What's in Your HUD with Chris Moon (MovesLikeDarvin)

PokerSoftware recently sat down with Tournament Poker Edge instructor Chris Moon, who is better known in the online poker world by his handle MovesLikeDarvin. We grilled him on his use of poker software, his thoughts on various tracking sites, why he thinks a popular poker tracking software should charge annually, and what he places in his online poker Heads-Up Display.

PokerSoftware: Do you use any poker software programs currently or have you used them in the past? If so, which ones?

Chris Moon: I currently use Holdem Manager 1. I've used it for about 18 months now and haven't used anything else besides it.

PokerSoftware: Which types of poker software do you think are detrimental to the industry or unethical?

Chris Moon: I think datamining and stat sharing are fundamentally unethical. They incorporate information you didn't gather or "pay to see," as old-timers would call it.  I used to think using HEM, other stat trackers, or any software that didn't come in the download bundle from a site like PokerStars should be against that site's TOS.

I used to feel like anything else was an unfair built-in advantage. Otherwise, decent players who were unfamiliar with Holdem Manager's software would just download a poker client and immediately be behind stat tracking users. I don't necessarily feel differently now, but I accept that it's in all players' best interests to use and in every site's best interest to allow third-party software in their TOS, so that kind of software is here to stay.  Plus, if the example of Bovada's idea is any indication of how a HUD-less industry would have to look, I'd say count me out.

PokerSoftware: What are your thoughts regarding tracking sites like Official Poker Rankings, Sharkscope, Top Shark, and PokerTableRatings?

Chris Moon: I have a subscription to Sharkscope. I don't use anything other than the default stats that come with the searches, like MTT count, profit graph, total profit, and cashes. I also don't buy too much into the "ability" column either.

Like with Holdem Manager and HUDs, I don't necessarily agree with the presence of such information in-game, but if it's legal and available to everyone else, then I'm going to use it as well. I also see benefits in it. To get staking deals on forums early in my career, I had to demonstrate that I was a winning player. Without OPR or Sharkscope, I don't know how else I would have been able to accurately do so. These sites certainly act as useful tools that make the poker market in general more informed and thus run more efficiently. I think Sharkscope and OPR have net benefits to the industry as a whole.

PokerSoftware: Which do you prefer: playing poker with a mouse, using auto hotkeys, or using a USB controller like the Xbox 360?

Chris Moon: So far, I have only played with just a mouse and wouldn't look to change any time soon. I don't have Table Ninja or anything like that.

PokerSoftware: Overall, what do you think about the pricing of poker software?

Chris Moon: Although the price works out well for me, I don't like that companies like HEM offer one-time price licensing for their software, as I feel it provides a disincentive for them to provide upgrades, fix bugs, and improvements their product. HEM stands to make more money if they hold out better upgrades or new ideas for a future version that they can sell at a new price. I would much rather HEM charge a yearly licensing fee like other computer software so that everyone who uses it is on the same page and receives better, more timely upgrades.

PokerSoftware: How useful or important is your HUD in your daily game play?

Chris Moon: My HUD is useful for sure, but I feel like I could do fine without it. Many pros who are better than I am don't use a HUD at all for various reasons. It certainly helps some of my decisions when I am playing enough tables that I need to make each decision quicker than I normally would.

PokerSoftware: Which HUD stats do you believe should be displayed by default?

Chris Moon: The ones I have by default are VPIP/PFR/Steal/3b and Aggr/Cbet/Fold2Cbet. I've adjusted that around since originally getting the software.

PokerSoftware: Which HUD stats do you believe are undervalued and overvalued?

Chris Moon: I would say PFR can be overvalued at times, especially when your HUD doesn't distinguish by position very well, doesn't break down PFR by stack size, or when your hand samples include mostly pre-ante versus ante hands. This could skew your stats and ultimately lead to you making less informed decisions than you think you're making. 

I think number of hands in the sample is grossly undervalued. I've heard people say that after 15 to 25 hands, you start to get an idea and your HUD stats begin to resemble true values. I consider the stats "readless" until I hit 100 hands or more, and even then I'm not weighing too much importance on the numbers in my decision-making process.

PokerSoftware: Are there any improvements you think would be useful for HUDs overall?

Chris Moon: If it's not a feature already, it would be best if your HUD stats were automatically broken down by stack size, pre-ante versus ante, and maybe even position and changed when these factors changed in-game so you don't have to mouse over.

For example, let's say a villain with 40 big blinds is running 24/18/36/2.5 with a stack of 28 to 50 big blinds, but loses a chunk of his stack and falls to 16 big blinds. Presumably, he's going to be opening a lot less and 3bet shoving a lot more. If your HUD stats on his screen name now instantly change to reflect HUD stats you have on him with this stack size, you would have a good idea how to proceed.

Although this would mean you need five to 25 times more hands for your sample to be statistically relevant, the net result would be you having much better information, especially against regs.

Chris Moon is a pro instructor with Tournament Poker Edge and also offers hand history review coaching on an individual basis. He can be contacted on the forums or on Twitter (@thechrismoon).