Although less well known than the more illustrious (and more expensive rivals) Holdem Manager and PokerTracker, DriveHUD has a loyal band of supporters and is an excellent entry point into the world of poker databases and HUDs.
As its name suggests Drive HUD is essentially a Heads-Up Display (HUD) driven by a database collected from the hands played by a poker player and their opponents.
Poker Copilot Review 2021 - A Sophisticated Yet Simple Online Poker HUD The first thing that struck me about Poker Copilot is that unlike PokerTracker and Hold'em Manager there is no need to install any kind of database software. It just runs straight away right 'out of the box.' An honest review of the best free Poker HUDs and tracking software on the market. A poker HUD is an essential tool in modern online poker. Allowing users' to keep track of the action and stats of opponents with little effort when playing multiple table, a Heads Up Display can help identify your opponents' at a glance.
For the uninitiated, a HUD has its origins in aviation.
They were designed so a pilot would have access to critical information without having to deviate from looking forward.
They are also becoming increasingly popular in motor vehicles.
A poker HUD relays all the on-screen information by accessing its constantly improving database of information.
It can draw a multitude of data on your play and your opponent's play in both cash games, Zoom (on Pokerstars), and tournament events.
Used correctly, a poker HUD can give vital information about your opponent's style, bet frequency, tilt level and help you become a better online poker player.
Table of Contents
- So is DriveHUD any good and is it worth taking for a 30-day trial spin?
So is DriveHUD any good and is it worth taking for a 30-day trial spin?
We've tested DriveHUD as well as many other poker HUDs that are on the market. If you just want the real meat and bones on what one we recommend, here it is:
| Your Style | Best HUD for You |
|---|---|
| Casual Player, Committed Player | Holdem Manager |
| High-Volume Grinder | PokerTracker |
| Alternative Option | DriveHUD |
| Mac User | Poker Copilot |
| Currently Unrecommended | Jivaro |
In terms of its full capabilities, there are better poker HUDs on the market.
However, in terms of its price and unique features, it is certainly worth downloading the free 30-day trial – especially if you are new to poker tracking software and want a gentle introduction to what they do, how to set them up, and ultimately how to improve your win-rate.
Besides being an important tool when making decisions in real-time, Drive HUD helps players improve their overall gameplay by indicating possible review hands and situations.
The stats produced by the software are fully customizable to your level, stakes, and specific online poker room e.g BetOnline, Ignition, etc.
Poker is a game of marginal gains and any advantage you have over your opponents should edge you towards more profitable online poker.
Drive Heads-up display dashboard
The dashboard is the first thing you encounter when you fire up the software and its simplicity and ease on the eye is pleasing.
We'll run through the tabs later but the first thing you encounter on the left-hand side is your current playing statistics.
It shows a summary of your current cash games stats only but does not include any tournament data.
Also shown is the total hands you've played, the amount of money you've won or lost and your bb/100 figure (big blinds per 100 hands).
The most important stats are listed here and shown in a gauge format.
VPIP (voluntarily put money into pot) – A higher figure would suggest an obvious leak in your game from playing too many of your hole cards before a flop, for instance.
PFR (pre-flop raise) – A high PFR, is seen as a sign of aggression. The bigger the gap between VPIP and PFR the player is seen as more passive.
3-Bet (percentage of the time you re-raised pre-flop)
AF (aggression factor),
AGG% (Total aggression percent),
WTSD (went to showdown),
W$SD (won dollars at showdown),
Holiday hangover promo code. W$WSF (won dollars when seen flop percent).
The main section on the right is where you can drill down into your cash game performance.
You can filter stats based on poker room eg Ignition, Pokerstars, etc.
Individual opponents can be analysed to note their tendencies for future play.
You can have the analysis presented by money or by BBs.
There is a function to have the graphs displayed as a pop-out.
Toggle buttons located near the top of the software allow you to drill down further into showdown hands (SD) non-showdown hands (NSD) and expected value (EV).
In this section, you can further filter performance based on time either pre-set or include your custom range.
At the bottom of the dashboard, you get to drill down even further to analyse your play.
Reports Tabs where you can click on any of the report tabs to show stats for that aspect of your poker game.
They are listed below:
Overall (all stats combined to give you a simple view of your progress),
Position (how successful or unsuccessful you are from different positions),
Sessions (Displays your results based on sessions),
Stakes (separates the various buy-in level you play and pinpoints the most profitable), Wsbetting.
