Maximizing Your HUD

Maximizing Your HUD Part 4: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win | Podcast #60

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 3, 2016 5

This is the fourth episode in my Maximizing Your HUD series: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win. In this episode, I teach you about percentage form and how to color code your HUD stats. This helps for quick and easy reference and to find frequency exploits in a player’s game.

Listen to episode #60: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win

What do these numbers really mean? (4:00)

So far in this series I’ve discussed HUD usage for online poker. I gave you the essential elements that every HUD needs, as well as additional stats that you can use to exploit your opponents. I also talked about the popups and why they’re so useful, and I gave you some ways you can practice using your HUD.

But we haven’t really discussed how to understand and think about the numbers in your HUD. What does it mean when “Robbing Robbie” raises from the BTN 75% of the time, what’s it mean when “Fit-or-Fold-Francis” cbets only 20%, and how strong is “Debbie-Double-barrels” range of hands when she’s cbetting the flop and turn 70% of the time?

Percentage Form (4:45)

The first step to understanding the stats we see on the HUD is understanding Percentage Form. This is a shorthand way to describe a range of hands. Instead of saying, “He 3bets Jacks or better and AK” you can just say, “He 3bets 3%” and someone versed in percentage form will understand that.

Get Flopzilla Pro to help you learn ranges in percentage form.

Enter in a range of hands and it’ll tell you the % of hands that comprises. There’s a huge difference between a 10% range and a 50% range of hands, and understanding this is very useful for hand reading.

HUD’s give us the % of how often somebody does something, which helps us be more technical players rather than feel players. Knowing how often they perform certain actions, which tells us the likely range of hands they’re doing it with, helps us to make plans and develop plays to combat them.

Pre-flop Raise

PFR is the % of the time that a player put in any raise pre-flop. This stat tells us how aggressive a player is.

If a nitty player has a tiny PFR of 5%, it means he only raises 5% of the time, or 1 in 20 chances. That’s only 77+, AK and AQs. He’s not even raising AQo, AJ, KQ, or 22-66.

Contrast this with an opponent who raises 30%, which is 6x more often than the nitty player opens, so it’s 6 out of every 20 chances. In the picture below, we see that 30% is any pp, A2s+, A7o+, every Broadway, K2s+, Q8s+, J8s+, 75s+ and 54s+.

That’s percentage form in action: looking at a stat and being able to understand what range of hands it correlates to.

3bet

This stat tells us how often the player decided to 3bet pre-flop. It’s another stat that looks at a players aggression and the % we see here is very telling.

You’ll often encounter people who only 3bet 2-3% of the time, which is JJ+ and AK. That’s it, just value hands.

Contrast this with somebody who 3bets 6% which is 99+ AQ and KQ. Quite a bit looser than the 3% 3bettor. And at 12% we’re looking at 55+, AT+ and KJ+. Now that’s getting aggressive with lots of hands that aren’t really doing so for value.

Cbet

Stat percentages tell you how often a player does something, but doesn’t always correlate to a range of hands. Cbet, or continuation bet, tells us how often the player bets at the flop given that he made the last raise pre-flop.

So a cbet of 20% means he bets the flop as the pfr only 2 out of every 10 times. A Cbet of 70% means he bets the flop 7 out of 10 times. That’s a huge difference, and one is obviously more aggressive than the other. But what do these two percentages really tell us?

We know that most ranges only “hit” the flop about 33% of the time. By hitting the flop I mean flopping TP+ or an OESD+. We know this by using a program like Flopzilla Pro that shows us how often a range of hands will hit flops. Here’s a screenshot of Flopzilla showing how a 25% raising range hits an average flop 34.2% of the time:

If an opponent has a cbet higher than 33%, you know he bets when he doesn’t hit the flop well, and the higher the % the more often he’s bluffing. If the cbet is below 33%, then you know he’s fit-or-fold and only fires when he hits the flop really well.

Color Coding for the Win (12:05)

Statistical Ranges

Color coding stat percentages helps to quickly spot frequency issues in your opponent’s game.

For PFR, I use a red/yellow/green/orange color scheme for my stat ranges. Red designates nitty stats, yellow is for reg stats, green for fishy and orange is for beyond fishy like LAG’s and donks.

