Stat: RFI

Simplifying the Top 10 Poker HUD Stats | Podcast #204

By Sky Matsuhashi on September 28, 2018

I simplify the Top 10 poker HUD stats by telling you the 3 things you MUST know about each.

In episode 203, I discussed how recording and reviewing poker play sessions is the #1 strategy that you MUST employ.

If you can’t explain it simply… (2:50)

This episode is inspired by a quote from Albert Einstein:

My goal today is to simplify the Top 10 HUD Stats so you can get more out of your HUD starting with your next session tonight. But we must begin with the type of number HUD stats present to you… percentages.

Percentage

Most of the HUD stats you’re presented with are in terms of a percentage. A percentage is simply a part of a whole. Once you understand the whole, you understand that smaller part. $1 is 100 cents, so, 50% of $1 is 50 cents. 1 hour is 60 minutes, so, 25% of one hour is 15 minutes.

HUD Stat percentages are parts of 2 different wholes:

This first whole is the number of starting hand combinations you can be dealt in NLHE
The second whole is the number of opportunities presented to the player

1. Total Starting Hand Combos = 1,326

You can be dealt 1,326 starting hand combos in NLHE. The stats that relate to this whole number are VPIP, PFR, Raise First In, 3bet and Fold to Steal.

10% of hands = 133 combos (rounded down to 130 for simplicity)
20% of hands = 260 combos
30% of hands = 390 combos (rounded up to 400 for simplicity)

Let’s look at the 10% range in relation to the Raise First In statistic:

A 10% RFI might be somebody’s UTG range of hands.
10% might be 55+, AT+, KQs and KJs for exactly 132 combos.

Now, let’s look at a 10% Call 2bet statistic:

This is still 130 combos, but it’s not going to contain AA, KK, QQ or AK.
This 10% calling range might be 22-JJ, AT-AQ, QTs+ and T9s+

Both ranges above were 10% and 132 combos, but the cards within each vary based on the preflop action taken.

2. The Number of Total Opportunities Presented

The other “whole” used for HUD stat percentages are the total opportunities present. These are stats like Fold to 3bet, Cbet and Fold to Cbet.

Let’s look at the Cbet stat. A Cbet of 70% means they cbet 70 times out of every 100 opportunities. It’s important to note that most ranges hit the flop with a TP+ and a good draw about 35% of the time. So, if somebody is cbetting at 70%, half of the time they are cbetting with worse than TP, weak draws and complete bluffs.

Before you draw this conclusion with everyone who cbets at 70%, it’s important to consider how frequently they have the opportunity to cbet.

Somebody raising only 10% of hands preflop gets to the flop less often but with a stronger range of hands. The 10% range flops TP+ and good draws about 40% of the time. If they cbet at 70%, more than half of their cbetting hands are TP+ and good draws.

Conversely, somebody who plays 50% of hands flops TP+ and good draws only 29% of the time. If they cbet at 70%, more than half of the time they’re doing it with weaker hands and draws.

Here’s a rule of thumb for HUD stats: the higher the percentage, the weaker their range.

Somebody playing 50% of hands and cbetting at 70% is much weaker on the flop than another who is playing 10% of hands and cbetting at 70% as well.

Another way to look at this is you should be more inclined to believe the person with the smaller range.

Trusting the Stat Percentages

Here’s a question for you: How do you know a stat percentage is reliable?

As you gain experience using stats to exploit your opponents, you’ll begin to gain a sense of when to rely on a stat and when to ignore it.

Stats aren’t so reliable at 10 opportunities. They begin to become reliable at 20 opportunities. At 50 they’re very reliable and at 100+ they’re extremely reliable.

So, a 10% 3bet seems high, but 10% is only once out of 10 opportunities. That’s not enough to say that this player is a 3bet bluffer. If it’s still 10% after 50 opportunities, it’s likely they like to 3bet bluff. And at 10% over 100+ opportunities, you’ve found a 3bet bluffer.