Hole Cards (analyse your game by each hole card type you played),
Time (check what time of the day you play your best poker),
Showdown hands (showdown stats and where you won and lost money),
Poker Site (separate stats for each poker site be that Ignition, Pokerstars, Betonline or Bovada),
Opponents (dial down and reveal stats about playing against named opponents)
Population (see your stats by the type of opponent you played with).
It is unlikely you will use all of these options but depending on your online poker playing style, there will be something to aid your game.
Back to the dashboard and towards the bottom are more filtering options including tag functionality for keeping track and specific hands you nominate to review after a session.
The usual session review tools are also stored here.
Once you have the hand tagged you have plenty of options including loading it in the hand replayer, adding notes, and your equity calculator.
While nothing groundbreaking in these options they are nicely laid out and offer some great ways to explore your opponents and hands played to improve as a player.
The dashboard is also fully customizable to suit your requirements and visual experience.
A feature I particularly like and one that may be needed in the early days is the Support tab.
From here you can connect with support but it also has useful links to the support forums and the knowledge base and FAQs.
By default, if you send a message to support it will attach your logs.
Another important point to note about support is the excellent thread on the 2+2 forums hosted by a representative of the company.
You can find information here about new builds usually caused by poker sites updating their software.
Graphical Heads-up Display
Aside from using the software to spot leaks and review play in the hand replayer, one of the most important aspects of Drive HUD is the graphical HUD itself which overlays on the poker sites you play on.
The overlay is simple and what you would expect, offering statistical clues to the playing style of your opponent.
As ever though, you must have a solid amount of playing experience and data about a villain before taking the visual clues seriously.
See the image below of how bare the information is for a Zoom game on Pokerstars.
Bumper stickers and tilt meter
One obvious feature which makes Drive HUD different from the best HUD providers is their easy-to-use bumpers stickers and their tilt meter.
Stickers allow players to label any particular opponent or group of opponents in a particular style and make recognition much easier.
The tilt meter indicates if a player has suffered recent bad beats and be about to go ‘on tilt'.
Easy Poker Hud Review
Apps to use on DriveHUD
While the software has some useful built-in apps such as the bumper stickers above, 3rd party integration of apps is allowed and there are many with useful functionality.
Leak Buster 2
Casino bonus no deposit 2017 uk. The software claims to check for over 450 potential leaks in your online poker game by analysing your play.
Leak Buster 2 compares millions of poker hands from its database and offers suggestions based on your particular playing style.
It uses stat ranges and hundreds of post-flop filters to identify blind spot areas of your game where you may be losing money unnecessarily and unknowingly.
This add-on tracking software also works with PokerTracker 4 and Holdem Manager 3 using their powerful databases.
Player X-Ray
Player X-ray is an automated note-taking application that not only saves you time but also allows you to get a better handle on a player's tendencies.
This add-on can be particularly useful when multi-tabling.
You can use the pre-defined notes in the software and adjust them to which buy-in you are sitting.
Notes are revealed when mousing over a player's stats in the HUD.
Asian Hand Converter
The Asian hand converter is a 3rd party app that writes hand histories on all of the most popular Asian rooms.
It supports Red Dragon HUD, Poker King HUD, Upoker HUD, PokerTime and PokerBros amongst others.
This can give you a huge advantage given the Asian market is one of the fastest-growing in the world and hand histories would otherwise be unavailable.
PPPoker Card Catcher
As the name suggests, this app works specifically with PP Poker.
Although it is a Windows app, it can be used on ios and android using an emulator such as LDplayer or Nox.
The PPPoker HUD Catcher will track all observed tables, as well as collect data from your own games. All table types, cash and tournaments are tracked.
Icmizer 3
Icmizer is a neat tool to help you evaluate your push/fold strategy in SNG tournaments.
Load hands into the software and it will begin to train you in the situations where you need to improve your MTT strategy.
Prices
DriveHUD offers a variety of price points that depend on the stakes you are planning on using. There are also different versions for Holdem and Omaha, if you want both it will cost you more.
For a full rundown of the prices click here.
DriveHUD Strengths
- Easy to use
- Great looking user interface
- Good user manual and learning materials
- Easy to create HUDs
DriveHUD Weaknesses
- Not fully Mac compatible
Our Verdict on DriveHUD
DriveHUD is not the best poker HUD but worth it's certainly worth a test drive.
On reviewing Drive HUD, the most interesting factor is the price.
