HUD pop-ups

Q&A: Stop the Zoom, Taking LIVE Poker Notes and Popup Stats | Episode 196

By Sky Matsuhashi on July 26, 2018

I answer 3 questions about frustrations in the micros and avoiding Zoom poker, taking LIVE poker notes and learning to use popup stats.

In episode 195, I gave you strategies to employ to help you pull the trigger on +EV aggressive plays and ditch the fear surrounding them.

Q1: Improving Many Areas of Play (1:50)

From: CB

Q: Longer email, just the important details:

I still can’t even beat 5nl zoom after 4 years.

I can’t afford expensive products like poker tracker or subscriptions to advanced training software or coaches

I’m a very formulaic thinker and try to develop optimal lines given specific situations

Post-flop play is still incredibly frustrating, even when I know advanced poker concepts, they just don’t seem to be helping even when I’m supposedly applying them correctly.

I will stack off with what many sites consider reasonable hands for stacking, only to have my opponent show up consistently with a better hand.

Thanks, CB.

Answer:

Stop playing Zoom.

It’s antithetical to profitable poker. You MUST employ table and seat select, and Zoom doesn’t allow for that. The number of hands you play doesn’t matter. What matters is making good decisions and putting yourself in money-making situations.

Study and Play with Purpose.

You say you study a lot, but do you focus on one topic each week and play with intent of practicing that topic? Here are a couple examples:

For an entire week, study being the aggressor in 2bet pots. Use the ranges you’ve already formulated/found. Before every button click, say aloud why you’re raising. “It’s in my range” isn’t good enough. “The BTN folds a lot, so I’ll have post-flop position. The SB is tight so he’ll likely fold and that will leave me HU with the fishy BB, and that’s a good money-making spot.”
Example for facing cbet study. You called preflop so your opponent has the opportunity to cbet. Assume your call was +EV (you’ll have to spend a different week studying 2bet calls preflop), so you have to study board texture and how they interact with different 2bet ranges and your own calling ranges. Study cbet stats and double-barrel stats. Find opponents in your database (more on this below) who are “flop honest” and only fire with pair+ and the best draws. Study their cbet hands that went to SD. Find other opponents who are double-barrelers and study their SD hands. As you’re playing, when you face a cbet ask yourself, “What’s he cbetting here?” If there are plenty of bluffs in their range, then you can continue wider. Try using cbet raises and check-raises occasionally for value and as bluffs. Before you decide to continue on the flop, make a plan for turn and river play. What future cards help or hurt you? What helps or hurt Villain’s range? Which bet sizing will you call on the next street and what will you fold to?

Work on your mental game.

Tilty things happen all the time (players catching gut shots, constantly facing 3bets). Figure out what sends you on tilt and work to overcome it. You said you read a lot of books, so I imagine you’ve read ‘The Mental Game of Poker’. Re-read it and dedicate one month to getting the most from this book. Fill out Jared Tendler’s questionnaire fully to help you understand your issues. Create your own logic statements and use his. Work on keeping your cool in every play session.

Buy PokerTracker 4 and Flopzilla.

These are tools in your arsenal that will give you a database of hands to study as well as help you become a hand reader. The HUD is incredibly important because it gives an advantage over the opposition. Give up lunches and coffee, or eat Top Ramen for a month if $ is an issue. Do what you have to do to pay for these, they’ll change you game.

Get PokerTracker 4

Get Flopzilla

Post-flop Play.

Bet for value when you believe your opponent can call with worse and be able to name the hands. Bet as a bluff when you think they can fold hands and be able to name those hands. When you face big bets or raises, or even just double-barrels, ask yourself, “Do I beat the worst hands they’re making this play with?” If the answer is no, then definitely fold. For example, they double-barrel on an AKT8 board and you called preflop with A9 (your kicker plays but it’s pretty weak). If they can double-barrel with A7 or worse, or a King or a Q or J with a gs, then call. But, if they’re only barreling with AQ, AJ and better than 1p hands, you’ve got to fold.

Do daily hand reading practice every day.

Watch my 66 Days of Hand Reading videos and do exactly that for 66 days. Choose a hand that’s related to the topic you’re studying that week. This practice will do more for your game than anything else.

Stop thinking of “optimal lines”.

