Using HUD Stats to make reads
Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) have become a pivotal part of online poker, enabling grinders to play multiple tables but still develop good reads on their opponents.
You can use HUD stats to classify players into various types fairly quickly. In this article, we will outline a case based approach for using HUD stats to make reads on opponents. After reading the stats, pause, make your own reads, and then check them with the answers below.
Case 1:
After 50 hands, our opponent has these stats:
VPIP: 74. PFR: 8. Aggression Factor: 0.9. Fold to Cbet: 15%.
What can we tell about this player from these stats? Pause and make your own reads.
- His VPIP tell us that is playing far too many hands. This means his range is weak. With a VPIP of 74, he is almost never folding hands in the blinds. He probably limps a ton in EP.
- His PFR tells us that he is not often the aggressor. Still, a PFR of 8 means he still raises the strongest hands preflop.
- His aggression factor tells us that he rarely bets and raises. Likely, this means he only raises and bets strong hands postflop.
- His fold to Cbet is extremely low. Combined with his massive range, he is probably calling down to the turn with almost any high card or draw, and down to the river with crap pairs and draws.
In other words, we have identified a calling station using HUD stats.
Case 2:
After 100 hands, our opponent has the following stats:
VPIP: 49 . PFR: 39. 3Bet: 15%. Aggression Factor: 3.9. Fold BB to steal: 25%. Fold to Flop Cbet: 20%. Flop Cbet: 100%. Turn Cbet: 100%
What can we tell about this player from these stats? Pause and make your own reads.
- His VPIP tell us that is he is playing a wide and weak range.
- His PFR and 3bet tells us that he raises a ton preflop, and prefers to enter the pot raising than calling.
- His low fold BB to steal hints he likely re-steals a ton.
- His aggression factor is extremely high. This player is mashing the raise and bet button with a wide range.
- His fold to flop Cbet is very low. You expect this player to be raising a ton of cbets.
- His Flop Cbet and Turn Cbet are 100% over 200 hands. He is likely barreling most of his range when he has initiative.
In other words, we have identified an aggro monkey using HUD stats.
Case 3:
After 50 hands, our opponent has the following stats:
VPIP: 13. PFR: 9. Aggression Factor: 1.8. Fold BB to steal: 70%. Fold to Cbet: 65%.
What can we tell about this player from these stats? Pause and make your own reads.
- His VPIP tell us that is he is playing an incredibly strong range.
- His PFR tells us that he raises the strongest hands preflop but likely doesn’t steal much.
- His aggression factor is higher. Bear in mind his VPIP is only 13. For a range that narrow, you would expect him to raise and cbet more as his range will contain far more nut hands. He likely has an even narrower postflop raising and betting range than the calling station.
- His fold to Cbet is high. He is likely not continuing with anything worse than top pair or decent draw.
- His fold to steal is high. He probably hates playing out of position and doesn’t feel comfortable without high card hands.
In other words, we have identified a nit using HUD stats.
Conclusion
Using HUD stats can allow you to make incredibly quick and accurate reads on your opponents. In the upcoming weeks, I will revisit these three players and discuss how to make an optimal gameplan against them.
