If you are going to play
poker online, a HUD -- Heads Up Display -- will pay for itself. Not only in increased earnings, but also in your general awareness for what is actually going on at the poker table in front of you. Whilst it is a bit overwhelming at first, software like Poker Tracker 4 works straight out of the box and will provide you with several stats that will warn you of danger and also help identify opportunities you can exploit.
For example, consider the basic stats:
VPIP - Voluntarily Put In Pot %. This stat essentially shows how tight or loose a person has been playing in the
hands you've sat in on (whether you played or folded). I will use this number to then colour-code players into four classes: Nit (VPIP ,20%), Tight (VPIP 20-29%), Loose/Wide (30-39%), Fish (40%+).
The accuracy of this label is poor with few hands played, but once you have, say, 50 hands with a player, although still potentially inaccurate, it is far better than not knowing.
Applying this to your play then -- you might give more credibility when a Nit fourbets your three bet, or three-bet shoves. Similarly, when up against a Fish, you know you can probably get good value when you hit. I will bet into Nits to steal blinds, but will avoiding trying to
bluff fish.
PFR - Pre-Flop Raise % - This stat measures the frequency of pre-flop raises. If a player has a low PFR (say, <20%), then you should be in a position to give it more respect when it comes along. But if a player has a high PFR, you can open up a bit in your calling strategy. You just know off the bat, that they have aggressive tendencies and you can prepare to trap them.
CB - Continuation Bet % - This is important. Players like me, have a high CB percentage. If I'm in a hand, it's because I want to win it. And to win it, you need to represent the best hand. But from a defensive point of view, if I'm up against players with 80%+ CB value, I can also take *some* comfort that their flop bet doesn't necessarily mean they've hit anything (and, for example, my middle pair might still be ahead). Analogously, if a player with a low CB% comes at me with a half pot bet on the flop and I've completely missed, I can let the hand go. Obviously, this is not always right, but if you can make the right decision a bit more often than without the software, you're already getting an edge.
From an offensive point of view, we have a couple other stats on the HUD out of the box...FCB and F3B
F3B - Folds to 3-Bet % - This is like shooting fish in a barrel. If someone folds 100% to 3-bets, how are you going to play against them? And if it is really low? In that case, 3-bet when you are convinced you're ahead. Just call or fold if you don't.
But essentially these help reduce the amount of unnecessary chip splashing. Remember, your actions are important. You know that you cannot bluff a call-station. But with these added stats, you can avoid getting into positions you shouldn't be in if you set yourself a few guidelines. I'm not going to try and three-bet bluff a person with a low F3B value as I'm likely to get called by that person and leak chips. I can opt out of CBetting if I've swung and missed if I know the CB is not going to induce a fold.
Now we have to take all of this with a grain of salt. Past performance does not necessarily indicate future gains.
But having a HUD WILL FORCE YOU TO THINK ABOUT YOUR DECISIONS...and you'll be doing it with accurate information.
PokerTracker 4 also has a handy little pop-up which can bring up more detailed stats which correspond to each street. And it also records hands played to showdown and highlights their actions when holding certain hole cards (for each street).
Since all of this information can be derived simply from the hand history of hands you've played in, it is totally legitimate data. That is why it is allowed.
You could do it with a paper and a pen and calculator if you had the motivation.
However, programs like ICM are not legitimate whilst playing a live hand. They use data which is not normally to hand for every player at the table. They also base their calculations on algorithms which is not available to players at the table. It performs much more complex probnability calculations which, even if you had the data, you would not have the means to calculate it in time to make a decision. As such, that makes it completely unfair. Additionally, when you use a HUD, you determine where you want to set your boundaries and where you want to act. With ICM, you're playing pure probability game and no longer playing the player.
Anywho...I gotta run.
Good luck at the tables.
ObbleeXY
FCB - Folds to Continuation Bet % - Ditto. But it is