If you think you’ve got the best hand and your opponent can pay you off with worse, bet for value. If they show strength, especially on the turn or river, they’ve got 2p+ and you can easily fold. Start believing your opponents more often when they tell you they’ve got the goods with their bet sizing and actions. Also, when you flop a value hand, ask yourself how many streets of value can I get? If it’s a TP hand, that’s often worth one or two streets of value. A set? 3 streets. A 2nd pair? Maybe one or two streets but often as the caller while you let an aggressive player bet at you.

Q2: Taking LIVE Poker Notes (12:40)

From: Jordan

Q: When you play live sessions, how do you record hands? Is there an app where you enter in stats as you go, or do you use the old-fashioned notepad? I realize I have leaks in this area, but because I only play live and not online, it can be hard to track and know my stats. Thanks ?

Answer:

Apps:

Evernote – the best way, they’ll think you’re texting. Do it under or away from the table.
Notepad – quick and natural for an old guy like me. Downside is everyone sees what you’re doing. Don’t let them know you take the game that seriously.
Share My Pair – too much time taken to input a hand. Do this later to share important hands.
Bankroll management: Poker Manager and Poker Income Tracker

Hand details to record:

positions, stack sizes, hole cards, street by street actions with sizing in terms of pot % or $

Stats:

Don’t calculate stats as you play, just record # of instances and do the math in a spreadsheet later
#’s to record: hands dealt into, VPIP, PFR, call 2bet, 3bet, call 3bet, 4bet. # of flops seen, Cbet or call cbet, also raise cbet and fold to cbet. Same #’s for the turn.
At home you can use Excel to calculate your session stats

Play online poker for cheap and easy ways to practice strategies. Play as if you’re at a LIVE table.

Q3: Popup Stats (18:50)

From: Mark

Q: Need help with popup stats

Answer:

When it comes to understanding popup stats, there are 3 things I’d recommend:

1. Focus on one stat per week and study it.

For example: 3bet. Learn everything you can about this stat and how players use it to make optimal decisions. Look for videos on YT or your favorite training site that discuss the concept in detail. Know the formula and how it’s calculated. Look at your own stat by position and analyze what hands you’re 3betting with from each position. Pull up some of your loosest opponent’s stats and review their 3bet stats by position. Also look at the 3bet hands they’ve shown down to get an idea of the hands they’re 3betting with and compare them to the %’s they’ve developed in that position.

Make sure you know exactly where the stat is in your HUD and your popups. Color code the stat or enlarge the font or something to make it more noticeable as you play and refer to it.

2. Focus on this one stat in each session you play this week.

Pay attention to this stat in everyone’s HUD at the table so you can pick out the frequent 3bettors and start to develop a plan against them. You will also notice those who rarely 3bet, and you can plan how to react to their 3bets as well. When anyone 3bets, open up the popup to look at their stat by position and quickly try to determine what likely hands fall within that %. Make the most appropriate fold, call or 4bet once you’ve done this.

3. Off the felt, run range and equity calculations using %’s of your opponents.

For example, again with 3bet, let’s say your opponent over 2K hands has a 3bet of 11% on the BTN, 9% in the CO and 5% in EP. Ask yourself questions like, “What ranges fit each percentage? What hands can you 4bet with and how often will he fold? How often will he call or 5bet?”

Challenge (21:40)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: I know there was something I said in one of my answers that struck a chord with you. Maybe it was about utilizing Evernote to record LIVE hands, maybe it was about focusing on one stat at a time in your HUD and popups, or maybe it was about never playing Zoom style games again. Choose the ONE thing that you think will make the biggest impact to your game and get to work. Today is a new day and you’ve got the opportunity to improve your game for the better.

Now it’s your turn to take action and do something positive for your poker game.

Support the Show

Kaarel Lieb supported the show by purchasing my PokerTracker 4 Smart HUD. I hope CK is utilizing the HUD to crush their opponent’s faces into the felt.

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

By Sky Matsuhashi on April 26, 2016

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!

My New Poker HUD Part 8 – the 3Bet Pop-up

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 25, 2015

This is the final part in a series about my newly developed poker HUD for MTT’s and SNG’s. It’s adapted from Assassinato’s and Apestyles’ poker HUD’s that they’ve recently discussed in some Cardrunners.com videos.

In this post I’ll discuss my 3Bet Pop-up. It’s taken directly from Apestyles’ pop-up with a few stat changes and aesthetic changes to suit my own game. I’ll cover this pop-up with an emphasis on dissecting a particular opponent’s stats.

