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Wrong! Here are the Right Hold’em Manager / PokerTracker 3 Stats for Heads Up

Posted on Dec 01, 2008 by Gugel in Hand Reading and Tells

I see it all the time on 2+2. People look at the wrong stats when trying to make a read. You aren’t supposed to use the same stats for 6max or fullring as you would for heads up. To add to the problem, the most common mistakes are usually the most serious.

VPIP (Money Voluntarily Put in the Pot)

If you’re looking at just a single aggregated VPIP stat, you’re making a big mistake. Let’s say you opponent’s VPIP is 50%. Does that mean he’s a donk that’s calling 50% from the button and 50% from the BB? Or does that mean he’s calling 20% from the BB and raising 80% from the button? You can’t tell with just a single VPIP stat! You need to split it up into BB VPIP and Button VPIP for the VPIP stat to be of any use.

PFR (Preflop Raise)

Again, you want to avoid a general PFR stat. Instead focus on the villain’s PFR from the button. This will tell you how often your opponent is limping vs. raising. The 3betting stat is also extremely useful.

Number of Hands

You need to know if your stats are statistically significant. If you just played a few hands with an opponent, you can’t really make any reads. I usually like to see at least 50 hands before I make any serious assumptions.

C-Bet Frequency and Fold to C-Bet Frequency

If a player is continuation betting 100% of the time, you should obviously be more likely to float/call down. Likewise, if a player is very conservative with his continuation bets, you should be more conservative with your floating/calling frequencies. The fold to c-bet stat will give you a general sense of what to value bet, if you can run your opponent over, and when to just check when you miss the flop.

Aggression

Split it up by flop aggression, turn aggression, and river aggression. Some villains are aggressive on all streets. Others are aggressive on the flop, but slowdown on later streets. Still others are passive early on and then turn up the heat. It’s important to know your opponents’ tendencies, but honestly, these are not my “bread and butter” stats.

WTSD (Went to Showdown)

Is the villain a calling station or can you bluff him off a lot of his hands? This stat will give you a general sense of what to expect, but again, I don’t use it that much,

Donk Bet

A donk bet is a bet out of position. It’s often a weak hand or a draw since a stronger hand would usually go for the checkraise. A high donk bet stat will probably tell you that your opponent is not very good. Again, this stat is useful in a few situations, but it’s not vital.

Hopefully this clears some misconceptions on what stats you should be tracking. Have other stats that use for heads up? Leave a comment!

Tags: heads up stats, hold em manager stats, hold' em stats, holdem manager stats, holdem stats, poker stats, pokertracker 3 stats, pokertracker stats