HUD in poker — decoding the main indicators of statistics

Modern poker statistics programs, such as Holdem Manager 3 or Hand2Note, provide users with ample opportunities both for home analysis of the hand base and for evaluating the game of rivals directly at the poker table.  Of course, poker is a game with incomplete information, and any such assessment will only be approximate, but some indicators (and especially combinations of several indicators) allow you to accurately imagine the style of the game and the possible actions of your opponent. Statistics can display many indicators, we will touch on only the main ones in this article.

1. The main composition of HUD indicators in poker

Total Hands 
The total number of hands played by a given player. Perhaps it is not quite right to put this indicator in the first place. However, it is very important to understand that the more hands we have for analysis, the more extensive the statistics, the more accurate the conclusions. Assumptions about the style of the opponent's game, based on 10, 20, even 50 hands, are unlikely to be accurate, because a strong hand can simply enter your opponent several times in a row. 

VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money ($) In Pot)
"Voluntary deposit of money into the pot" shows how many hands our villain plays in principle (limp, call, raise or re-raise) and generally reflects the player's style. VPIP also allows you to determine the range of the opponent's starting hands. The higher this indicator is, the more hands the villain plays, the wider his range. 

PFR (PreFlop Raise)
The indicator of the player's activity on the preflop, reflects the percentage of hands when the player enters the game actively using raise, 3-bet, 4-bet, etc. 

ATS (Attempt to Steal)
The percentage of hands with which the player performs active actions from late positions (cut-off (CO), button (BU) and small blind (SB)), trying to steal blinds. Professional players of middle and high limits can have an ATS score of both 50 and 80%. Exerting constant pressure on the blinds is an effective strategy that needs to be resisted (see Resteal (3bet vs Steal)).

3bet
Shows how often the player makes a re-raise (i.e. increases the bet on the pre-flop if there was a raise in front of him). In general, this indicator can also be used to judge how aggressive our villain is. This list is limited to the statistics provided by the most popular GGPoker room today. But let's not stop there! After all, specialized statistics programs provide a much wider scope for analysis. In most rooms, statistics are allowed.

2. Advanced Statistics Indicators

RFI (Raise First In)
The percentage of hands in which the player raises first, i.e. is active if no one has opened the game before. It makes sense to investigate this indicator by positions, since in a balanced strategy the RFI indicator increases from early positions to late ones. 

Steal Pct 
Shows how often the player actively attacks the blinds from late positions. You can call Steal Pct a more advanced version of ATS. It is also advantageous to divide it by positions, since the percentage of "theft" of blinds from the cut-off (CO), button (BU) and small blind (SB) in a balanced strategy will be different.

Agg (Aggression, abbreviated AF)
The indicator of the player's aggression on the post-flop. The balanced indicator will be in the range from 2 to 4:

• Less than 1.5 have the so-called "calling-station", players who bring a lot of hands into the bank and play the pot passively. Play with them carefully, but, having waited for a good hand, pick up the vellya with dense big value bets. But if you get a bet raise from such players - be afraid, they almost bluff, most likely there are two pair and better.
• More than 3 – an aggressive opponent who constantly performs active actions, presses bets and attacks against the check. For a successful game against such opponents, you need to learn to expand your range of 3bet, choose the right moments for check-raising and be ready to open possible bluff with a medium strength hand. 

Flop Cbet
Shows how often a player places an extended bet on the flop after being an aggressor on the preflop. In general, often placing an extended bet is a good strategy, and some schools teach you to do it at 100% of the time, at least in one opponent. Place a bet in a bluff sized 30% of the pot. Read more about bet sizes in our separate article. 

Flop Fold vs Cbet
In contrast to the previous indicator, it shows how often the player passes to the continued bet on the flop. For tournament poker, this indicator does not give much benefit, nevertheless it helps to better understand the range of the opponent on the turn after the c-bet circle, which in some cases is useful.

WonSD% (no small pots) (Won Money at Showdown)
Winning at a showdown without small pots (by small banks we mean that all pot participants waited until the opening, without taking active steps). The higher this score, the more cautious your opponent is. Bluff boldly! But seeing from such an opponent a bet on the river, it is worth pondering and once again assessing the strength of your hand. If the WonSD % (no small pots) falls below 40%, you have an aggressive opponent who tends to bluff himself and open your bluff call.

4Bet Range
Player 4beta range. If there is a very small figure (for example, 1 or 2%), then the opponent 4-betit only with premium hands. 3 - knows how to launch medium hands of the type , , you should not have more than 3 at low limits. But at middle limits, a good indicator for reg player is 4-6%. This means that he knows how to 4-bet and 4-bet to push as a bluff suitable hands for this. 