So my own color coding ranges for PFR are:

0-8% and color coded red, which denotes a nitty player who raises infrequently
8-18% and color coded yellow, to denote a reg player who is raising somewhere in the range that’s considered to be optimal
18-24% and color coded green, which denotes a player getting too loose and aggressive with the hands they choose to raise
24-100% and color coded orange to denote a LAG or very donkish player

Another way that color-coding helps to spot frequency issues is when two different stats have opposite colors. For example, if their flop cbet is green (which is high and fishy or aggressive) and their turn cbet is low and red (which is nitty), then you know the opponent is turn honest and only bets here with the goods. This is like an opponent with a cbet of 70% on the flop then only 30% on the turn. Target these guys and take it away from them when they check the turn.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to color code your ranges, and even the ranges you select aren’t right or wrong. It’s just your opinion and whatever helps you exploit your opponents.

Ultimately, what I recommend you doing is writing down each stat in your HUD, and on a scale of 1-100, give thought into the ranges that comprise a nit’s, a reg’s, a fish’s and a LAG’s ranges.

My color coding ranges for:

3bet

0-6% red
6-9% yellow
9-16% green
16-100% orange

Cbet

0-50% red
50-66% yellow
66-100% green

Backgrounds and Font Sizes

Another part of color coding to make stats more user-friendly and quick to identify is background colors and font sizes. I increase the font sizing of the most important stats in my HUD, namely stack size in BB’s, VPIP and PFR.

The other thing I do is color code the backgrounds of stats that work well together. If you look at the screen shot of the 6max SNG & MTT SMART HUD below, you’ll see the following:

Steal related stats all have a black background
RFI, Fold to 3bet and 4bet are all teal
Calling 2bet and 3bet stats are dark grey
Cbet flop and turn stats are green
And Fold to cbet flop and turn stats are on an olive background

Ultimately, it’s up to you to make your HUD as user-friendly as possible, and the goal should always be to make it so your HUD helps you exploit your opponents. That’s why you’re using the HUD after all.

Podcast Challenge (16:10)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: Create some of your own color coding ranges for the most important stats in your HUD. I recommend doing this for the stats mentioned today, as well as Attempt to Steal, Fold to Cbet, # of Hands Played and VPIP. Take the time to create these on your own, giving careful thought to what the percentages mean. Use Flopzilla Pro to aid you in this process. This practice of thinking about each individual stat and what the possible percentages mean will be great for your ongoing poker development.

Other Episodes in the Maximizing Your HUD Series

1st Part: HUD Essentials

2nd Part: Exploiting Opponents

3rd Part: Using Popups

Purchase the SMART HUD

Get 10% off my SMART HUD for PokerTracker 4. It includes a 1.5 hour webinar showing you how to use it. It’s the best HUD in the business, so don’t pass this one up.

And if you don’t own PokerTracker 4 yet, if you purchase PT4 through my affiliate link and forward me your email confirmation, I’ll send you my SMART HUD for free. What a deal!

Maximizing Your HUD Part 3: Using Popups | Podcast #58

By Sky Matsuhashi on April 26, 2016 4

This is the third episode in my Maximizing Your HUD series: Using Popups. Utilizing the HUD is great, but it’s the popups that really allow you to get in there and rip your opponent’s game to shreds.

The default popups that come with PT4 can be too complicated with stats all over the place and organized in a very non-user friendly way. I’ll teach you the most important considerations for the stats within your popups, so that you can avoid overwhelm and actually put them to use.

Listen to episode #58: Using Popups

Popups Reveal More Detailed Statistics (3:30)

All the stats in your HUD are “total stats,” meaning they count all instances of the statistic. Using popups that highlight stats under different conditions allows us to answer questions like the following:

How often does he open from MP?
Does he fold more often versus Cbets when OOP?
How often does he float the flop, the turn or the river?
How often does he cbet in 3bet pots?

IP or OOP

Being positionally aware is important in poker, and playing IP allows for better decisions to be made, which is going to likely lead to more profits. Also, knowing how your opponent’s play differs by relative position will help you make better decisions and more profits.

Here are the stats you want in your popups based on relative position:

Cbet & Fold to Cbet & Raise vs Cbet
Check Raise & Fold to Check-raise
Float Bet & Fold to Float
Donk Bet & Fold to Donk Bet

By Specific Position

Seeing some stats by specific position allows you to see how opponents view each position.

Here are some great stats to have by specific position in your popups:

VPIP
RFI
Call 2bet
3bet & Fold to 3bet & 4bet
Squeeze
Attempt to Steal & Fold vs Steal & Fold vs Resteal
Limp/call & Limp/fold & Limp/raise

By Street

Seeing stats by street allows you to know which street your opponent gets honest on.