The Top 10 Poker HUD Stats (8:50)

Here are a few guidelines I gave myself for simplifying the stats:

I’m only allowed to give you 3 sentences per statistic
I’m going to assume that you know some common poker terms (ex. “positional awareness”)
I’m also assuming you know the definition of these stats and how they’re calculated (ex. I won’t define nor give you the formula for “3bet”)

So, this is geared towards people familiar with HUD Stats, but they might not know HOW to use all the stats HUD.

The 10 stats are broken up between 6 preflop and 4 post-flop.

I’m giving you all these stats in order of importance. So, if you can only use one stat in your HUD, #1 is it. If you can only use two, use #’s 1 and 2… and so on

Preflop Stats (9:50)

#1: VPIP or Voluntarily Put Money in the Pot

The key word here is “voluntarily” and this stat refers to an exact range of hands they choose to play.
A VPIP > 40% indicates a very loose player that you should try to play hands against.
Make sure to also keep this stat as a pop-up displayed by position because positional awareness is an important indicator of your opponent’s skill level.

#2: PFR or Preflop Raise

This is a sign of overall preflop aggression and includes 2bets, 3bets and beyond.
Anything over 25% is too aggressive and must be fought back against with value 3bets and bluff 3bets if they’re capable of folding.
Also keep this as a positional pop-up because again, it’s an indicator of their positional awareness and how strong they are as a player.

#3: RFI or Raise First In

This correlates exactly to the range of hands that they choose to open the pot with when they’re first to act or it’s folded around to them.
Keep it as a positional popup because this will tell you exactly which positions they choose to steal pots from.
Positionally aware players have an increasing RFI as position gets later, with the CO, BTN and SB numbers being the biggest.

Start your audiobook learning by picking up ‘Preflop Online Poker’ through Audible.com. Click the pic above to begin your free 30-day trial or to purchase the audiobook version if you’re already a member.

#4: Preflop 3bet

As a total %, it’s useful in your HUD but takes on greater significance when it’s broken down by position in a popup.
Percentages by position less than 3% is a strictly value-oriented range and you should only 4bet or call with your strongest starting hands.
Anything greater than 6% by position tells you where they like to 3bet bluff from, so plan for it and respond accordingly.

#5: 2bet/Fold to 3bet

Make sure to use the “2bet/Fold to 3bet” instead of the regular “Fold to 3bet” stat because this gives you more relevant information that you can use to exploit the preflop raiser.
If it’s over 70% by position, then you can make very profitable 3bet bluffs with good bluffing hands like suited blockers, suited-connectors and pocket pairs.
If the stat is below 50%, you only want to value 3bet against them or bluff when you’re in position with a good blocking hands like suited Aces and KQs.

#6: Fold to Steal

Great stealing targets have a Fold to Steal above 70% and the higher it is, the better.
At less than 70% look at their 3bet and their 2bet Call stats before stealing from them.
You can multiply the Fold to Steal stat of the SB times the BB to see how often they fold together to steals.

Where’s the Attempt to Steal Stat?

Observant listeners might have noticed that I left out the Attempt to Steal stat. It’s not a necessary stat because this is the same as RFI from the CO, BTN and SB. You should have these in a popup, so there’s no need for ATS.

Post-flop Stats (17:00)

#7: Flop Cbet

This is the part of their preflop raising range that fires a bet on the flop, so the smaller their preflop range, the more likely a cbet is for value.
70% is a “standard percentage” for most solid players, and because ranges only hit the flop at 35% on average, a 70% range contain at least 50% marginal pairs, bluffs and semi-bluffing draws.
Keep this stat in a popup as well so you can exploit any difference in Cbet % when IP vs OOP.

#8: Turn Cbet

This is the famed “double-barrel stat” that tells you whether or not a player is one-and-done on the flop or if they fire the turn as well.
Compare the Flop with the Turn stat to see which street they get honest on as the honesty street has the lower percentage.
Again, relative position is useful so have this in a popup for in position or out of position honesty: most players cbet more frequently when in position than out of position.

