HUD programs and learning to read opponents

Noob question. Been lurking for a week and only started playing on-line two weeks ago. I've read GSiHE, HoH1, Am 50 pages into ToP, Also started HoH2, and SSHE. So far I've been lucky, played in a bunch of NL sit-and-go and won $24 for an investment of $12. Also decided to learn nuances of ML/SL hold'em.

How much help is a HUD like Poker Tracker with GT+ (or the other one which I can't recall the name of right now)? Can it become a crutch and hurt B&M game?

[OrianasDaad]

A HUD has three obvious uses to me, aside from the obvious one of being able to see various statistical info on other players:

-Table selection.
-Multi-tabling.
-Immediate retreival of past hands vs specific opponents.

None of these apply to B&M.

How useful are they? It depends. I can play one table without a HUD, but find it easier to do it with one. However, my first 25,000 hands were at Prima in the pre-HUD days, and I learned valuable note-taking skills there.

A HUD is not a substitute for player reads and note taking, and never can be. It can provide a useful tool for learning, provided you keep the information displayed to a minimum.

I'd give one a try. PokeraceHUD is my personal favorite. Only go with a couple stats, say VPIP, PFR, and total aggression, and use your own noggin to interpret what these might mean when observing the play of others.

Good luck, and welcome to 2+2.

Edit: Oh, and Pokertracker is the program that builds the databases that all HUD's work from. You'll need this program to use a HUD.

[stigmata]

Alot of new players like myself started in the "pre-HUD" days. I think playing without a HUD is really useful in learning to read players and take notes.

I quite often play 2-tabling sessions (right now in fact /images/graemlins/wink.gif) without a HUD, and I feel my play is much better and I learn and think more. HUDs are really useful when you are multi-tabling on autopilot to maximise your earn.

Also, when your learning, I think it is useful to restrict your number of tables and play some session both with and without a HUD, so that you can understand how your own reads relate to the stats.

[Pov]

I would not call it a crutch simply because I only really use it for multi-tabling. When I play 2 tables or less I simply pay attention and get much better reads than what a HUD can give me. But when I step it up to 3 or 4 tables I can no longer really watch most of the players and only having time to focus on the interesting ones. That's where a good HUD comes in handy. It's also nice for table selection since if I'm not paying attention closely I might fail to realize that my once good table is now full of solid opponents and I should be looking for greener pastures. In a B&M game you don't have anything else to do while folding other than watch the other players play so I don't think a HUD online will make any difference.