Getting the most out of HUDs

[Greg J]

Most of us use HUDs. I'm sure there are several systems out there that people use to maximize the effectiveness of HUDs rather than just the default settings. I thought I would share mine in hopes of getting some feedback and ideas on how it might be improved. I am about to try out PokerAce, and just got through customizing it.

I use a different system than the changing color for stat ranges. I have what I think is a more effective system. I don't need a the color green to tell me that a post flop aggression factor of 0.5 is good for me. So I use color coding for different stats:

VP = green
Preflop raise = red
Cold Call % preflop = blue
Postflop aggression = orange
Went to showdown = yellow
number of hand I have on villian = white

These are the stats I think are most important. What do you think?

Post your HUD shots too. What stats do you use and why? What suggestions do you have a maximize the effectiveness of these really cool tools?

[TALLBrad]

I don't use the cold call %, but I'm interested in the Show Down win %.....

I like to get a feeling of how often villian wins when going to a showdown. Are they confident (high win percent), do they gamble (low win percent)...

Do you ever go to poker tracker during play to find similar plays by villian? I find that I do this every now and then especially with a check raise or unexpected aggression.

Personally I don't use color coding on my HUD.

Brad.

[Greg J]

The issue I see with using won $$ at SD is it is really just a stat that tells you how lucky villian has been. In the long run it might matter, but for the player you have like 50 or so hands on, all it will tell you is he has been running hot. Using this an an indicator of his mindset might be misleading IMO. Different people handle success or failure differently, plus the next time you see him he might have lost his shirt just as you are sitting down.

This is just the kind of discourse I was hoping for. Thanks!

[Rev. Good Will]

thread hijack... what HUDs are most of you using? GT+/PV (pretty much same thing) or pokerAce?

[Dave G.]

Interesting idea. I'd always used the colours to indicate their skill levels. Red for numbers in "bad" ranges, orange for numbers still not optimal but better, and green for solid stats. My number of hands is red for small sample < 20, orange up to 50, and green beyond that, so that tells me instantly how significant the statistics are.

I still think I like my arrangement better. I can look at a players name and instantly see what sort of player he is without even reading the numbers. This might seem trivial but all that number crunching we do at the table contributes to fatigue that builds up over several hours. Even avoiding something minor like this allows our minds to concentrate for longer periods of time.

I think if you arrange your stats in a reasonable, logical way, the mind gets used to their positioning as a natural matter of course. Even if it's not logical, your mind will naturally become familiar with their placement. Once that happens, having different colours for different stats is kind of pointless because you will know intuitively what those stats are by their positioning alone. The use of colour is then wasted.

Using colour to classify ranges of statistics however is more useful, because that WILL vary constantly as people shift around in seats. You can know what sort of player someone is with just a glance, reducing the amount of data that must be interpreted.

[topspin]

[ QUOTE ]
thread hijack... what HUDs are most of you using? GT+/PV (pretty much same thing) or pokerAce?

[/ QUOTE ]

GT+ for me. I want to try PokerAce but for some reason the damn opponent stats never update for me. All I get are the static stats for the players I have hands on when I first launch the HUD -- they don't update, and anyone I have no initial stats on never shows up.

[Greg J]

GT and PV are pretty different. I have used PV for a while, but I am just starting PA.

[ltb]

I just switched to PA and I love it.

I color code stats as well, based on ranges.

[Greg J]

I guess this is a matter of taste, but do you really need a color to tell you that 90 vpip is insanely high?

[ltb]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess this is a matter of taste, but do you really need a color to tell you that 90 vpip is insanely high?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course not, but it's convenient to take a quick glance at the person's stats and know what type of range they fall in to just by the color of the number.