#9: Fold to Flop Cbet

The higher and closer to 70% this number is, the more honest they are versus cbets, which makes these players good bluffing targets.
You want to view this by relative position and actual position in a pop-up because seeing these will tell you when the opponent is most honest so you can make profitable bluffs.
The wider their calling range is preflop, the more marginal pairs and draws they’ll have in their flop calling range.

#10: Fold to Turn Cbet

Compare this with the Flop % to see which street they’re honest on versus cbets and make sure you have the chips and stack sizes big enough to bluff on this street.
Fold to Turn Cbet at around 60% or greater must be bluffed frequently.
If below 40%, you can semi-bluff with your drawing hands and when in position, but keep your cbets mainly for value when they hate folding.

Challenge (19:35)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode: Pick one stat that you’re not at all comfortable with and practice using it to exploit your opponents in your next session. Keep in mind the 3 pieces of info I gave you on each stat, and do some research on your own to learn more about it. The research and learning are easy. The tough part will come from putting your knowledge into action and using the stat to exploit opponents. But, the only way you’ll learn how is by doing it. So, do it!

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

Support the Show

Jeremy Thiam purchased the PokerTracker 4 Smart HUD and I’m sure today’s episode will help him out in his pursuit of player exploitation. Along with the HUD, I sent him some bonus videos to help him get more from it and PT4. Click here to get the Smart HUD.

Guy Brooks purchased a webinar I did with Mark Warner of ExceptionalPoker.com called “Poker Mathematics Webinar”. We got tons of great feedback from this one, and if you’re looking to bone-up on your poker math, click here to get $5 off the webinar.

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

By Sky Matsuhashi on April 19, 2016

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

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Here are some screenshots:

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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.

Make your next session the best one yet!

My New Poker HUD Part 3 – Player Stats 2

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 8, 2015

This is part 3 of a multi-part series about how I’ve updated my new poker HUD and all the different stats I’ve placed on it. If you haven’t read the previous posts yet, here’s Part 1 and Part 2.

Let’s continue with the Player HUD that I use. I’ve already covered lines 1 and two in Part 2, so I’ll continue with Line 5 in this post and save line 6 for the next one.

#16 New HUD Player

LINE 1: Notes / Stack size in BB’s / (hands) / VPIP / PFR

LINE 2: RFI (CO) / RFI (BTN) / Fold SB to LP Steal / Fold BB to LP Steal / RFI (SB) / Fold BB to SB Steal

LINES 3 & 4: gap to view name/chips and conserve space

LINE 5: Total RFI / Fold to 3bet — Cbet F / Cbet T — WTSD / W$SD

LINE 6: Call PF open / 3bet — Fold to F Cbet / Fold to T Cbet — name

Stat Breakdowns

Total RFI (Raise First In, denoted by ‘2b’ above, 18%) – This is a little different than PFR in that it only counts hands and opportunities where the action was folded around to him. This number is good for seeing how aggressive he is overall. 18% corresponds to roughly 33+, A2s+, A6o+, KJs+ and KQo. (If you’re not good with knowing what hands fall within a specific range, please read my Learning Poker Ranges the Easy Way post). The more aggressive he is, the more likely you can 3bet steal. Of course, it’s good to know this stat by position as well, and I’ve got that in my pop-up which I’ll cover in a later post.

Knowing his opening range allows you to have a better grasp of your hand strength vs his likely holdings. This is key in deciding whether or not to play in this situation. Against this range a hand like ATs or 66 has about 50% equity, while AK has 61% and QQ has 68%. Determine your likely equity and play accordingly.

Fold to 3bet – This is a great stat to have, especially if you’re a bit aggressive and like to 3bet bluff. Be aware of the game you’re in as there’s a lot more aggression in short-handed games, and you’re slightly less likely to get away with your bluffs at 6-max tables. Know what you’re trying to accomplish with your 3bet before you make it. 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.