Here are some great stats to have by street in your popups:

Cbet & Fold to Cbet & Raise vs Cbet
Check Raise & Fold to Check-raise
Float Bet & Fold to Float
Donk Bet & Fold to Donk Bet
Aggression Frequency

2bet or 3bet Pots

It’s good to see some very common stats broken down by 2bet and 3bet or more pots. Some players really fight for 3bet pots and others treat them like any normal 2bet pot.

Here are some great stats to have 3bet pot versions of in your popups:

Cbet & Fold to Cbet & Raise Cbet
Fold Cbet to a Raise
Fold to Float, Fold to Donk and Fold to Probe

My Popups (12:15)

Podcast Challenge (17:20)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: Commit to utilizing one of your popups for each session this week. If it’s the default “Tools” popup in PT4, or your own Cbet popup, or my Steal Popup if you purchase my SMART HUD, whatever, your goal this week will be to use it for every relevant decision made at the tables. Write out on a piece of paper each element of the HUD to help train yourself in its contents and their placements. Color code backgrounds or fonts to help you spot important stats for quick reference. Don’t consider your task complete until you’ve mastered this one popup, even if it takes you 10 sessions to do so. Once mastered, move on to the next.

Other Episodes in the Maximizing Your HUD Series

1st Part: HUD Essentials

2nd Part: Exploiting Opponents

4th Part: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win

Purchase the SMART HUD

Get 10% off my SMART HUD for PokerTracker 4. It includes a 1.5 hour webinar showing you how to use it. It’s the best HUD in the business, so don’t pass this one up.

And if you don’t own PokerTracker 4 yet, if you purchase PT4 through my affiliate link and forward me your email confirmation, I’ll send you my SMART HUD for free. What a deal!

Maximizing Your HUD Part 2: Exploiting Opponents | Podcast #56

By Sky Matsuhashi on April 19, 2016 3

This is the second episode in my Maximizing Your HUD series: Exploiting Opponents. In this episode, I’ll help you build out your HUD with some key stats for exploiting opponents both pre and post-flop.

You’ll learn more about Raise First In, Raise/Fold to 3bet, Cbet and Fold to Cbet stats over multiple streets. I’ll also teach you how you can practice using your HUD to aid in decisions through stat-dedicated hand history reviews.

Listen to episode #56: Exploiting Opponents

More Stats for Exploiting Opponents (3:25)

Raise First In (RFI)

RFI stat is slightly different than PFR in that it only counts hands and opportunities where the action was folded around to him and he decided to open the pot with a raise. The bigger the RFI %, the wider and weaker his opening range. You’ll use the RFI % to determine your likely equity and play accordingly by either calling to see the flop, or 3betting for value, 3bet bluffing or just outright folding pre-flop.

Raise/Fold to 3bet

This is a great stat to have, especially when you’re up against an active open-raiser and if you like to use aggression and make 3bets to blow people off their hands. Know what you’re trying to accomplish with your 3bet before you make it. You’re committing extra chips to the pot (sometimes 9bb’s+) so make sure you also have a plan for the flop should he continue. If you’re on a stone bluff, you’d like to see a high Fold to 3bet, but if you’re going for value then you want to see a very low Fold to 3bet as you don’t want him to get away from hands that you dominate.

Remember that the higher their fold to 3bet % is, the more worrisome it is when they decide to call or 4bet over your 3bet. If you expect a fold most of the time, but they do something different, then having that plan for the flop before you made the 3bet will really help you to save money in the hand (or make additional money when you flop strong).

Combo Stat for Exploiting Opponents: RFI and Fold to 3bet

These two stats are great to have next to each other. Here are some combos to look for:

High RFI, High Fold to 3bet: (example 30% and 85%) These guys open wide and ditch to aggression. They’re one pump stealers, so punish them by 3bet bluffing until they wise up and adjust their ranges or start calling you.

Low RFI, Low Fold to 3bet: (ex 10%, 40%) These guys open a narrow and strong range, so they don’t give up that easily vs 3bets. Generally 3bet these guys for value or with an Ace blocker.

High RFI, Low Fold to 3bet: (ex 30%, 55%) These guys are aggressive and love to see flops as they’ll call your 3bets with very wide and weak ranges. You can open up your value 3bet range vs these guys especially when IP as you can use your position post-flop to help you take down bloated 3bet pots.

Low RFI, High Fold to 3bet: (ex 10%, 70%) These guys raise strong ranges, but they see doom whenever someone 3bets them and they think they’re up against AA or KK, so they ditch way too strong of hands like TT & JJ. If you find a guy like this, 3bet him liberally but beware b/c they’re more likely to defend w/4bets if you start doing this too much.

