Online poker has seen the prevalence of HUDs (Heads Up Displays) rise each and every year. These HUDs allow players to quickly analyze the way that their opponents play. For example, a quick glimpse of a HUD can tell you how aggressive a player is, whether they give up on the flop, and much more. Needless to say, all of this information makes game play much easier. There are a handful of general statistics that players tend to rely on, with the rest of the information being more secondary. If you are using either PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager or other similar software, the following sets of statistics will be on your screen whenever you sit down, so it is important that you know how to assess them.
PFR
PFR stands for pre flop raise. The pre flop raise number is the percentage of times (out of 100) that any given player makes a raise pre flop. If a player has a PFR of 40, you know that they are very, very aggressive, too loose actually. A PFR of anywhere from 16-30 can be profitable for short handed cash game players, whereas a lower PFR makes more sense for a full ring player. Remember that sample sizes are important for all of the statistics that you are looking at for these players. 100 hands is the minimum number for which you should put any faith in the data available.
AF
AF stands for aggression factor. The aggression factor represents exactly what it sounds like it should. Most AF numbers will be in the 3-6 range. 3-4 is generally a good AF to have and is indicative of a solid player, but these numbers are always dependent on game type and other ever changing factors. AF is a good “quick” tool to use when gauging the general aggression level of a player, but this number itself does not give a great deal of insight into how someone plays, so don’t use it as the only tool you rely upon.
VP$IP
VP$IP is a term that you will probably hear more than any others. VP$IP stands for Voluntarily Put Money In Pot. This number tells you how often someone puts money in the pot of their own free will. In other words, a player in the blinds puts money in the pot, but it is not voluntary, so it would not be a part of this number. Now, if a player in the blinds raises or re raises or calls a raise pre flop, it would count towards their VP$IP. The VP$IP figure should be a notch above the PFR number. As you might expect, almost every player will put money in the pot a bit more often than the times where they make a raise themselves. A solid player will have numbers like 22 (VP$IP)/19 (PFR) or 28/24, or something along those lines. If you see numbers that are very far apart, you can safely assume that the player is not too good.
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