Combo Stat #5 – Total RFI & Fold to 3bet

I chose the same color for the background for these two to aid me in my decisions when facing an open. The relation between these two numbers is pretty telling, just like the VPIP/PFR gap. If you’re up against a high RFI and high Fold to 3bet, then you’ve got an aggressive opponent who is capable of ditching hands before it gets too costly. Opposite stats (low and low) indicate that he only opens with premium hands and won’t give up that tight range easily.

You can encounter players with disparate numbers, like a 30% RFI with a 10% fold to 3bet. This means he continues with 90% of his opening range, so you can 3bet him pretty widely and he’ll continue with hands you dominate. Less frequently you’ll encounter a low RFI and a high Fold to 3bet. These are guys who just can’t take the aggression and want to play small ball pre-flop. Punish them.

Cbet Flop – This is the best flop stat that I use to gauge my opponent’s tendencies. Given that you only hit 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 the guy likes to mix it up and bluff a bit, counting on the initiative he has by being the pre-flop opener to take the pot down. The hardest % to dissect is right around 50% 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.’ 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

Cbet Turn – The same basic parameters of the Cbet Flop stat can be applied here on the turn. You’re looking for players who give up on the turn, essentially they’re ‘one and done’ players. Conversely, if you find a person with both Flop and Turn Cbet stats being high, he likes to barrel his opponents.

Combo Stat #6 – Cbet Flop & Turn

These two (same teal colored background above) taken together are a powerhouse combo that tells you how willing your opponent is to fire multiple bullets. 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. If you call the flop with intent to fold the turn to a Cbet unless you hit gin, then you’ve just made a huge tactical error. Always have a plan for the next street which includes more ways to win the pot than to just make your hand. Ideally, pre-flop you noticed this and your intent is to bluff on the turn with a raise, or if you flop strong to just let him value own himself. You can also have a plan to take it away with a river donk lead on a scary draw filling card or one that pairs second pair.

WTSD (Went to Showdown) – This isn’t the most necessary of stats, but I had room and wanted to throw this in as it can be valuable should you reach the turn with an opponent. If they’ve got a very high % like 40%+ then you’re up against someone who rarely folds a pair. If below 20% he normally gets there with good hands worthy of betting rather than check/calling. If you find yourself on the turn with either of these players, how would you plan to handle the river? In general you’d value bet wider the high WTSD and call with 2p+ vs the low WTSD %. The more frequently they get to showdown, the weaker hand they’re likely to have. For the most part you’re looking to value bet players with 40% or higher and bluff the less than 20% players.

Combo Stat #7 – WTSD and VPIP

When looking at WTSD, the player’s VPIP should also be taken into account. A player with a WTSD of 20% and a VPIP of 15 is very much removed from another with the same WTSD but a VPIP of 45. The looser player is more likely to get to the river with vastly weaker hands, and the tighter player starts with a stronger range so is more likely to have a stronger hand.

W$SD (Won $ at Showdown) – This stat says how often the opponent wins the pot at showdown. No showdown and the hand won’t be counted. Suffice it to say that the lower this % is, the more likely he shows up with marginal hands; and the higher it is the more often he shows up with the goods. In general, above 60% would be a nitty player who gets there with strong hands, and below 40% gets there too weakly and can call bets too freely.

Combo Stat #8 – WTSD and W$SD

These two stats are inversely related. If an opponent has a higher WTSD then he’s more likely going to have a lower W$SD (more hands = less strength), and vice versa. A high WTSD and lower W$SD in general is a calling station and should give you tons of value. An opposite player, low WTSD and high W$SD shows up with strong hands, so if he bombs the river then you’ve got to fold all but your best hands.

Holy cow, once again I’m at about 1,500 words so it’s time to cut this off and continue it in the next post where I’ll go over the final line of my Player HUD.

Please let me know if my HUD is missing any valuable info that you just can’t do without in the comments below.

Make your next session the best one yet!

