What's in Your HUD with Mike Webb (mikewebb68)

Regulated online poker is booming in New Jersey, with PokerStars the latest to join the scene in March after receiving its license.  We sat down with New Jersey poker player and PocketFives Moderator Mike "mikewebb68" Webb to understand how he is using poker software in the Garden State.
 
PokerSoftware: What third-party poker software do you use while playing or studying?
 
Mike Webb: I am primarily using HUDs. I use Hold'em Manager 2, and I've seen a lot of streams utilizing other programs such as PokerTracker and Jivaro. I have also seen a lot of hand history software in use obviously as well, including as BoomPlayer. Finally, I've used web-based aids such as PokerStove and the various versions of ICMizer.
 
PokerSoftware: How important is your HUD to your game? Can you use it on all New Jersey regulated sites?
 
Mike Webb: I've been able to use Hold'em Manager 2 on all of the clients except the WSOP NJ/888 network. As for importance, it is helpful when I encounter a random, but for regs I find that my user notes (and I take a ton of them) rarely contradict what a HUD tells me. If my opponent is a great player, the HUD typically backs that up, and if my opponent is a fish, it is rare that the HUD stats tell me otherwise.
 
In New Jersey, there are more regs than randoms, though that is slowly changing with PokerStars, as I've encountered far more randoms there. Therefore, a HUD appears to be more helpful to me on Stars right now.
 
PokerSoftware: Do you find when not using it on WSOP/888 that you are at a disadvantage? How do you adjust to not being able to use the software?
 
Mike Webb: To be honest, I don't find myself at a tremendous disadvantage there since I take so many notes. I probably have notes on thousands of players on the WSOP NJ/888 network alone, and again the HUD rarely contradicts my notes on a particular player. But, I realize that a HUD is also useful for a specific situation where I may not have taken notes. However, situations such as fold to 4-bet percentage, I would often not have the time to focus on a HUD stat that closely since I play at least four to five tables at a time.
 
I would imagine that, for a player who does not take notes, a HUD would be a tremendous advantage for that player since it is essentially taking the notes for them in a way.
 
PokerSoftware: Can you share how and when you are using PokerStove and ICMizer?
 
Mike Webb: Unlike HUDs, I do not use those in-game, but rather postgame when I review hand histories to determine whether I made prudent decisions in key hands.
 
I find those tools very helpful in hand history review, though, since there have been times where I was convinced I made a good mathematical play when, as it turned out, the play was not so good from a math perspective.
 
In general, I would say I use tools like PokerStove more to correct my mistakes than HUDs, which usually only validate my reads on a player.  I've come across relatively few errors where a player I thought was a fish had excellent HUD stats, for example.
 
PokerSoftware: Now that PokerStars has come to New Jersey, how do you compare the software to that of PartyPoker and 888poker?
 
Mike Webb: Now that they have overcome their initial bugs including the sound being a terrible problem for a solid month, not surprisingly PokerStars is clearly the best poker client in the New Jersey market. The look and feel of the client are better than WSOP/888 Poker. The functionality is far superior, from being able to present percent of pot bet amounts to the ability to show one card to more logical time banking. Other than the initial sound issues, I have not encountered another major bug in the software is a tremendous plus.
 
Just having a rebuy function that works in an obvious way is a tremendous, tremendous plus for a rebuy specialist such as myself.  In this regard, WSOP/888 Poker has a serious bug when you can't double rebuy the last hand of a rebuy period.  Borgata/PartyPoker's rebuy function, though bug-free, is difficult to use.
 
PokerSoftware: Have you checked out any of the mobile poker clients?
 
Mike Webb: I have actually played all three clients available in New Jersey on mobile. PokerStars again, is far and away the best, though its mobile version, as with most mobile clients, has some disadvantages compared to its non-mobile version, among which is the fact that much of the customization that I utilized in the non-mobile version does not carry over to the mobile client. But you can multi-table with ease on PokerStars, a feature that Borgata/PartyPoker lacks completely and is cumbersome on WSOP/888.
 
On all of the sites, mobile is an excellent backup for when I lose internet. However, it is not a substitute for the non-mobile client in each case, and I would not recommend using it as your primary source to grind if you are at all serious about poker. Maybe someday the technology will be there, but today it is not in my opinion.

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