It is much cheaper than the more well-known rivals.
This is because it has fewer features than the others on the market.
However, this does not mean it is not worth purchasing.
It is an excellent starter HUD.
Much like you would not buy an expensive car as your first vehicle, Drive HUD is a serious option to consider to gain a basic understanding of how they work, which add-ons work best for your particular playing style.
How To Use A Hud Poker
One minor gripe is the problems caused when a poker site updates its software.
Sometimes you will need to wait until a patch is released to deal with any issues thrown up.
However, the support is excellent and there are plenty of Youtube video walkthroughs about how to get the most out of this useful piece of poker software.
The hand replayer and equity calculator are two solid parts of the offering that would not look out of place against the best HUD on the market.
There are few arguments against trying DriveHUD especially if it will be your first HUD or if you don't want to spend too heavily before fully understanding how this type of software can improve your poker game.
Millions of people play poker every day. Some of them use it a as relaxation technique, others make a living out of it. Highly gifted and skilled players are splashed all over the news for winning the latest tournament and collecting the million dollars award money. Others prefer to play the game online and stay out of the limelight.
When playing against opponents that you don't have a real life connection with (you can't observe their facial expressions, gestures and mannerism in the way they bet, fold, call and so on as you would have if you are playing a live game) it is advised that you have a way of finding what their tendencies are. For online players one of the most valuable tools is a piece of software called a poker HUD.
# What is a poker HUD?
A 'poker HUD' is software that tracks various key stats and its purpose is to help you make better decisions when playing online poker. The acronym HUD stands for Head-Up Display and this is exactly what it is - a helpful, easy to use and read display.
A good HUD tracks and analyzes hundreds of stats in real time. The data collected is shown via an overlay right on top of the poker table.
Simply put - a HUD is a software program that tracks and displays information about the way your opponents are playing. Based on this information you should be able to notice patterns, exploit your opponents' weaknesses, make better decisions and win more.
# Why do I need a HUD?
Let's cut to the chase - playing without a HUD will place you at a great disadvantage! A huge number of online players use them to keep track on number of things and make decisions accordingly. If you do not use one - well, you can make the conclusion.
Basically, if you like winning and if you want to be competitive you need to have a good poker HUD, its' that simple. There's no way around it and no way to 'sugarcoated' - poker is a war, there will be winners and there will be losers. If you want to be the former - get a HUD!
# Benefits of using a poker HUD
The single best thing a HUD can do for you is keep track of all the statistics that you deem important, for each of your opponents at the table. By showing you the tendencies of your opponents it is easier to exploit their weaknesses for your gain. HUDs also help players to simultaneously play on more tables and thus help them raise their profit.
One of the most underrated benefits of all poker software is the ability to learn more about you and your style of play. A good HUD can help you immensely improve your game, win more money and more tournaments! The stored information about each hand can be visualized in a number of ways (graphs, charts, percentages and so on) and is a valuable treasure chest for the student of the game.
Replaying hands after the fact allows you to see the game without the pressure of the live play and also to put yourself in the shoes of your opponents. Getting to know your own tendencies and using them to your advantage is one of the best kept secrets in online poker.
Poker HUD is shown at a PokerStars poker table.
# Are poker HUDs legal / allowed / considered cheating?
This is the first question every novice online poker player asks when he learns about them. There is nothing illegal about HUDs. If the site you play on allows them, then everyone is free to use them.
Since there are many types of HUDs it is quite possible that every player at the table uses a different one or even if they use the same software it can be setup in a different way.
Every player chooses if he wants to use a HUD or not. It is not considered a way of cheating simply because the online poker sites freely give the information about each played hand. If the site wants to stop players using a HUD it can simply hide that data and then everyone will have to play without the HUD.
The poker rooms online can be added to one of these 3 categories when it comes to poker tracking software:
- Allow HUDs without limitations
- Allowed in general but with certain limitations and restrictions - Examples - PokerStars, IPoker, 888Poker and others
- Not allowed at all - Ignition, SkyPoker
These are just examples and the list of which websites allows HUDs or other trackers and on what types of game changes all the time. You need to check with each of them individually in their F.A.Q. section about their most current position on this subject.
# How is the data collected?
Each poker site keeps information about the hands you have played. It is freely available to anyone at the table.
The HUD software stores and processes this information and then shows the tendencies of your opponents in small boxes next to their avatars in the form of percentages or numbers.
# How is the data processed?
Every HUD-software has a basic set of stats that are calculated.