*Also, it’s key to note that I use PokerTracker 4 as my software choice, so some of these stats might be named differently or even calculate differently in other software. If you’re interested in getting PT4 for yourself, please click on my affiliate link in the sidebar, or check out the Resources page for more info.

3Bet Pop-up

This pop-up is attached to my opponent’s 3bet stat on my Player Stats HUD. It gives me a more detailed look at my opponent’s 3bet tendencies. It’s broken down into a few sections: Total Stats (3bet, squeeze, fold to 4bet and 5bet+), Positional Stats (call 2bet, 3bet, squeeze), 3bet vs positions and two post-flop 3bet+ pot stats that can help me determine what my possible options are post-flop to steal or get value from this 3bettor.

On this particular opponent I have 965 hands. I also include the VPIP and PFR in the white area up top to remind me of his overall play. This guy, at 39/16, is quite fishy and loose-passive (LP). He likes to see lots of flops and raises a rather strong range.

‘Total’ Stats (top part in orange)

3Bet (in PT4 make sure to use ‘3Bet Preflop’ and not ‘Total 3bet’)

Most value 3bettors fall around 8 to 10%, with anything below being rather nitty (TT+ and AQ+). At about 10-14% you’ve got a tough player who likes to throw in hands just below his flatting range (if the worst he’d call your open with is KTs, then he might 3bet bluff K9s and K8s). This is the sweet spot for most regs, which makes them pretty hard to read. Unfortunately, this guy falls in this range, but looking at his 39/16 stats, it’s probably just dumb luck on his part and not an attempt to stay balanced. Anything over 14% is just a whole lot of bluffs.

The key to using the 3Bet stat efficiently is: Every time you get 3Bet look at this stat by position (next section below) to determine their likely hand strength. But having said that, knowing their total 3betting tendencies can really help to play opponents. This 11.5% total 3Bet is 29/252 instances, so it’s a decent sample size. You can put him on roughly any pocket pair (maybe not 22-33) A8s+, ATo+ and some good suited K’s. For help on calculating ranges on the fly, check out my Learning Poker Ranges the Easy Way post. He does have some decent value hands here, but maybe some hands with negative implied odds (hands that when hit can win small or lose big, like AT and KT).

Squeeze

The Squeeze is a great play to use to steal pots or to get extra value from two calling stations. Most of the time, squeezes work as a steal because the first to raise can often be relatively weak (rampant aggression in today’s game means people open w/very wide ranges from any position). The overcaller is weak b/c if he were strong, he would’ve likely raised it. A 3Bet here puts lot of pressure on the opener b/c he doesn’t close the action, and it puts pressure on the overcaller b/c he’s most likely weak. Some opponents use this as a steal spot, but the %’s fall in line with 3Bet %’s outlined above. At 6.1% he’s overall a value squeezer, so watch out if you’re caught in this. You can probably value 4bet pretty big w/AA or KK as he’ll likely call or overshove.

Fold to 4Bet

He’s only faced 4bets twice, but both times he didn’t fold. Even though it’s a small sample, it’s safe to assume that he’s likely calling a 4bet.

5Bet +

This can be helpful when especially deep (100bb’s+), but for the most part players are getting it in before a 5bet in MTT’s and SNG’s. This can be a bit more helpful in cash games, but it’s probably not until you’ve got 3K+ hands on a player that you even see one or two instances when he has the chance to 5bet. It does take some balls to make a bluff 3bet and a bluff 5bet, so if you get 5bet, I hope you’ve got AA against most players.

Positional Stats

Call 2Bet

I include this stat so I can see the difference between his calling 2Bets and making 3Bets. If you would add these two together, then he’s playing vs a 2Bet 36.5% of the time, and folding 63.5%. But, sometimes he may call with a hand like KQo and sometimes 3bet (depending on opponent). Since some hands could fall into both plays, I would say he plays about 30% of hands to a 2Bet and folds 70% of the time. If he plays 30% of the time, and only raises about 1/3 of those hands, his 2bet calling range is pretty weak: he’s a prime candidate for a bluff squeeze to succeed (his hand is in the bottom 67% of his playing range).

3Bet

A great stat to see would be how often they 3bet IP or OOP. PT4 doesn’t offer this stat, but you can get a good sense of what it is by what position they’re doing the majority of 3Bets from. If most are on the BTN and CO, then they like IP. If they 3bet a lot from the SB then they don’t really care about position or he likes to resteal a lot. This guy seems to be doing most of it on the BTN, but it’s not much more often than other positions. I think he doesn’t really 3bet bluff IP a lot, so his 3bet from any position is the practically same range. Of course it’s good to keep in mind that as the positions get later and later there’s more chances to 3bet from them, so the stats are more reliable in on the BTN, SB and BB (45 instance, 71 and 90 respectively).