Flop & Turn Cbet

This is the best flop stat that I use to gauge my opponent’s tendencies. Given that a given hand only hits the flop about 33% of the time (solid draw or pair +), the % here indicates what types of hands he bets with as the pre-flop raiser. If over a good sample he’s cbetting 30-40%, then I know he only cbets when he hits and checks when he misses. If he’s up around 75% or more, then they like to mix it up and bluff a bit, counting on the initiative by being the pre-flop raiser to take the pot down. The hardest % to dissect is right around 50-70% over a good sample. This is probably a decent player who mixes it up, and possibly uses a HUD himself to gauge when and if he should Cbet.

Before you decide to play a hand pre-flop, you must look at this stat before you click ‘Call’ or ‘Raise.’ Knowing his tendencies on the flop will help you decide whether or not to play your hand. If he’s got a high Cbet then you can take it away on the flop with a c/r steal or a raise IP. If he’s got a low Cbet stat then you can c/f or c/r for value, and if you’re IP then a Flop Float (bet after a missed Cbet) could be in order. As with any bet you make, know what you’re going for before you make it. The same basic parameters of the Cbet Flop stat can be applied to the turn.

Combo Stat for Exploiting Opponents: Cbet Flop & Turn

These two taken together are a powerhouse combo that tells you how willing your opponent is to fire multiple bullets and tells you which street they become honest on. If they’re both low and he fires both streets, then you’d better have a very compelling reason to stick around to the river as he’s probably got TPTK+. If he’s high in both, then on the flop you need to make a decision before you call as to what you’ll do on the turn b/c he’ll likely barrel it. Always have a plan for the next street which includes more ways to win the pot than to just make your hand.

Flop & Turn Fold to Cbet

Besides Flop Cbet, Fold to Flop Cbet is a super important flop stat on your HUD. Hands hit the flop only 33% of the time, so if he’s got a Fold to Flop Cbet of 70%+, then you’ve got a flop honest player and you need to cbet with all of your air. Should he call, you can easily give up knowing he’s got a piece of it. If his stat is lower, like 35% fold to cbet, then you need to cbet all of your value hands and give careful thought to the board texture before you decide to cbet bluff. When opponents have a middle of the range % like 40-60% over a good sample, they’re pretty hard to dissect. They like to continue with all strong hands of course, but also with draws and over cards and just plain air (they might also look at your stats, and if you’re a one-and-done player they’ll call with a plan to take it away on the turn).

The Fold to Turn Cbet stat works the same as the Fold to Flop Cbet, but takes on the most relevance when looked at in combination with it. This does help us when deciding to take advantage of light flop cbet callers and getting more value from those “unbelieving” opponents who call multiple streets with mediocre hands.

Combo Stat for Exploiting Opponents: Fold to Flop & Turn Cbet

This combo will simplify your flop play. If his Fold to Flop Cbet is 30% and his Fold to Turn Cbet is 80%, then you know you can double-barrel bluff him off many hands. But, if you’re going for value you can bet big on the flop and smaller on the turn to encourage him to call again. If the opposite stats are true, like 70% Fold to Flop Cbet and 30% Fold to Turn Cbet, then you know he only gets to the turn with the goods, so double-barrel bluffs would be a bad idea, but you can bet bigger on the turn for value as he’s likely got a hand he can call with.

Practicing Using the HUD in Hand History Reviews (14:30)

How do we go about learning how to use these stats for exploiting opponents? In part one of this series (HUD Essentials), I discussed the three ways in which we do this: learn what the stats tell you, learn the layout and play with intent.

There’s one practice that helps with all three of these things, and that is using the HUD during every hand history review session.

Hand history reviews provide the time to pause the action for as long as you need, sift through your notes, dig into the HUD and popups, find the information you need, and determine if your decision can be backed up with good intel gathered from your stats.

Practice like this off-the-felt will ingrain in your mind all the stats, their uses, how they work together and their placement in your HUD and popups. This will make for more on-the-felt comfort when using your HUD, and will lead to better exploitation of your opp’s tendencies and more profits for you.

Podcast Challenge (16:45)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: Commit to utilizing your HUD when analyzing every decision made during your HH reviews. If you decided to fold, what stats told you he’s strong here and won’t fold to a reraise? If you decided to call, what stats told you he might be bluffing or could be betting a weaker hand? And if you decided to raise, what stats told you that he’ll fold to your bluff or that he’ll call your value raise with worse?

Other Episodes in the Maximizing Your HUD Series

1st Part: HUD Essentials

3rd Part: Using Popups

4th Part: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win

Purchase the SMART HUD

Get 10% off my SMART HUD for PokerTracker 4. It includes a 1.5 hour webinar showing you how to use it. It’s the best HUD in the business, so don’t pass this one up.