The most common and helpful stats are VPIP (Voluntarily Put In Pot), PFR (Pre Flop Raise), AF (Aggression Factor) and ATS (Attempt To Steal).
After a hand is complete the information is automatically added to a database and the current stats for every player are updated. This is one of the major differences between the poker HUDs available and here at Hand2Note we are proud to provide you with over 500 (yes, you read it right - over five hundred!) different stats.
Which Poker Hud Is Best
How is the data visualized?Some programs only allow a certain number of stats to be shown and added to the database. Others (the paid ones, like you, guessed it - Hand2Note) give the user the freedom to keep track of pretty much as many stats as they wish.
The good HUDs also offer other helpful information in the form of graphs or allow a player to add certain notes on the specific opponents. The best HUDs use highly advanced mathematics to come up with all sorts of data that in the right hands can substantially increase the profits of professional or recreational poker players.
# How is the data visualized?
Some programs only allow a certain number of stats to be shown and added to the database. Others (the paid ones, like you, guessed it - Hand2Note) give the user the freedom to keep track of pretty much as many stats as they wish.
The good HUDs also offer other helpful information in the form of graphs or allow a player to add certain notes on the specific opponents. The best HUDs use highly advanced mathematics to come up with all sorts of data that in the right hands can substantially increase the profits of professional or recreational poker players.
Poker sessions results are shown in poker HUD.
# Choosing a HUD
If you are serious about your poker play then it is highly advisable that you use a HUD. The general rule is that the better the HUD the more data and information it can process and visualize for you. The best ones are highly customizable and can be setup in any way that a player wants without sacrificing usability and convince.
Besides being an important tool when making decisions in real-time, Drive HUD helps players improve their overall gameplay by indicating possible review hands and situations.
The stats produced by the software are fully customizable to your level, stakes, and specific online poker room e.g BetOnline, Ignition, etc.
Poker is a game of marginal gains and any advantage you have over your opponents should edge you towards more profitable online poker.
Drive Heads-up display dashboard
The dashboard is the first thing you encounter when you fire up the software and its simplicity and ease on the eye is pleasing.
We'll run through the tabs later but the first thing you encounter on the left-hand side is your current playing statistics.
It shows a summary of your current cash games stats only but does not include any tournament data.
Also shown is the total hands you've played, the amount of money you've won or lost and your bb/100 figure (big blinds per 100 hands).
The most important stats are listed here and shown in a gauge format.
VPIP (voluntarily put money into pot) – A higher figure would suggest an obvious leak in your game from playing too many of your hole cards before a flop, for instance.
PFR (pre-flop raise) – A high PFR, is seen as a sign of aggression. The bigger the gap between VPIP and PFR the player is seen as more passive.
3-Bet (percentage of the time you re-raised pre-flop)
AF (aggression factor),
AGG% (Total aggression percent),
WTSD (went to showdown),
W$SD (won dollars at showdown),
Holiday hangover promo code. W$WSF (won dollars when seen flop percent).
The main section on the right is where you can drill down into your cash game performance.
You can filter stats based on poker room eg Ignition, Pokerstars, etc.
Individual opponents can be analysed to note their tendencies for future play.
You can have the analysis presented by money or by BBs.
There is a function to have the graphs displayed as a pop-out.
Toggle buttons located near the top of the software allow you to drill down further into showdown hands (SD) non-showdown hands (NSD) and expected value (EV).
In this section, you can further filter performance based on time either pre-set or include your custom range.
At the bottom of the dashboard, you get to drill down even further to analyse your play.
Reports Tabs where you can click on any of the report tabs to show stats for that aspect of your poker game.
They are listed below:
Overall (all stats combined to give you a simple view of your progress),
Position (how successful or unsuccessful you are from different positions),
Sessions (Displays your results based on sessions),
Stakes (separates the various buy-in level you play and pinpoints the most profitable), Wsbetting.
Hole Cards (analyse your game by each hole card type you played),
Time (check what time of the day you play your best poker),
Showdown hands (showdown stats and where you won and lost money),
Poker Site (separate stats for each poker site be that Ignition, Pokerstars, Betonline or Bovada),
Opponents (dial down and reveal stats about playing against named opponents)
Population (see your stats by the type of opponent you played with).
It is unlikely you will use all of these options but depending on your online poker playing style, there will be something to aid your game.