Versus this opponent I would probably 4bet any KK or AK and I’d flat with hands that I think could hit hard and crack his pretty tight range.

Squeeze

He obviously likes to do it from the BTN, but it is only 1 out of just 4 chances. But it’s still at least a little reliable. He’s probably just doing it with great value hands, but w/only 4 chances it’s hard to say for sure, but that’s how I’d treat a squeeze from him in any position.

Versus Position Stats (2nd set of orange)

Sometimes you’ll encounter players who love to 3Bet vs the MP, or vs the BTN. If you find a player like that, then you want to see the flop if you’re in that position or come over the top to resteal as that’s likely his intent. The key to utilizing these stats here is to find discrepancies to exploit. For this opponent, the vs CO stat seems to be an anomaly, but the other stats are all within just about 4 points of each other, so this is another indication that he just 3bets the same range from any position and against any position. If I’m calling his 3Bet from the BTN, then I’m also calling from MP or the BB.

Post Flop 3Bet + Pots (bottom section)

Cbet

If you find an opponent has this stat too high, then you can flat them pre, then stick it to them post flop and get them off most hands. Use the stat below this to help you gauge as well. A high Cbet and high Fold Cbet to Raise is a perfect opponent to flat anything pre and raise or c/r them off of most flops. This guy, at a 78% Cbet doesn’t want to give you that 3bet pot, but his 100% fold Cbet to Raise stat says you can get him to do that, on the right boards at least.

Often against opponents like this one, if he’s got AKs he’ll 3Bet then Cbet any flop. If you would shove pre, he’d definitely call you. But on a flop like J23r or TT8, he’s just giving up to flop aggression. Flatting pre gives you another way to win a pot on the flop if his flop stats say he’s got a weakness here.

You can also see his turn Cbet stat is 100% (but just 1 for 1 instance). If you’re going for value, just call the flop and give him the chance to fire the turn before you raise and go for additional value.

Fold Cbet to Raise

This, along with the Cbet stat above helps you determine how flop honest the guy is. Look for high/high in these two numbers for someone to blow off their hand on the flop if you’re bluffing. If you want value, don’t raise too much or not at all.

So many stats, so little space

With your HUD and pop-ups, you’ve got hundreds of stats to choose from. Some are good for multiple situations and others are good for more detailed hand history analysis and review. Experiment with different stats from week to week, take notes on your use of them, and determine which ones will benefit you at the tables and include those on your HUD and Pop-ups.

HUD and Pop-up space is at a premium, so be judicial in your choices and practice using them all constantly. Focus on one Pop-up and one set of HUD stats each session. This will help you gain utmost understanding of these and will put their use in your unconscious competence, making it so you can use these skills without even thinking about them.

Please let me know what stats I’m missing from my poker HUD in the comments below. Let’s work together to build up our skills.

And please, if you liked this article and think it can benefit your poker playing friends and followers, tweet it for me: Tweet

Make your next session the best one yet!

My New Poker HUD Part 7 – the Fold to Cbet Pop-up

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 23, 2015

This is part 7 in a series about my newly developed poker HUD. It’s adapted from Assassinato’s and Apestyles’ HUD’s that they’ve recently discussed in some Cardrunners.com videos.

In this post I’ll discuss my Fold to Cbet Pop-up. It’s taken directly from Apestyles’ pop-up with a few stat changes and aesthetic changes to suit my own game. I’ll cover this pop-up with an emphasis on dissecting a particular opponent’s stats.

*Also, it’s key to note that I use PokerTracker 4 as my software choice, so some of these stats might work differently or even calculate differently in other software. If you’re interested in getting PokerTracker 4 for yourself, please click on my affiliate link in the sidebar, or check out the Resources page for more info.

Fold to Cbet Pop-up

This pop-up is attached to my opponent’s Fold to Cbet stat on my Player Stats HUD. It gives me a more detailed look at my opponent’s post-flop play when I’m the aggressor and he’s on the defensive. It’s broken down into 2 Bet Pot and 3 Bet+ Pot sections. The 2 Bet section is broken down into Total, In Position (IP) and Out of Position (OOP) segments.