Cold Call
Shows how often the player calls on the preflop in response to the raise. A high Cold Call score >20 indicates a passive player style, playing so many hands passively is considered a weak strategy. Therefore, a big call rate is one of the main signs of a weak player. Cold call 15-19 is also overpriced, most likely we have a weak inexperienced player in front of us. The optimal figure is 9-15 – we have a professional player with a high probability. And a small indicator of 5-8, most often tells us that we have a nit player who does not know how to defend the big blind. 

Fold To Steal
Shows how often the player refuses to protect their blinds when trying to “steal” them. The higher this indicator is, the more actively, fearlessly, and most importantly, the more profitable we can "stealing", i.e. attack the blinds with a raise from late positions. The most relevant indicator is Fold To Steal BB. If it is >40%, we can use it very actively. If >50%, then we style even more actively, up to 100% of the hands with BU. 

Resteal (3bet vs Steal)
How actively the player protects the blinds from "theft" using 3-bet. At low limits, players often try to defend the blinds with a call, but this is not the optimal strategy. Good players bet a lot for protection, 15-25% – this indicator is at the table. If the resteal is less than 11%, then the player protects the blinds very little through 3-bet. His 3-bets are worth respecting. 

Fold to 3bet
How often the player resets to 3-bet. A good indicator for exploiting active but fearful opponents. The higher the Fold to 3bet (and this figure for microlimit players can be 70, and 80 and even 90%), the more profitable it will be for us to 3 bet such opponents in a bluff as a bluff. The more fold, the more we expand our range of bluff 3bet. Typically, the indicator of a professional is from 40 to 60%:

1. If >60%, we start bluffing more.
2. If <40%, we start bluffing less through 3-bet preflop. 

3. Required number of samples 

Samples – the number of accumulated situations in which a particular indicator of statistics was taken into account.

• For example, we see that the opponent displays the indicator 3-bet -10%. How was it obtained? The opponent could have 10 situations, from which he made one 3-bet. And there could be 100 situations for 3bet, of which the villain made ten 3bets. The second sample is much more indicative. 

From this it can be concluded that the indicator is different - it is necessary to take into account how it was obtained (the number of samples). Due to the fact that the number of hands played on opponents accumulates slowly, in tournament poker we base the preflop statistics on the table. To see the statistics on the flop more or less relevant, we need to have 500-1000 hands per opponent. And to see the current figures for the turn – 5000+ hands. It makes no sense to deduce anything from this beyond the flop. To evaluate the player's VPIP-PFR, to get at least his basic characteristic, we need at least 25-50 hands on him. The remaining preflop stats are 50-100 hands or more. 

4. Combinations of statistics indicators

The most accurate idea of the opponent's style of play, his possible actions and the success of our action against him can be given not so much by individual statistical indicators as by their analysis in aggregate. Arrange them in your HUD so that it is easy to evaluate them in the kit. And it is better to download a professional HUD for HM3 from our trainer. Below are some of the simplest examples. 

VPIP and PFR

The larger the gap between VPIP and PFR, the more we tend to classify the player as recreational, i.e. amateur. In a good player, the difference between these indicators rarely exceeds 7. If the difference is more than 10, it is most likely a weak inexperienced player. 

VPIP and 3bet

If the player has high VPIP and 3bet scores, most likely we have encountered a "maniac". The player likes to play a lot of hands and does it aggressively. Such a player will constantly raise bets on both pre-flop and post-flop, hoping to bluff opponents out of the pot.

PFR and Fold vs 3bet

A player with high PFR and Fold vs 3bet scores will be an easy target for 3bet as a bluff. Such players open too many hands and are forced to drop preflop against 3bet more often than usual. If both indicators are high, the probability increases that the 3-bet fold is actually overestimated, and this is not an error of a small sample of hands on the opponent. 

Cold Call and Flop Fold vs Cbet

As we said, an increased Cold Call is in many cases an indicator of passive preflop play. If the player also has increased Flop Fold vs Cbet, then any continued bet against him becomes very profitable. But if he calls a lot and does not give up on the flop for an extended bet, then we should think about when to bluff on the flop and when not. Or immediately plan a bluff in it with two bets - both flop and turn, because one bet is rarely useful if the fold on the cbet is <40%. 

1. And which stats do you pay the most attention to?
2. Which stats do you find useless?
3. Or what other stats besides those described in the article have you learned to use? Write in the comments.

The best rooms with the ability to use stats in the game, as well as the most suitable for novice players at the start of their career: 

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