Back to the dashboard and towards the bottom are more filtering options including tag functionality for keeping track and specific hands you nominate to review after a session.
The usual session review tools are also stored here.
Once you have the hand tagged you have plenty of options including loading it in the hand replayer, adding notes, and your equity calculator.
While nothing groundbreaking in these options they are nicely laid out and offer some great ways to explore your opponents and hands played to improve as a player.
The dashboard is also fully customizable to suit your requirements and visual experience.
A feature I particularly like and one that may be needed in the early days is the Support tab.
From here you can connect with support but it also has useful links to the support forums and the knowledge base and FAQs.
By default, if you send a message to support it will attach your logs.
Another important point to note about support is the excellent thread on the 2+2 forums hosted by a representative of the company.
You can find information here about new builds usually caused by poker sites updating their software.
Graphical Heads-up Display
Aside from using the software to spot leaks and review play in the hand replayer, one of the most important aspects of Drive HUD is the graphical HUD itself which overlays on the poker sites you play on.
The overlay is simple and what you would expect, offering statistical clues to the playing style of your opponent.
As ever though, you must have a solid amount of playing experience and data about a villain before taking the visual clues seriously.
See the image below of how bare the information is for a Zoom game on Pokerstars.
Bumper stickers and tilt meter
One obvious feature which makes Drive HUD different from the best HUD providers is their easy-to-use bumpers stickers and their tilt meter.
Stickers allow players to label any particular opponent or group of opponents in a particular style and make recognition much easier.
The tilt meter indicates if a player has suffered recent bad beats and be about to go ‘on tilt'.
Easy Poker Hud Review
Apps to use on DriveHUD
While the software has some useful built-in apps such as the bumper stickers above, 3rd party integration of apps is allowed and there are many with useful functionality.
Leak Buster 2
Casino bonus no deposit 2017 uk. The software claims to check for over 450 potential leaks in your online poker game by analysing your play.
Leak Buster 2 compares millions of poker hands from its database and offers suggestions based on your particular playing style.
It uses stat ranges and hundreds of post-flop filters to identify blind spot areas of your game where you may be losing money unnecessarily and unknowingly.
This add-on tracking software also works with PokerTracker 4 and Holdem Manager 3 using their powerful databases.
Player X-Ray
Player X-ray is an automated note-taking application that not only saves you time but also allows you to get a better handle on a player's tendencies.
This add-on can be particularly useful when multi-tabling.
You can use the pre-defined notes in the software and adjust them to which buy-in you are sitting.
Notes are revealed when mousing over a player's stats in the HUD.
Asian Hand Converter
The Asian hand converter is a 3rd party app that writes hand histories on all of the most popular Asian rooms.
It supports Red Dragon HUD, Poker King HUD, Upoker HUD, PokerTime and PokerBros amongst others.
This can give you a huge advantage given the Asian market is one of the fastest-growing in the world and hand histories would otherwise be unavailable.
PPPoker Card Catcher
As the name suggests, this app works specifically with PP Poker.
Although it is a Windows app, it can be used on ios and android using an emulator such as LDplayer or Nox.
The PPPoker HUD Catcher will track all observed tables, as well as collect data from your own games. All table types, cash and tournaments are tracked.
Icmizer 3
Icmizer is a neat tool to help you evaluate your push/fold strategy in SNG tournaments.
Load hands into the software and it will begin to train you in the situations where you need to improve your MTT strategy.
Prices
DriveHUD offers a variety of price points that depend on the stakes you are planning on using. There are also different versions for Holdem and Omaha, if you want both it will cost you more.
For a full rundown of the prices click here.
DriveHUD Strengths
- Easy to use
- Great looking user interface
- Good user manual and learning materials
- Easy to create HUDs
DriveHUD Weaknesses
- Not fully Mac compatible
Our Verdict on DriveHUD
DriveHUD is not the best poker HUD but worth it's certainly worth a test drive.
On reviewing Drive HUD, the most interesting factor is the price.
It is much cheaper than the more well-known rivals.
This is because it has fewer features than the others on the market.
However, this does not mean it is not worth purchasing.
It is an excellent starter HUD.
Much like you would not buy an expensive car as your first vehicle, Drive HUD is a serious option to consider to gain a basic understanding of how they work, which add-ons work best for your particular playing style.
How To Use A Hud Poker
One minor gripe is the problems caused when a poker site updates its software.
Sometimes you will need to wait until a patch is released to deal with any issues thrown up.
