What's in Your HUD with PokerStars Team Online: Part 3

In our final installment, we ask members of Team PokerStars Pro whether they feel Heads-Up Displays, or HUDs, are beneficial for the game and get their opinion on PokerStars 7, which was just released out of beta.  Read Part 1 and Part 2.

PokerSoftware:  Do you feel HUDs are good for the game?  Should they be allowed?

Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz:  I feel HUDs are okay for the game. HUDs don't play themselves. You still need to know why and how to use them.

Jorge "Baalim" Limon:  It certainly would make multi-tabling much harder. I believe HUDs shouldn't be allowed, but only if all the other more harmful software is banned first like sit-in scripts. If not, I think it would ridiculous to ban poker tracking software.

Mikhail "innerpsy" Shalamov:  Personally I won't feel bad if HUDs are banned.  They are only good for the regs and not for the game in general.

Felix "xflixx" Schneiders:  I feel it would be better to not allow HUDs, since it would make recreational players feel much more comfortable and the games less transparent and more secure. I don't think a HUD adds much to anyone's game, but there are certainly people who can exploit it better than others through larger databases and via things like data-mined and/or purchased hands.

Andre Brito "acoimbra" Coimbra:  I think they should be allowed and I think they just allow players to be able to play more tables at the same time. As long as the hand histories are not shared among players or sold, it is fine.

Katerina "Katerina289" Malasidou:  I don't think that HUDs are bad for the game and there are many winning players that play without them. HUDs just add an extra component to online poker that doesn't exist when playing live. I think they should be allowed because to many players, including me, this is an extra challenge and makes the game even more interesting.

Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara:  HUDs should be allowed.  If they are prohibited, people will start playing fewer tables, which would be really bad for the site also.

Celeste "LadyMaCe86" Orona:  Of course they should be allowed. They just make it easier to access the data that you have collected while playing.

Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome:  I don't think they are good for the game, as it is just another tool that strengthens the pros versus the recreational players.

Luka "LukaSteel" Kovac:  I feel HUDs are definitely not good for the game. I would rather see them not allowed, if this can actually be enforced.

George "Jorj95" Lind:   HUDs are probably not good for the game, as they let people play more tables robotically than they would be able to play without them, and usually these are winning players.  They probably shouldn't be allowed, but it seems like it would be really hard to police this.

PokerSoftware:  Would you play on a site that has anonymous players?  What types of adjustments would you need to make?

Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz:  I could consider doing that.  However, the most major adjustment for me would be to significantly decrease the number of tables I am playing simultaneously to probably 15-20% of the current number.

Jorge "Baalim" Limon:  No I wouldn't.  It's terrible and would kill online poker, if you can even call poker that. There wouldn't be any kind of exploitive strategy, just pure GTO and a bot haven.

Mikhail "innerpsy" Shalamov:  I would play GTO most of the time and wouldn't mind playing there if it had a lot of recreational players.

Felix "xflixx" Schneiders:  I would love to do that. My game would need to be more technically sound and solid with a general game plan while making my own notes and reads as I go along similar to what I would do in a real live poker game.

Andre Brito "acoimbra" Coimbra:  I wouldn't play incognito games! It removes one of the human elements of the game and makes the game a lot less interesting for me. Screen names might hide an identity to a certain point, but whenever I go to a VIP party, to an EPT tournament, etc. and meet some of the players I regularly play with, we feel like we already have something in common, some sort of bond.

Katerina "Katerina289" Malasidou:  I would not play on a site that has anonymous players. Even when playing live, where HUDs don't exist, people can recognize their opponents and have some idea about how they're playing. Complete anonymity would basically kill a format like the SNG because they're short tournaments in terms of time and don't allow you to develop an idea about the playing style of your opponents.

Even in MTTs, it would be unfair for a player that got moved to a new table and didn't have a clue about how his opponents play when others would know, for example, that Player 1 is aggressive and so on. Also, anonymity takes away all human evidence from the game.  Playing poker against Player 1 makes me feel like I'm playing against a computer.

Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara:  I would never play this.  I do not believe this is even really poker.  We need to keep changing our playing styles depending on who our opponent is and how he plays.  To me, this is the most fun point of poker.

Celeste "LadyMaCe86" Orona:  I wouldn't play on a site with anonymous players. A big part of playing poker is "playing the player." If all players remain anonymous, playing poker would just become a matter of learning ranges and a standard strategy, eliminating the most fun part, which is the metagame and the history between players.

Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome:  I have always been a fan of taking notes on players and liked that you have to develop a read and relationship with each player.  I don't think I would like an entirely anonymous site, but I do like the idea of a 'clean' site where there are no out-of-client tools in play.

Luka "LukaSteel" Kovac:  It depends. Anonymous tables have other problems like collusion, soft-play, hands are not tracked, etc.  Before I join a table, I would probably observe more. I would play an orbit or two and If I don't like the table, I'd change it ASAP. As far as gameplay goes, I'd play like I'm facing five LAGTAGs.

George "Jorj95" Lind:   I would definitely play on a site with anonymous players and actually would prefer this at least as an option.  I feel it would solve a lot of issues with bum-hunting and similar issues.

PokerSoftware:  What are your thoughts about PokerStars 7?   What are your favorite new features?

Felix "xflixx" Schneiders:  I love it. I feel the "Favorites" lobby is the best feature since it helps me find my preferred games quicker.

Randy "Nanonoko" Lew:  I think it's great that PokerStars is always looking to improve the player experience. My favorite feature of PokerStars 7 is the ability to customize the lobby as you please with ease. I think it's great that PokerStars is always looking to improve the player experience.

More articles