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I have been playing without a HUD this past two days, as an experiment that one of the coaches suggested to me, and my winrate is skyrocketing.Now i have been running pretty good, BUT i also i think i am making better, more reason based fundamental decisions.I am playing Zoom, so i am pretty familiar with all the good/bad regulars, and their tendencies by now.The fish just come and go, you rarely get more then a 50 hands sample on them, and simple quick notes do just fine.After i finish the session, i open the HUD to import hands, go over some of the more interesting spots, basically check and compare my reads and notes with the stats.I find that this system is working quite well for me, as i am more confident with my decision making and somehow feel less stat, more feel/intuition/logic oriented.Thoughts?

Confirmation bias. Tiny sample. If you are playing better without a HUD, it means you were using it incorrectly.

I find the same thing. However it's only because it takes too much of my attention away from the table dynamics. If I was younger and smarter and could process the information quicker, there is no reason a HUD shouldn't improve my game.

I find the same thing. However it's only because it takes too much of my attention away from the table dynamics. If I was younger and smarter and could process the information quicker, there is no reason a HUD shouldn't improve my game.

For me it was just a leveling thing vs super aggro players pre flop, that i have a big sample on.When in reality they might be playing their most nittiest session ever, but i still see his 3b% which is like 18% over 500+ hands.Since i`m playing Zoom, i can`t get a full grasp of how he`s playing that session in particular(and i know i can filter those things).Anyways my experiment is over, still crushing, so prolly it was not a HUD thing, but putting some things in the right perspective.

I could be convinced that not using a HUD for zoom is optimal for some, sure, but the way you've wrote that last post pretty much confirms GingerViking's post.

Reminds me of hearing ppl say "wow, after one session with my new coach my game has totally evolved and now I play so much better"

I play better without a HUD too.

I think the lower you play, the more you can drop from your HUD.
Keep it at VPIP/PFR/3bet with some nice pop ups and I believe that will be enough. It's even good for practice. You learn to watch different things.. Most optimal is to use both but a lot of players have a bad habit to look at the hud rather then to other things more important.

Simple example is the c-bet. Either you can look at it's percentage, or you can really learn about the player checking what boards he is c-betting on etc etc

It helped me a lot to play with as few as possible stats and once in a while to play completely without it. Less tables. But, especially when you are a beginner you should focus on learning and use as many tools as possible to really learn the game. Dropping the hud/fewer stats is a great method.

just learn how to read sample sizes, which stats are worth using regularly, and how to adapt based on what the data is telling you. lacking any one of these three skills could definitely hurt your game if you're basing it largely on the hud. i think that there's no way it is more optimal to play without a HUD though. even if you dumbed it down to VPIP, PFR, and 3bet %, that would give you such an incredibly stronger read than if you are just playing blind.

Those 3 are important. Not using a HUD in on-line poker is too big of a disadvantage. I do believe you can drop it for training purpose. Also, dumbing it done might be your best option if you can't stop looking at your hud without forming reads on your own. Also, if you play microstakes most HUD stats are useless anyway. I don't see any reason to keep all those stats in your HUD. VPIP/PFR is usefull to identify player type.. Even 3-bet might be debatable.

When you get higher and encounter the same players over and over again, more stats might become usefull.

just learn how to read sample sizes, which stats are worth using regularly, and how to adapt based on what the data is telling you. lacking any one of these three skills could definitely hurt your game if you're basing it largely on the hud. i think that there's no way it is more optimal to play without a HUD though. even if you dumbed it down to VPIP, PFR, and 3bet %, that would give you such an incredibly stronger read than if you are just playing blind.

My Basic stats for 6m are : Vpip, Pfr, 3b%, 4b%, fold to both, cbet flop, cbet turn, ftcbet, Sq, Af and Wtsd.

I`m really getting better and better in quickly going over pop up stats aswell, to see how villains play multiple streets, and it`s helping me construct plans more effectively.

This was just an experiment that was suggested to me, in order to put some tings in the right perspective, and has worked out well.That aside i can`t even imagine myself playing without a Hud now, especially Zoom.

I prefer to use a HUD, but I know of big winners who have done far better than myself who do not use them at all, there is one fairly well-known one out there I believe. If you are having more success without a HUD it may be that that is better for you. You'd need to compare your results over a very large sample. You know what works better for you and you should be able to make the right decision.

It helped me a lot to play with as few as possible stats and once in a while to play completely without it. Less tables. But, especially when you are a beginner you should focus on learning and use as many tools as possible to really learn the game. Dropping the hud/fewer stats is a great method.

Yep.That was the purpose of the whole training experiment.

It's impossible for not using a HUD to be better than using a HUD unless you're using it wrong. You can always choose to not use the information you have but you can never choose to use the information that you don't have.

Of course you can be successful without a HUD but pretty hard for more information to be worse than less information. Unless you're using that information wrong.

It's impossible for not using a HUD to be better than using a HUD unless you're using it wrong. You can always choose to not use the information you have but you can never choose to use the information that you don't have.

Of course you can be successful without a HUD but pretty hard for more information to be worse than less information. Unless you're using that information wrong.

Yes. And I would like to mention that once you get into this bad habit of using the HUD wrong it's very hard to start using it right. You keep focusing on things you should not be focusing on. So, at that point it might be smart to dump lots of stats and build the skill from there.

Thoughts?