Yorky Pud

So you have gone to the Holdem Manager website and downloaded the free 15 day trial but you don't have a clue which statistics you should use for your shiny new Heads-Up Display (HUD). Don't worry as this is a very common problem due to the plethora of statistics now at your finger tips.

Players who are completely new to a HUD would not go far wrong by using the default statistics because this basic information is often enough to help you make a decision. However, once you begin to delve deeper into the dark world of poker statistics then you will want to add more and more of them to your HUD. I will start this piece by saying I only ever use a HUD for short-handed cash games so my HUD is optimised for such games. If you play heads-up cash games, SNG or MTTs then you might want to tweak yours accordingly. Also, any mention of “pop-up” means when you hover your mouse over a specific statistic, another window opens up that displays more information.

My HUD is what is known as a four row HUD, it used to be three but I have recently added a couple of more statistics to it. The very first item I added was “abb name” which stands for abbreviated name and is self explanatory. The only time I have ever needed this displayed is when checking that the statistics are being displayed on the relevant player. The rest of the statistics listed below are how they appear in Holdem manager so you can find them easier.

First column

My first row contains VPIP, Preflop Raise, Agg Factor and Hands, these are the core statistics you should be building your HUD around. VPIP is an acronym for Voluntarily Put $ Into Pot and shows how often a player puts money into the pot, ie how tight or loose a player is. Preflop Raise is another obvious one in that it shows how often a player makes a raise before the flop where as Agg Factor (aggression factor) will show you how often a player bets or raises instead of simply checking or calling. Finally, the Hands statistic shows how many hands you have logged for that player, a very important but basic number to know because certain statistics are meaningless in the short term.

Second column

The first row covers the basics where the second column on my HUD adds some extra meat to the preflop bones. Here I display 3-bet, Fold to 3-bet, Four bet and Fold to four bet, statistics that are very useful for short-handed cash games. They are all very straightforward in that they are like Ronseal and do exactly what it says on the tin!

Third row

The first two rows deal with the preflop side of things and help you to paint a picture of your opponent (agg factor is a post-flop statistic) so now we need some help once the flop has been dealt. In the third column I like to have Flop CB, Fold to flop CB, Steal and Fold vs Steal. Flop CB shows, as a percentage, how often the player in question makes a continuation bet so it should be obvious that fold to flop CB shows how often a player folds to a continuation bet. These two statistics are handy for knowing what line to take after you have raised preflop, a player with a high fold to continuation bet should be bet into at will as you will often pick up the pot uncontested where as a player who continuation bets a very high percentage is ripe for check-raising on the majority of board.

I prefer to use the Steal statistic instead of the Steal BTN or Steal CO simply because the pop-up that comes with Steal shows these figures anyway and this saves some space. Like many of the Holdem Manager statistics, this is shows as a percentage and shows how often a player attempts to steal, that is makes a raise when first in, from the cutoff seat or on the button. Again, habitual stealers are great for three-betting light, especially if they have a high fold to three-bet statistic. See how all these numbers work together? Great aren't they? The last figure in this column is Fold to steal, which is again obvious as it shows how often a player gives up their blinds without a fight. Also, the pop-up attached to this is useful as it displays how often they defend by calling and also three-betting.

Fourth row

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article I have recently added two statistics to my repertoire, these are Went to showdown and Won $ at showdown. These two statistics take a long time to actually mean anything but can give you a great insight into players who will either call you off lightly on the river or will always show up with the nuts, or close to, each time they make it to fifth street.

So that is my personal HUD setup and I know there are many people who have the exact same statistics on show. I'll be going through each statistic and showing what a good player and bad player should be aiming for but also how long it takes for the statistics to converge and actually be meaningful. Stay tuned, I'll get this next piece up ASAP.