Joe The Pro

Hold'em Manager

Yesterday, I bought a second monitor. I've decided to 6 table. The only thing holding me back from 6-tabling before was that my reads of people made me more money than the extra tables were worth.

That changed when I signed up for Hold'em Manager with it's HUD. The HUD overlays the important numbers I need to know, and although it is no substitute for careful observation, the EV I lose from not being able to pay attention as much is mostly offset by the help of this program allowing me to make more money 6 tabling compared to 4.

The HUD came with a lot of information, but I reduced the information. I decided to allow it to show 4 numbers instead of 9 b/c the screen real estate was cluttered. I decided to only keep the most important.

VPIP - So I know how loose they are playing preflop.
VPIP Strat - On the button reraise (Ace or King anything) any high VPIP people who have limped. VPIP ppl are limping with too many hands, you can steal a lot of their money preflop.

PFR - I need to see how aggressive they are preflop.
PFR Strategy - I can 3-bet high PFR or defend more confidently I can fold to low PFR all the time.

AGR - Their aggression from flop onwards.
AGR - This is what I need to improve on. I am going to show a few hands below where I did or did not take into account this number.

Hands - To see how accurate the numbers actually are. The more hands the more I trust the numbers.

Also, I have decided to only trust these numbers if they are in the very high or low spectrum of what is expected.

The first example Villian is 59.5/16.7/1.5. He is extremely loose and will call with almost any two cards. I had played a decent number of hands versus him also.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown


Button ($150.55)
SB ($132.07)
BB ($89.05)
UTG ($106.58)
Hero ($63.50)
CO ($118.43)


Preflop: Hero is MP with 5c, 5d.

1 fold, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, 3 folds.


Flop: ($9.50) 5s, Th, Jc (2 players)

Hero bets $9, CO calls $9.

This was me just trying to build a big pot with someone who seemed to be a calling station. The board is pretty dry and I'd have to put him on some overcard with a gut-shot draw.

Turn: ($27.50) 2s (2 players)

Hero calls $50.50 (All-In), CO folds.

Complete safe card and me truly hoping that he has the Jack or 2p. I know this move looks extremely dumb and in this situation vs this player it is dumb, but in some instances it works. I am not used to looking at the stats yet and using them to my advantage. Since his VPIP was so high I should have just bet 3/4 the pot and he would have most likely called with his overcards, gut shot, 1 p or whatever other junk he had. Instead I force him to fold. This move works on people with very high AGR and his was only 1.5. People think other's think like them so when a hyper AGR person sees a huge overbet they will call you down with something as low as mid pair + overcard or flush draw on the turn.

Next hand Villian is 33.3/16.7/6. He is loose/aggressive.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown

MP ($185.83)
Hero ($58.88)
Button ($136.38)
SB ($208.67) Villian
BB ($100)
UTG ($31.61)


Preflop: Hero is CO with Ad, Kc.

UTG calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4.5, 1 fold, SB calls $4, 1 fold, UTG calls $3.50.


Flop: ($14.50) 6h, Ts, 2s (3 players)

SB bets $12, UTG folds, Hero calls $54.38 (All-In), SB folds.

If Villian hit 2p or trips, he would check raise me as the board is a very safe looking board (apart from a flush draw and usually preflop raisers aren't going for flush draws). Yet he almost mashed the pot. The pot is already 27 dollars which is half my stack and this hyper aggressive guy led out. If I push and I'm wrong and he has a pair, I'll still win a quarter of the time, so this decision wasn't that difficult for me.

Final Pot: $80.88

It's my 2nd day trying out the HUD. I think it can really improve my game once I learn how to take full advantage of it.

posted by joe | permalink | 0 comments