Here are some screenshots:

And if you don’t own PokerTracker 4 yet, if you purchase PT4 through my affiliate link and forward me your email confirmation, I’ll send you my SMART HUD for free. What a deal!

Maximizing Your HUD Part 1: HUD Essentials | Podcast #54

By Sky Matsuhashi on April 14, 2016 1

This is the first episode in my Maximizing Your HUD series: HUD Essentials. In this one, you will learn best practices in how to gradually adopt a HUD (heads-up display) into your game and the 7 essential elements you must learn first.

Listen to episode #54: HUD Essentials

Gradual Implementation (3:00)

Step One: Learn what the stats tell you.

Answer this one simple question for every stat on your HUD and popups: How does this stat help me exploit my opponent?

Step Two: Learn the layout

Write the layout of each HUD and popup on separate pieces of paper. Make additional notes regarding the stats there and how you can use them to exploit your opponents.

Step Three: Play with intent

Each session you play, choose two specific stats to focus on as you play. Try to find spots where you can use these stats to exploit your opponents.

The 7 HUD Essentials (7:30)

1. Note Editor

While not a stat, it’s still super useful. Take notes on opponent reads, tendencies, what they’ve shown down, plays they’ve made and your general thoughts on the player in question. Don’t use the notes feature within the poker site’s software. This will be very useful during HH reviews as well.

2. # of Hands Abbreviated

Helps to determine how reliable your other stats are on the player in question. 100 hands is ok, 250 hands is good, 500 hands is very nice, and 1,000+ hands is great.

3. VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money in the Pot)

How often the opponent chooses to play hands. The higher it is, the weaker their range of hands. For example, a VPIP of 10% means they play all pp’s, AJ+ and KQ. At 30% it’s all pp’s, almost all Aces, all broadways and connectors and suited connectors down to 64s, and some weak suited and off-suit K’s and Q’s as well. The stronger the range, the less likely a bluff 3bet will get them off, and the wider the range the more likely I can get them to fold post-flop.

4. PFR (Pre-flop Raise)

How often the player gets aggressive with raises pre-flop. High PFR means they raise with lots of junk, so 3bet resteals could be in order. A very low PFR like 4% means they only raise w/TT+ and AK, so it’s pretty easy to play post flop with these guys.

Together, VPIP and PFR can tell us what player type we’re up against.

The gap between VPIP and PFR is crucial to understand as well. A gap of 30% means they call 30% of the time, which is most pp’s, most Aces, lots of suited and connected cards and every broadway. A smaller gap of 4% means they call with small-med pp’s to set mine and some suited broadways like KJ, QJ and KT maybe, and maybe some suited Aces as well.

5. 3bet pre-flop

How often they come over the top of another raise pre-flop. The higher this is, the more likely they do it as a steal, and lower is more likely just for value. A 3bet of 2% is only JJ+ and AK, whereas a higher 3bet of 7% is 99+, AJ and KQs. Beyond this, and over a large sample, you’ve found a restealer, so a 4bet resteal might be in order, or possibly calling with intent to extract value post-flop from his cbets and barrels.

6. Fold to Steal

Knowing how often opponents fold to a steal is key in MTT’s and SNG’s, but also helps improve win rates in cash games. Players with Fold to Steal greater than 80% must be stolen from 100% of the time. If they don’t give up vs steals, you can size your bets bigger with your value range to make money from their unwillingness to fold.

7. LIVE Amount BB’s (for MTT/SNG players)

This is only for MTT/SNG players. Having this stat saves you the time from calculating it for every player in every hand. This saves your brain space for more difficult decisions and helps you to notice when it’s push/fold time for yourself or other players at the table.

A basic HUD with all the essentials

Podcast Challenge (13:10)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: Get your HUD on. Choose two stats to focus on during each session you play. Write out the 2-3 ways you can use each to exploit your opponents, and make sure you look at these stats as you play each hand to get comfortable using them.

Other Episodes in the Maximizing Your HUD Series

2nd Part: Exploiting Opponents

3rd Part: Using Popups

4th Part: Percentage Form and Color Coding for the Win

Purchase the SMART HUD

Get 10% off my SMART HUD for PokerTracker 4. It includes a 1.5 hour webinar showing you how to use it. It’s the best HUD in the business, so don’t pass this one up.

And if you don’t own PokerTracker 4 yet, if you purchase PT4 through my affiliate link and forward me your email confirmation, I’ll send you my SMART HUD for free. What a deal!