However, the support is excellent and there are plenty of Youtube video walkthroughs about how to get the most out of this useful piece of poker software.
The hand replayer and equity calculator are two solid parts of the offering that would not look out of place against the best HUD on the market.
There are few arguments against trying DriveHUD especially if it will be your first HUD or if you don't want to spend too heavily before fully understanding how this type of software can improve your poker game.
Millions of people play poker every day. Some of them use it a as relaxation technique, others make a living out of it. Highly gifted and skilled players are splashed all over the news for winning the latest tournament and collecting the million dollars award money. Others prefer to play the game online and stay out of the limelight.
When playing against opponents that you don't have a real life connection with (you can't observe their facial expressions, gestures and mannerism in the way they bet, fold, call and so on as you would have if you are playing a live game) it is advised that you have a way of finding what their tendencies are. For online players one of the most valuable tools is a piece of software called a poker HUD.
# What is a poker HUD?
A 'poker HUD' is software that tracks various key stats and its purpose is to help you make better decisions when playing online poker. The acronym HUD stands for Head-Up Display and this is exactly what it is - a helpful, easy to use and read display.
A good HUD tracks and analyzes hundreds of stats in real time. The data collected is shown via an overlay right on top of the poker table.
Simply put - a HUD is a software program that tracks and displays information about the way your opponents are playing. Based on this information you should be able to notice patterns, exploit your opponents' weaknesses, make better decisions and win more.
# Why do I need a HUD?
Let's cut to the chase - playing without a HUD will place you at a great disadvantage! A huge number of online players use them to keep track on number of things and make decisions accordingly. If you do not use one - well, you can make the conclusion.
Basically, if you like winning and if you want to be competitive you need to have a good poker HUD, its' that simple. There's no way around it and no way to 'sugarcoated' - poker is a war, there will be winners and there will be losers. If you want to be the former - get a HUD!
# Benefits of using a poker HUD
The single best thing a HUD can do for you is keep track of all the statistics that you deem important, for each of your opponents at the table. By showing you the tendencies of your opponents it is easier to exploit their weaknesses for your gain. HUDs also help players to simultaneously play on more tables and thus help them raise their profit.
One of the most underrated benefits of all poker software is the ability to learn more about you and your style of play. A good HUD can help you immensely improve your game, win more money and more tournaments! The stored information about each hand can be visualized in a number of ways (graphs, charts, percentages and so on) and is a valuable treasure chest for the student of the game.
Replaying hands after the fact allows you to see the game without the pressure of the live play and also to put yourself in the shoes of your opponents. Getting to know your own tendencies and using them to your advantage is one of the best kept secrets in online poker.
Poker HUD is shown at a PokerStars poker table.
# Are poker HUDs legal / allowed / considered cheating?
This is the first question every novice online poker player asks when he learns about them. There is nothing illegal about HUDs. If the site you play on allows them, then everyone is free to use them.
Since there are many types of HUDs it is quite possible that every player at the table uses a different one or even if they use the same software it can be setup in a different way.
Every player chooses if he wants to use a HUD or not. It is not considered a way of cheating simply because the online poker sites freely give the information about each played hand. If the site wants to stop players using a HUD it can simply hide that data and then everyone will have to play without the HUD.
The poker rooms online can be added to one of these 3 categories when it comes to poker tracking software:
- Allow HUDs without limitations
- Allowed in general but with certain limitations and restrictions - Examples - PokerStars, IPoker, 888Poker and others
- Not allowed at all - Ignition, SkyPoker
These are just examples and the list of which websites allows HUDs or other trackers and on what types of game changes all the time. You need to check with each of them individually in their F.A.Q. section about their most current position on this subject.
# How is the data collected?
Each poker site keeps information about the hands you have played. It is freely available to anyone at the table.
The HUD software stores and processes this information and then shows the tendencies of your opponents in small boxes next to their avatars in the form of percentages or numbers.
# How is the data processed?
Every HUD-software has a basic set of stats that are calculated.
The most common and helpful stats are VPIP (Voluntarily Put In Pot), PFR (Pre Flop Raise), AF (Aggression Factor) and ATS (Attempt To Steal).
After a hand is complete the information is automatically added to a database and the current stats for every player are updated. This is one of the major differences between the poker HUDs available and here at Hand2Note we are proud to provide you with over 500 (yes, you read it right - over five hundred!) different stats.