My New Poker HUD Part 2 – Player Stats 1

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 7, 2015

My study time over the past two weeks has been spent working on my poker HUD and this is the second of a multi-part series of posts about how my new HUD works. I developed it after watching a few training videos from Assassinato (MTT HUDs Classroom) and Apestyles (Stars 200r HH replay) on Cardrunners.com.

Here’s a screenshot of my HUD:

Part 1 covered the Hero and Table HUD Stats. In this post I’ll cover the Player HUD Stats.

Player HUD Stats

LINE 1: Notes / Stack size in BB’s / (hands) / VPIP / PFR

LINE 2: RFI (CO) / RFI (BTN) / Fold SB to LP Steal / Fold BB to LP Steal / RFI (SB) / Fold BB to SB Steal

LINES 3 & 4: gap to view name/chips and conserve space

LINE 5: Total RFI / Fold to 3bet — Cbet F / Cbet T — WTSD / W$SD

LINE 6: Call PF open / 3bet — Fold to F Cbet / Fold to T Cbet — name

I’m really enjoying this HUD. There’s some good color coding for Combo Stat usage (more on that in a bit) and the placement of everything makes intuitive sense to me. I like the font sizing I use as it’s easier on these old eyes of mine. I’ve seen other HUD’s that cram in lots of info w/tiny font, and I just can’t handle that. I utilize lots of different pop-ups which I’ll cover in upcoming posts.

I play a lot of full ring MTT’s and 6-max SNG’s, and I chose to make a split in the HUD to try to conserve space for the full-ring MTT’s.

Stat Breakdowns

Current stack in BB’s (17bb’s in the shot above) – Seeing stack sizes in BB’s helps to reduce the calculations I have to do on the fly, freeing up my mind to contemplate other important things. Immediately seeing everyone’s stack size aids in multi-tabling SNG’s and MTT’s as well. My game changes quite a bit from 20bb effective stacks to 15bb’s and 10bb’s or less.

Number of Hands (136 above) – The number of hands I have on an opponent is important as the more hands I have on them the more reliable the stats are. VPIP and PFR are good at almost any sample size, but 3bet, Fold to Cbet, Fold to Flop Donk and many others require 100’s of hands to give a good indication of the opponent’s play style.

VPIP (55 above) – Voluntarily Put $ in the Pot – This lets me know how active an opponent is. This guy likes to play lots of hands as he plays a total range of 55% (spread out over all positions). Don’t know what a 55% range is? Check out my Learning Ranges post. 55% is a useful number to know, but it needs to be coupled with PFR for max effectiveness.

PFR (18 above) – Pre-flop Raise – This is an indication of how aggressive an opponent is. This takes into account both opens and 3bet+ bets. This guy raises 18% of hands which is roughly 33+, Axs, A6o+, KTs+ and KQ. He’s decently aggressive, but when paired with his 55% playing range, this guy is a rather loose fish. Be more concerned when a small PFR opens the pot or 3bets, as this is most likely a strong hand.

Combo Stat #1 – VPIP/PFR

These two numbers, along with the gap between the two, tells you a lot about an opponent’s play style. In general, a big gap is a more passive, fishier player (less skillful, doesn’t understand hand strength or position) and a narrower gap is a sign of a good playing reg (opens and raises a lot, little limping or calling raises).

You want to play more hands and isolate against bigger gaps; play less hands but with position vs smaller gaps. Make sure to look at their positional awareness as well. Their Raise First In by position should be in one of your pop-ups, as should their Call 2bet by position. More on pop-ups in future parts of this series.

RFI in the Cut-off (0 above) – Raise First In is a good measurement for willingness to steal the blinds from the CO. Lots of good players take the opportunity from the CO to steal ultimate position by opening to the get the BTN to fold, and an added benefit is when the blinds fold as well. If this % is much higher than their PFR then restealing vs his CO open could be a good play. In this instance, his CO RFI is 0%, so if he opens here it’s more likely strength than it is a steal.