You can see that they’re all broken out by street as well. This is great to see how sticky an opponent is to his hand, and how many barrels I’ll need to fire to get him to fold. It also helps to gauge how much value I can get from great hands.

2 Bet Pots

‘Total’ Segment (Green)

Fold to Cbet

Seeing this street by street let’s me know a couple of things: how flop honest he is and how many streets I’ll have to barrel to get him off of mediocre hands. On this particular opponent I have about 1,100 hands so this stat is very reliable. At 69% he folds to Cbets quite often and probably only continues when he hits the flop or has a good draw. Because of his flop honesty, his Fold to Turn Cbet is necessarily low at 17%. So, if he sticks around past the flop he’s likely to have a strong hand and will see it to showdown. I should only barrel the turn with good hands looking for value, as bluffs are unlikely to succeed.

Raise Cbet

Both his flop and turn Raise Cbet stats are very low, so if he raises I need to continue only with the top of my range like top 2 pair+. Even with top 2 pair, I’d probably be better off pot controlling w/out the nuts for the rest of the hand. Overall, this guy is very flop honest, so I should look to play lots of pots against him, especially IP.

His higher Turn Raise Cbet is probably indicative of a player who likes to commit and build the pot once he sees the turn. If we had his Turn AF or AFq here it would probably tell us this is his most aggressive street.

‘In Position’ Segment (Blue)

Fold to Cbet

Breaking this down between IP and OOP helps to play against him in each situation. When looking at the differences here, he obviously likes playing IP and is more willing to call flop Cbets. When he’s IP he’s a little less flop honest, so I need to proceed with some caution, but I should Cbet most flops that probably hurt his pre-flop flatting range (Ace highs, baby flops, very dry spread out boards like Q72r).

Seeing a Turn Fold to Cbet of zero is very telling, and I should only double-barrel w/the nuts or close to it.

Raise Cbet

This IP stat is just a little above his total Raise Cbet, so just like above, should I face a raise I need to proceed with only the top of my range. Cbet raises are very telling for this opponent. With a higher Raise Cbet on the turn, he likes to just call flops and build the pot on the turn. If I’ve got a great value hand and we get to the turn, I need to bet in hopes he likes his hand and raises.

Float

This is a great stat that tells you how often he fires at a pot when the pre-flop raiser doesn’t Cbet. Often we think of a float as just calling a bet IP, but PT4 uses this term a little differently. With his Float at 25%, his bet after my missed Cbet is most likely pair+, and possibly good draws like a nfd or oesd. I can continue on the turn with good hands and draws, and checking to entice a value bet is probably the best way for me to get value if I’ve got a super strong hand on the turn.

Combo Stat: Fold to Cbet and Flop Float

If an opponent has a low fold to Cbet % but a high Flop Float % (this guy’s opposite) then c/r instead of cbetting would be a good idea if you’ve got a hand only worth bluffing. Your cbet is likely to be called, so just don’t do it unless you’re willing to fire the turn and he’s likely to fold with a high Turn Fold to Cbet.

Combo Stat: Fold to Cbet and Turn Float

This is a good combo to see how likely opponents are to call a Cbet with intention to steal on the turn. If the opponent has a low Fold to Cbet and a high Turn Float % then he’s a good one to c/r the turn to resteal or c/c to get extra value from him on the river as he’s likely to fold to your turn c/r.

‘Out of Position’ Segment (Green)

Fold to Cbet

When OOP he’s quite cautious, so I should bluff Cbet every time he checks to me as he’s folding 73% of the time. If I’m going for value, the best may be to check behind and let him try to catch-up on the turn.

Check Raise

A c/r would be very scary and I can only continue with a nut hand or very near it. Same goes with the turn: c/r from this guy = the nuts!

Flop Donk, Turn and River Probe

Flop Donk % is pretty telling of flop honesty just like the Flop Cbet stat. At 20% this guy only donks w/TP+. If this were at 50%+, then he donks w/pairs and draws. At 65%+ then he’s got some likely overcards on baby flops that he’s betting.

Turn and River probe %’s work just about the same. These stats are calculated by an OOP turn/river bet when the pre-flop aggressor checks the street before. These low %’s probably signify he wanted to c/r the flop for value, or was maybe just waiting for the turn to make his move to build the pot.

