds to a 3-bet only 50% of the time and 4-bets 10% of the time (assuming all of these percentages include the top of their range). If we 3bet such a player from the big blind and he just calls us, then we can assume that his range of hands will be from 3% to 15% of high cards, that is, from A-9 to A-5 suited, A-Qo, K-Q, J-J to 2-2, and all suited broadwakes and connectors up to 6-5s. And that's a bunch of hands, actually, and most of them are pretty weak.
If the Fold to C-bet level of such a player is also low, then you can 3bet him with almost any two cards, and then pot-bet on the flop and jam the turn, regardless of your hand, and at the same time come out in profit, since your opponent there will almost never be a strong enough hand to support your all-in, given how wide and polarized their range is going to be. If their Fold to C-bet in a 3-Bet Pot stat is high, then just 3-bet them with a wide range and fire a barrel on almost any flop to make money.
Another important stat to consider when facing a raise is the C-Bet Flop/Turn stat. If Villain's RFI and C-Bet Flop stats are high, then he is a good float target, especially if his C-Bet Turn stat is low, but make sure their Turn Check-Raise is not high either. It is also worth checking the Fold Flop/Turn C-bet stats of the opponent.
Let's say your opponent raises 25% of the time from the CO, and c-bets 90% of the time on the flop, it's profitable to call such an opponent with almost any two cards in position, then float his c-bets and jam over his c-bet on turn regardless of what the board shows and what cards you have in your hand. Such an opponent simply won't be able to call the turn often enough not to go into the red in the long run, considering how many bluffs and weak hands he should have in his range after those two barrels. Again, it is better to play such moves with a hand of at least medium strength, or with a draw, in order to at least somehow insure your game.
Conversely, if you catch your hand, then such an opponent can be called even with a marginal hand. In addition, against such opponents, the usual calling with big hands becomes extremely profitable, especially if there is a chance that someone after you decides to play a squeeze.
3-bet preflop
First, we need to check our opponent's 3-bet against position and 3-Bet vs. Open From stat. This second stat is not placed in the standard HUD/pop-up, but I would add it to the pop-up menu if I were you. Personally, I added it to the Default_Preflop pop-up menu, since the 3-Bet by Position stat is also located there. This way we can get a more accurate picture of what our opponent tends to be, say, in the small blind when he is raised by the cutoff, as this reaction may be different from his reaction to a raise from middle position when he is sitting in big blind.
Then you should look at the Fold to 4-bet player's stat. In a 0.5/1 game, take the typical example where someone opens the hand for 3x and the big blind then 3bets to 10x. In this case, there is already $13.50 in the pot, which means that if we make a standard 4-bet of 2.2xBB to $22, then we will need our opponent to fold 62% of the time to break even with this play. with any two cards. But you rarely see a Fold to 4-bet stat with such a high rate, but keep in mind that this is a mixed stat, which means that even though the total may reach, say, 35%, in fact it will much higher for cases where Villain will 3-bet the button's raise from the big blind, or 3-bet the cut-off's raise from the button.
Again, our own image plays a major role here, so don't expect anyone to believe your 4-bets if you've been playing very aggressively before. Here the replacement of cards plays an important role; 4-bet bluffing with hands like A-x and KQ/KJ means that our opponent may have far fewer combinations of hands to 5-bet against us with.
Then you should check the stats C-Bet Flop % in a 3-bet pot and C-bet Turn % in a 3-bet pot. For example, if Villain is 3-betting wide and his C-Bet Flop % in a 3-bet pot and C-Bet Turn % in a 3-Bet Pot are high enough, we should definitely call with our big hands to bait our opponent with the simple plan of calling our opponent all the way to showdown, or picking up the pot post-flop with something like A-K/A-Q (which also provide us with a substitution against big pairs). It is also possible to call with a wide range when in position, hoping that we can take the pot on the flop or turn. Such a strategy implies a high level of variance, but you can earn a lot on it. key point is attention to the size of the stacks of you and your opponent. Also, don't forget that our ultimate goal is to bet with decent fold equity against which our opponent will fold all of his medium hands and small draws, as well as air.