RFI on the BTN (17 above) – Seeing the gap here between his CO and BTN RFI means this opponent is possibly positionally aware. But, with his zero CO RFI and a 17 BTN RFI, he’s got to be doing some more opening in positions other than these (EP, MP or the blinds), so he’s maybe not so positionally aware. Keep in mind that we only have 136 hands on him which is only 23 rounds of 6-max.

Combo Stat #2 – RFI in CO & BTN

These two numbers together can tell you how much your opponent values stealing. In this example, not so much as his CO RFI is zero and BTN only 17. You’ll encounter opponents who have and RFI of 25% and 35% in the CO and BTN respectively, with a PFR of only 22%. These guys steal a whole lot and open much less frequently in earlier positions. They are prime candidates for restealing. If their raise is a 3bet, then look at their 3bet stats as well to see how often they’re likely 3bet bluffing. If it’s 12%+ then you’ve got an habitual restealer and a 4bet shove could be in order.

Fold SB to LP Steal (62 above) – this tells you how often he folds to steals in the SB. The higher the better, and at 62% he’s folding most of the time. It’s either b/c he’s cautious in this position or he’s had a run of weak cards in the SB. He could also just like to see flops cheaply and is unwilling to call bigger bets. The higher the number the more likely your steal will succeed which is great to know as the blinds increase.

Fold BB to LP Steal (100 above) – just like the above stat, this tells you how likely your late position steal will work when he’s in the BB. Plus, if you’ve got a value hand on the BTN and he folds to steals a lot, you may want to raise smaller or just limp to get him involved. Conversely, if he doesn’t fold the BB easily and you’ve got a value hand, bet more to get more from him as he’ll likely defend.

Combo Stat #3 – Fold SB and Fold BB to Steal

With the rampant aggression in games nowadays, these stats together let you know who you can profitably steal from and who you should avoid. They tell you how defensive he is overall. A high fold SB but a low fold BB means that he’s a fighter when he’s got a bigger stake in the pot and probably won’t give up too easily on the flop. You’ll also see opp’s with high numbers in both of these have a big gap between their VPIP and PFR, indicating a passive player that might be easy to push off of hands beyond the flop. If he’s got low SB and BB fold stats, then check his 3bet, Flop Donk Bet and c/r Cbet stats before you decide to steal. You may find yourself playing post-flop with somebody who doesn’t give up easily. Just have a plan before you make your pre-flop move.

RFI (SB) (21 above) – It’s not too often that you wake up in the SB with a hand that’s good enough to build a pot with the guaranteed disadvantage of playing out of position. If your opponent is anywhere above 35% in opening the SB, then you’ve got somebody who likes to steal. You can either call and play post-flop with knowing they’re likely weak, or take it away with a nice 3bet resteal from the BB (check their Fold to 3bet stat before you do).

Fold BB to SB Steal (55 above) – When it folds to you in the SB you want a good indication of your opponent’s likelihood of letting you take the blinds and antes without much of a fight. It’s great when you have one of these non-defenders directly to your left as they allow for less risk when you’re stealing. If this stat is high, that’s a sign that they don’t really value playing in position all that much either and may give you lots of BTN’s when you open in the CO.

Combo Stat #4 – SB RFI and Fold BB to SB Steal

With these stats you’re really looking to see how your opponent views the blinds. High SB RFI and low Fold BB means he likes to steal and thinks others do it quite often as well. Low SB RFI and high Fold BB means he doesn’t value stealing and would rather just wait for better cards to play. High and high again is indicative of someone who only steals but doesn’t defend, so he’s not too positionally aware and if he 3bets you then he’s got a great hand and position so you’re probably better off giving up on your steal. Low and low means he doesn’t like to play out of position too much, but he’ll play lots of hands while in position.

Wow, I’m only 1/2 way through the Player HUD and we’re at 1,600 words. I’ll continue the Player HUD stats discussion in part 3.

Please leave your thoughts on my Player HUD in the comments below. What should I add/delete?

Make your next session the best one yet!