Combo Stat: Flop Donk and Fold to Cbet

Looking at these in conjunction tells you how honest his donk bets are. If he’s got a high Fold to Cbet, then a low donk % is an “honest donk” with good hands, whereas if the donk % is high, he’s probably honest vs Cbets but likes to donk bluff occasionally. You can also just ignore the Donk Flop stat, and when they donk into you on the flop, check their Fold to Cbet stat before making a decision (low or high tells you how flop honest he is). Conversely, a low Fold to Cbet and high Donk Flop means he bluffs a lot, so to call or raise is now your decision.

3 Bet + Pots (Red)

Having these 3bet+ pot stats helps to see how his play may differ when he’s fighting for bigger pots. In general, regs and LAG players will fight harder for 3bet pots. With this particular opponent, it’s a bit hard to judge as his 100% and 0% could just be out of a couple instances.

If these stats were in line with his 2bet stats, then we could treat him the same in either scenario. But sometimes you’ll encounter players who fold to Cbets a lot less in 3bet pots or C/R or Raise Cbets a lot more. These guys fight for the bigger pots, and if he’s a tight/nitty player this would make sense as he’s getting to the flop with a stronger range. If he’s a LAG then he may be more likely to fight with or without a good hand. Keep in mind his overall aggressiveness when deciding how to approach the post-flop streets in 3bet pots.

My next post will go over the final HUD pop-up I use; my 3bet Pop-up. The stats here will help you determine how to react to a player’s pre-flop 3Bets.

Am I missing stats on my poker HUD that you use when thinking about post-flop play as the aggressor? Please let me know what I’m missing in the comments below.

And please, if you liked this article and think it can benefit your poker playing followers, tweet it for me: Tweet

Make your next session the best one yet!

My New Poker HUD Part 6 – the Cbet Pop-up

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 20, 2015

This is part 6 in a series about my newly developed poker HUD. It’s adapted from Assassinato’s and Apestyles’ HUD’s that they’ve recently discussed in some Cardrunners.com videos.

In this post I’ll discuss my Cbet Pop-up. It’s taken directly from Apestyles’ pop-up with a few stat changes and aesthetic changes to suit my own game. I’ll cover this pop-up with an emphasis on dissecting a particular opponent’s stats.

*Also, it’s key to note that I use PokerTracker 4 as my software choice, so some of these stats might work differently or even calculate differently in other software. If you’re interested in getting PokerTracker 4 for yourself, please click on my affiliate link in the sidebar for a free trial or visit the Resources page for more info.

Cbet Pop-up

This pop-up is attached to my opponent’s Cbet stat on my Player Stats HUD. It gives me a more detailed look at my opponent’s post-flop play when he’s the aggressor and has the initiative on the flop. It’s broken down into two different sections: 2 Bet Pots and 3 Bet + Pots. The 2 Bet section is broken down into three segments: Total stats, In Position (IP) stats and Out of Position (OOP) stats.

You can see that they’re all broken out by street as well. This is great to see how many barrels an opponent is willing to fire or where they’re more likely to fold a hand.

2 Bet Pots

‘Total’ Segment (Red)

Cbet

Seeing this street by street let’s me know a couple of things: how flop honest he is and how likely he is to barrel. On this particular opponent I have about 1,100 hands so this stat is very reliable. At 74% he Cbets super wide and barrels 50% of the time, so if I call I should expect a turn Cbet (I shouldn’t call here and plan to fold the turn).

He is plenty capable of triple barreling as well, so I’ve got to be aware of that and only call the flop if I’ve got enough equity to call for 3 streets (or raise sooner as a bluff). I think I can probably call three streets w/TPTK as long as the board isn’t too scary.

Fold Cbet to Raise

He doesn’t like folding his Cbets to raises, so I should do so with the top of my range to get value from him. I can probably make bigger raises for value especially if OOP as he seems to value position (more on this in the next segment).

‘In Position’ Segment (Blue)

Cbet

Breaking this down between IP and OOP helps to play against him in each situation. When looking at the differences here, he obviously likes playing IP and is more willing to barrel each street. These IP stats just about mirror his Total stats, so if I intend to call the flop it would be a huge tactical error to fold the turn as I should expect a bet.

Fold to Check Raise

He doesn’t like to do this IP. Check/Raises don’t often happen, but even if this is 0 out of 4 chances, it’s good enough to know he’s likely to call most C/R when IP, so I can’t expect to get away with an easy one street bluff. I should do so with a great value hand or some really good pair+draw hands that I can continue betting the turn on cards that give me equity.