There is also a stat called Fold C-Bet to Raise in a 3-Bet pot that pops up in the pop-up menu if you hold your mouse on a c-bet with a stat, but you just need to accumulate a huge database on this opponent, so that this stat can bring you at least some benefit. I've played 10,000 hands with one aggressive opponent and this situation has only happened 10 times.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that we need to be able to use the 30 seconds that we are given to make the most decisions. effective way, and knowing what specific stats we should look for in any given situation is of particular importance, as it saves us time. I've come to the conclusion that the most effective way to practice this skill is to play big hands in the Holdem Manager player (it displays HUD stats). Check the stats of your opponents for all the actions that they have taken, or for possible responses to your actions.
It's amazing how often information that could save you money is right under your nose, but you just don't notice it. Constantly investing your time and effort into checking stats when you encounter different kind situations, you thus insure against situations where you could miss some obvious reads, which means that you greatly increase your potential win rate.
Hi all!
Last time we came up with and created our own HUD. Let me remind you that it looks like this:
Statistics:
Top line: Name Name/ Number of Hands Total Hands/ Win Rate Win Rate/ Profit to showdown WTSD% (when saw flop) / Win if you saw the flop WWSF% / Win at showdown WonSD%(no small)
Main panel:
Total VPIP TOT VPIP/ Total PFR TOT PFR/ Total Cold Call TOT Cold Call Raiser/ Total 3bet TOT 3bet/ TOT Squeeze/ Post Flop Aggression Factor;
Flop cbet Flop cbet Flop fold to cbet Flop Bet vs missed CB Turn Cbet Turn fold to cbet Turn Bet vs missed CB;
Total 3bet TOT 3Bet/ Total call 3 bet TOT Call 3Bet/ Fold to 3bet TOT Fold to 3Bet/ Fold to cbet in 3bet pot Flop fold to cbet 3Bet pot;
Steel and resteal indicators:
Steal from the cutoff CO Steal/ Steal from the button BTN Steal/ Steal from the small blind SB Steal;
Fold to steal TOT Fold to steal/ Resteal from small blind SB resteal/ Resteal from big blind BB Resteal;
The disadvantage of this HUD is that all indicators are displayed in one color. This is inconvenient: every time you have to think: how much VPIP? 33? Oh, this is a lot (that is, we compare with a certain standard). And every time we look at the numerical value of a statistical indicator, we will call up a standard in our minds, and not just one (there is VPIP 33, but there are 67 - and this is a big difference), compare, spend precious time on this. If there are several indicators, then you can imagine how much time is wasted. Fortunately, there is a way to make the decision easier: coloring indicators based on their value. The essence of the method is that the value of a statistical indicator is divided into ranges, and each range can be colored in its own color. At right approach this saves a lot of time - you just need to guess with the color of the ranges.
So now let's talk about how to color. What definitely cannot be done is coloring randomly. Perhaps your aesthetic sense will require coloring with all the colors of the rainbow, the HUD will shimmer beautifully Christmas tree, but it will be even more difficult for you to navigate in it than in a single color. The color should carry a meaning, and the meaning is obvious, about which it will not be necessary to painfully remember every time what it means. In addition, the approach to coloring should be standardized: it is impossible for a given color to mean one thing for one indicator, and another for another. So it's easy to get confused too. Therefore, it is necessary to come up with a method in which for different indicators the same color meant approximately the same thing. For example, colorize depending on the value of the indicator: low - red, medium - green, high - blue. The criteria for dividing "low - medium - high" - can be taken from experience, from viewing VODs, etc. But this system has a significant drawback - its formal division does not take into account the importance of the indicator. Therefore, I propose to color the indicators according to a different principle. We will color values in red that require a cautious attitude: for example, an under or over 3bet indicator, an overestimated squeeze indicator, etc. Indicators, the use of which can bring additional value, will be colored in yellow. For example, overpriced Flop bet vs missed CB, high fold to steal, high fold to cbet. Green I will paint the optimal values of the indicators. And deep blue - something that goes beyond any reasonable framework.