Which Poker Hud Is Best
How is the data visualized?Some programs only allow a certain number of stats to be shown and added to the database. Others (the paid ones, like you, guessed it - Hand2Note) give the user the freedom to keep track of pretty much as many stats as they wish.
The good HUDs also offer other helpful information in the form of graphs or allow a player to add certain notes on the specific opponents. The best HUDs use highly advanced mathematics to come up with all sorts of data that in the right hands can substantially increase the profits of professional or recreational poker players.
# How is the data visualized?
Some programs only allow a certain number of stats to be shown and added to the database. Others (the paid ones, like you, guessed it - Hand2Note) give the user the freedom to keep track of pretty much as many stats as they wish.
The good HUDs also offer other helpful information in the form of graphs or allow a player to add certain notes on the specific opponents. The best HUDs use highly advanced mathematics to come up with all sorts of data that in the right hands can substantially increase the profits of professional or recreational poker players.
Poker sessions results are shown in poker HUD.
# Choosing a HUD
If you are serious about your poker play then it is highly advisable that you use a HUD. The general rule is that the better the HUD the more data and information it can process and visualize for you. The best ones are highly customizable and can be setup in any way that a player wants without sacrificing usability and convince.
Searching online will give you a basic idea of what is available on the market and it can be generally sorted as free HUD software and paid HUD software.
At the moment there are about a handful of HUD programs which are what can be considered 'professional' and they are all naturally paid. Yes, the number is not high and this is because creating, maintaining and constantly updating the HUD software with the latest features is not easy or cheap. You need a good team of developers and software engineers to achieve that. The technology and the rules at each poker site change all the time. Updates are necessary on weekly and even daily bases.
However, Hand2Note provides a free poker HUD for those who play up to NL25 stakes. It contains almost all features of the paid version. You don't need to install anything additionally to Hand2Note itself. When the trial expires you will just continue to use the HUD for free.
You can see here in our update section how many updates we've made since 2014. We strive to push one as fast as possible, sometimes a few times a week! Of course we are a little bit biased on this subject but we believe we have one of the best teams in the business and our poker software is the best:😃
With plans starting at under $20 a month, full 30days no questions-asked money back guarantee, knowledgeable support team and almost instant updates you can see why thousands of poker players have been using our HUD for years.
# Drawbacks of HUDs
To put it in brief - there aren't many! Yes, there is a fee involved but even the most updated and trusted HUDs are now extremely affordable. A regular player can get the money they paid for that small monthly fee back in a very short time of use (days or even hours).
The biggest mistake most novice players make after purchasing a HUD is that they stop paying attention to the table. The stats are there, no need to stay vigilant.
Well the problem with that approach is that the numbers don't lie but they are only there to augment your perception and feel for the game. Keep in mind that the data for each player is collected only when both of you are at the table. You don't get the data from their previous 10 or 1000 hands. Hence they could be changing their style of betting when they s ee a new face at the table or they could be tired or drunk or distracted and so on.
The software doesn't know any of that. It just collects the data and shows it to you. Some expert HUD users say they don't trust the data shown until at least a certain amount of hands have been played and even then they keep their own notes on how certain players approach the game.
Another mistake often made by novice players is simply playing the numbers. They see that their opponent has such and such tendency and just go with it without assessing the overall position at the table. After all the numbers are there, time is limited and if you play on too many table at the same time it is easy to think that the HUD can make the decisions for you.
Every good poker player knows that the programs can only help and guide you to the right decision. Even if it is the one that the stats say it's the wrong one!
Remember - a poker HUD is a tool, how to use it and take advantage of it is up to you.
# In conclusion
If you are serious about your online poker play a Head-on Display is one of the best investments you will ever make.
HUDs are now cheap, fast and user friendly. The days when a HUD would slow down your computer or even crash it are long over. The technology have improved vastly in recent years and using a HUD is a breeze.
If on the other hand you decide to save a few dollars and don't use one, well you will be most likely ending paying in different ways. Don't want to be harsh, don't want to be mean - that's just the reality!
So let's summarize what a poker HUD can do for you:
- Show you the tendencies of your opponents by tracking the played hands at the table.
- Allows you to make better decisions in-game.
- HUDs are not illegal (thou they must be allowed by your chosen poker site and might have some restrictions) and you should be using one if that is an option
- HUDs give you an extra advantage over regular players
- HUDs give you an extra advantage over regular players
- Let you play more tables and thus increase your profit
- Poker HUDs have drawbacks but savvy users can avoid them easily