Fold to [F] Donk and [T|R] Probe

I can probably donk semi-bluff this guy with the intention of firing the turn if I’ve got a hand that can improve on the next card. Let’s say I’ve got a 97dd and the flop comes 56J with one diamond. I’ve got a gut shot + back door flush draw. I can barrel the turn on any diamond, 7, 8 or 9, and even on a Jack. There are lots of cards that can scare him, especially as he can be calling with just about anything and doesn’t necessarily have to have a value hand or a bluff catcher to call.

‘Out of Position’ Segment (Green)

Cbet

When OOP he’s a bit more cautious, so this would be the time to take advantage of him and play on his OOP tentativeness. Should he Cbet I can call here with intent on folding the turn as he’s only barreling with a value hand (or maybe if the turn hurts my range). If he checks I’m most likely going to Float and try to take it away with a bet.

Fold Cbet to a Raise

With a slightly more narrow cbetting range when OOP, he’s calling 50% of the time. If I’ve got a value hand, I need to C/R smaller to get him to call, or if I’m bluffing it’s got to be bigger to elicit the fold. Not enough hands to see what he does on the turn and river, but I can look at other pop-ups I’ve got to see his turn and river aggression tendencies (AF and AFq).

Fold to Float

If he checks the flop then I’m definitely betting. He’s pretty flop honest when OOP facing a donk bet, so now’s the best time to take it away with a bluff. If I’m going for value, then making a smaller bet or just checking behind would be good plays.

3 Bet + Pots (Red)

He’s a fighter in 3bet pots when he puts money in on the flop as evidenced by his high Cbet % and his low Fold Cbet to a Raise %. But, he folds often when he checks, and making turn probes against him could be profitable. Although, with his Fold to Float stat at 67% this is only 2 out of 3 chances (maybe 4 out of 6), but it’s still evidence that he leans towards flop and turn honesty when facing aggression.

My next post will go over another one of my HUD pop-ups, my Fold to Cbet Pop-up. The stats there work very much like this pop-up, but are geared towards me being the pre-flop aggressor.

Am I missing stats on my poker HUD that you use when thinking about post-flop play vs an aggressor? Please tell me where I’m going wrong 😉 in the comments below.

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My New Poker HUD Part 5 – the Assassinato Pop-up

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 15, 2015

This is part 5 in a multi-part series about my newly developed poker HUD. It’s adapted from Assassinato’s and Apestyles’ HUD’s that they’ve recently discussed in some Cardrunners.com videos.

In this post I’ll discuss my Assassinato Pop-up. It’s taken directly from Assassinato’s pop-up with a few stat changes and aesthetic changes to suit my own game. I’ll cover this pop-up with an emphasis on dissecting a particular opponent’s stats.

*Also, it’s key to note that I use PokerTracker 4 as my software choice, so some of these stats might work differently or even calculate differently in other software.

The Assassinato Pop-up

This pop-up is my main pop-up that covers every street and lots of different stats to help me exploit opponents in different situations. These are all very useful stats, but there’s only so much room on my main Player HUD, so it’s in this readily accessible pop-up.

Section by Section Breakdowns:

LIMP

Knowing how often players are limping and how they react to raises is key in taking advantage of their weaknesses. When this particular player limps he folds 80% of the time to a raise, so stealing his limps is a no brainer. I know that if he should limp/raise I’ve got to be careful as it’s probably strength. Also, if I’ve got a great hand like AA or KK I just might want to minraise to try to keep him in the pot. Too big of a raise will get him to quickly fold.

I also put the player’s total hands (424) here to give me a good idea of how reliable his stats are. And the VPIP/PFR are here as well so I can see how aggressive/passive he is overall.

RFI (Raise First In) by Position

These are key to stats to know for any opponent. He’s a pretty active player with an overall RFI of 29%. He seems to be positionally aware as his lowest RFI is in EP and highest is on the BTN. Being a 31/20 player, he’ll probably fight for pots post-flop. If I’ve got a choice between isolating him or some weak 40/12 fish on the table, I’m going for the fish.

It would appear that the best place to resteal vs him would be when he opens the BTN.

Check/Raise & Check/Fold

These stats help to dissect flop aggression. Knowing Cbet and Fold to Cbet stats is great (these are on my Player HUD) but if I face a C/R I’d like to know how likely he’s doing so as a bluff. His C/F stat indicates he’s pretty flop honest, so a check most likely means weakness. With a C/R of only 8% on the flop, I’ve got to watch out if I face this and continue only with strong hands. His increased turn C/R % makes sense because when he makes it to the turn, being a flop honest player, he’s likely to have a strong hand and waits for the turn to build the pot.