Determining what is important, what is dangerous, and so on is a subjective process, despite the presence of some average values. You can invent your own color schemes and division criteria, my task is to show the direction of movement. One way or another, in order to create an optimal configuration, the HUD will have to be redone many times.
The next point to consider is the number of situations for calculating this indicator. If a player called the flop twice and folded to cbet once, then formally the Flop fold to CB indicator will be 50, but it is perfectly clear that this value does not mean anything at all. You can set the statistics so that they are displayed starting from a certain number of samples. Thus, you can save yourself from making decisions based on unreliable indicators due to a small sample.
Let's move on to practice. Open Holdem Manager and go to the HUD Settings - HUD Appearance tab. Select the desired HUD from the list, and start setting up:
We select an indicator (for example, the number of hands - Total Hands), start setting the ranges and the corresponding colors. For example, up to 100 samples, from 100 to 200 samples and more than 200. The range is set by its maximum value. We do this for each indicator. In total, up to 5 ranges can be set, the new range is “turned on” by the “ON” button.
For your convenience, I've rummaged through the internet and found some optimal values for 6-max tables, obtained through the Leak Buster program in 2010. I don’t think that something has changed much, in any case, I warned, it’s up to you whether to use it or not:
Income before opening WTSD% (when saw flop) 22 – 28;
Winning if you saw the flop WWSF% 41 - 49;
General VPIP TOT VPIP 15 - 21;
General PFR TOT PFR 14 - 20;
Total cold call TOT Cold Call Raiser 20 – 35;
General 3bet TOT 3bet 5 – 9;
TOT Squeeze 4.5 - 8;
Aggression Factor PostFlop Aggression Factor 2.5 - 4;
CBet flop Flop cbet 60 - 80;
Fold to flop cbet Flop fold to cbet 45 - 60;
CBet Turn Turn Cbet 35 - 50;
General call 3 bet TOT Call 3Bet 20 - 35;
Cutoff Steal CO Steal 18 – 29;
Steal from the button BTN Steal 30 – 50;
Steal from the small blind SB Steal 30 - 50;
Resteal from the small blind SB resteal 6 - 12;
Resteal from the big blind BB Resteal 7 - 12;
Before entering everything into the HUD settings, do not be lazy, make a table in Excel, where you write down the ranges in detail. This will make it easier to carry them, or change them if necessary.
When you decide on the colors, write down in NotePad their numerical designation from the Hexadecimal Notation window, then to accurately set the desired color, you will just need to copy this number. So you will avoid inconsistency in shades and save a lot of time:
For example, my colors are:
Green (optimal): #FF3CD707
Red (careful): #FFF80505
Yellow (Pay attention): #FFF4FF00
Violet (very overestimated): #FFE506DB
The color setting can be tested directly during the game. Open the poker client for which you are adjusting the HUD, after each change, save it with the Apply button and play a few hands to see how the statistics look.
On the Stat Appearance tab, you can set or disable the display of an indicator for Hero - the "Display for Hero" checkbox and for opponents - the "Display for opponents" checkbox. Each indicator can have its own font. If you want to change the font for all indicators at once - this is done on the General Settings - HUD Font tab.
We return to the Stat Appearance tab. The minimum number of samples after which the indicator starts to be displayed is in the Stat Settings–Min Samples block. If you set any number here, then the indicator will not be displayed until the sample reaches this value.
After adjusting in accordance with the color schemes, this is the HUD:
Now we need to play a little to understand what indicators to remove or add, where to change the color. You need to focus on comfort, and carefully analyze your perception of this system of indicators. If something does not suit you, you can change it during the game.
That's all for today. Next time we will deal with pop-ups.
Bye everyone and good luck!
