Statistical Software (HUDs): Interpretation and Practical Use - Part 1

In modern online poker, the use of statistical software has become essential, both to help you read during the game and to review your sessions and analyze your mistakes. These programs store hand histories and perform mathematical calculations to generate data. By evaluating this data, you can estimate various aspects of your opponents. You can reach the same conclusions by watching games and remembering (as in live poker), but with software it's much more accurate.

There are already a variety of programs that have these functions, the main ones being Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker. They offer the HUD (Heads-Up Display), a window that stays open while you play, with information about your opponents.

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Before you start evaluating the indices, keep these things in mind:

• The more hands you have played with your opponent, the more accurate your data will be. 50 hands gives you practically no information. From 200 hands you start to improve, but for percentages of less common events the ideal is 1000 hands or more.
• Statistics aren't everything. It's not because the villain plays a lot of hands that he can't have a good hand this time.
• People change their style and mood. You can have a lot of old data on a player and it can "pollute" the most recent evaluation if they have changed their style. Observation is also essential.

Now we'll describe the main statistical indices used in online poker.

VP/IP (%)

"Voluntarily puts money in the pot", VPIP

This statistic shows the number of hands in which the villain is voluntarily participating (the blinds are not included in the sample) in the pot. In practice, it tells you whether the villain plays too many hands (loose) or too few hands (tight).

This statistic is very much up to personal interpretation, but what most players have as a baseline is more or less as follows:

• <15% - Very tight, in fact, he's not even tight anymore, he's NIT, in other words, he's a rock. You can be sure that he'll only enter the pot with great hands in early positions (EP) and it's quite possible that his range for late positions (LP) will be something like ATs+, 88+.
• Between 15% and 22% - Tight player. Notice if they play low pairs in EP, and also notice if when they do, they limp or raise. Put this in your notes.
• Between 22% and 30% - It's a semi-loose. Usually raises with ANY pocket pair, regardless of position. Plays hands like AXo and suited high connectors in EP.
• Between 30% and 40% - He's loose, plays a lot of hands from any position, can be a weak player or an experienced looser. You'll learn the difference later in the article.
• Between 40% and 60% - He's a maniac, he plays a lot of weak hands, in any position. He's the kind of player you like to have at your table.
• >60% - It's free money. The popular "donkey" or "fish" in poker jargon. A villain's dream, free money...

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PFR (%)

"Pre-Flop Raise"

This is the percentage of hands that the player raises pre-flop. It's always less than or equal to the VPIP and, obviously, should be analyzed together with it. When we say that a villain is 30/15, for example, it means that he enters 30% of the pots and in half of these he raises (15%, half of 30%).

The PFR value alone can mean nothing. For example: a 60/18 player (at 6-handed tables) is not aggressive, while a 20/18 player (at full tables) is extremely aggressive.

NOTE: The greater the difference between an opponent's VP/IP and PFR, the weaker they tend to be.

40/5 player: tends to be weak (donkey). Player 40/30: is a loose player but very aggressive, can be an experienced player who likes more action (e.g. Gus Hansen).

This article continues in part two: Statistical Software (HUDs): Interpretation and Practical Use - Part 2

Article originally written by Jardim, from the Poker Tips Forum, and adapted.