Aggression

I’m still trying to gain some familiarity with this section as I’ve only recently started using these stats.

Aggression Factor (AF) is a measure of how aggressive or passive the player is (total and each street). It’s calculated as:

Most players fall between 2-3, with anything above being pretty aggressive and below being very passive. This particular player loves to be aggressive on the river, but on the turn he is less so. Maybe, as discussed earlier, if he makes it to the turn he’s got a strong hand so he feigns weakness (tries the c/r but the opponent checks behind) here to get more value on the river. While this isn’t the best indication of how aggressive the opponent truly is (it doesn’t take into account all possible actions), it can help to see tendencies on particular streets. AFq might be a better indicator of how an opponent plays each street and the likely strength of his hand.

Aggression Frequency (AFq) is a measure of how frequently a player is aggressive (total and each street). It’s calculated as:

This formula takes into account all possible actions (bet/call/fold/raise are all in the divisor). In general, 60% + is pretty aggressive and 30% or less is passive. This guy’s river AFq is pretty aggressive, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he bluffs a lot. Some players only get to the river with the goods (remember how he’s pretty flop honest at least when OOP). If he plays the same IP, and makes it to the river, you’ve got to assume that he’s got a good hand and wants to make money so will bet or raise more often than not.

So, you want to look for players who get to the river often with a high AFq. You can bluff re-raise, bet big or easily call with your bluff catchers as he’s more likely just betting to get you to fold.

Here’s the Assassinato HUD again so you don’t have to keep scrolling up so far:

Cbet

Cbet is on my HUD, but these different stats give me more detail to see how likely I’ll face a raise after a cbet or if he’ll fold to a raise after cbetting himself. Seeing if someone is a habitual raiser on the flop will prepare me for what to expect and can also give me an additional strategy to employ. He raises flop cbets 50% of the time, but this is probably 2 out of 4 or some other small number (given the exact even number of 50 and the relatively low 424 hands vs him). But, pairing this with his flop honesty that we discussed earlier, should I face a raise after a cbet, then he’s likely strong. He does have a high AF of 4 on the flop, but a middling AFq, which means half the time he’s flop aggressive and the other half not. I think I would only proceed with TP+ or with a very solid pair+draw.

Donk

I treat these stats just like Cbet stats, but they’re just made by somebody without initiative on the flop. A donk of 70% + is high (as you don’t have a hand good enough to build the pot 70% of the time) and a lower number like 30% is more likely a value bet. If this guy, at 24%, donks the flop then I should really consider folding all of my air. Here’s another instance of flop honesty as he folds to donk bets 75% of the time, which makes sense as you only hit a strong hand on the flop about 35% of the time. The double-barrel stats help to determine how I should approach the turn and any turn aggression I face.

Combo Stats – Donk Flop and Bet IP vs no Cbet (color coded red background)

I pair these two together b/c they are an indication on the flop how likely he is to take control of the hand when he’s the pre-flop caller. If he donks, at 24%, it’s for value. But when the pfr checks he tries to steal it with aggression (assuming the 100% is more than just 1 for 1). So, if I’ve got a strong hand I can raise his donk or c/r his bet after my missed cbet.

Combo Stats – Donk Turn vs no Cbet & Bet IP vs no 2brl (color coded orange background)

I pair these together b/c on the turn they’re an indication of how likely he is to take control of the hand. If he’s OOP and I check behind the flop, then he’s 50% likely to bet to steal as I showed weakness (or he could’ve been intending to c/r the flop). If he calls the flop then bets on my missed cbet, he could be doing this as a bluff or for value (due to the nil stat I’m not sure what he’s capable of). I suspect over a good sample size these numbers would be rather low due to his low turn AF and AFq. On some opponents these can tell you how much they try to steal on the turn (70%+ is high while 30% is value).

Float

Float bets are bets when the pfr chooses not to cbet and the player is IP. They’re good indicators of how aggressive the opponent is as they work just like cbets (70%+ is bluffy and 30% is for value). You can use these to get extra value by c/c when they’re high then bet or raise the next street, or you can c/r as a bluff. These stats require more hands to be really effective, though, so I’d be looking at these more often vs opponents with 1,000+ hands.

My next post will go over another one of my HUD pop-ups, my Cbet Pop-up.

Am I leaving any off that you would put on your main popup? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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