Limitations of Online Poker HUDs

In today’s online poker game, Heads-Up Display (HUD) use is prevalent. Whether it’s through poker tracking programs like PokerTracker and Holdem Manager or a standalone device, chances are that your opponents are using one. Just because a player uses an HUD, however, doesn’t mean they’re interpreting the information it provides correctly. HUDs spit out a hefty number of statistics, which can be confusing to the uninformed.

Even though HUDs can provide an overwhelming number of stats, it’s the basic trends that are most often misinterpreted. For example, VPIP – the percentage of pots a player voluntarily puts money into – is a measure of how loose or tight an opponent is playing. A player who is putting money into the pot often is loose and a player who isn’t is tight; users then extrapolate this and assume that loose players are bad and tight players are good, which couldn’t be further from the truth. When consulting HUD stats, it’s important not to build them up as representations of something they aren’t – in this case, a direct indication of whether or not a player is bad or good. An analysis of a single statistic is never that straightforward.

Another way in which HUD-dependent players misconstrue VPIP is by failing to recognize that the stat is listed as an average of all positions. For example, a player could be extremely tight in early to middle position and hyper-aggressive in late position, but his overall VPIP would appear as average. What it really comes down to is this: VPIP is a very basic indication of an opponent’s tendencies, but in order to obtain a true sense of their play, users need to observe how their opponents act on all streets from different positions at the table.

PFR, a stat that shows a player’s pre-flop raising percentage, is similarly misunderstood. For example, it’s incorrect to assume that just because a player has a high PFR, he’s also aggressive on the flop, turn, and river. By the same token, a player with a low PFR might not necessarily shut down post-flop. Put simply, HUD users need to be cautious about using stats for specific streets or actions as markers of an opponent’s overall playing style. Just because a player plays one way pre-flop doesn’t mean his strategy is the same after the cards come down.

It might seem obvious, but proper HUD use varies depending on what game is being played and, if you utilize an HUD for two different variations, it can get confusing. In a recent interview with PokerSoftware.com, CardRunners pro Tony “Tpiranha” Pirone outlined a few of the differences between HUD use in Limit and No Limit games:

“Some things that are very important in No Limit are how often your opponent is 3betting, how often they are calling/folding to 3bets, and also folding to 4bets. The latter stats are virtually useless in Limit because opponents are never folding to 3bets and 4bets.”

In the end, the lesson to be learned is that HUDs are a tool, not a crutch. HUDs should be used to gain valuable information about opponents, but ultimately, the stats need to be applied and interpreted correctly in order to be helpful. Simply looking at the numbers and making blanket assumptions is going to do more harm than good.