HUD (HUD)

Also known as: Heads-Up Display, Heads Up Display

A HUD is an on-screen overlay showing opponent stats (VPIP, PFR, 3-bet, AF) pulled from a tracking database. It speeds online reads but needs a sample to be trusted — and is banned on some sites.

A HUD (Heads-Up Display) is an on-screen overlay that prints an opponent's stats directly onto their seat at the online table. It reads from a hand-tracking database — most commonly PokerTracker 4 or Hold'em Manager 3 — that logs every hand you have played against them.

A standard HUD shows the core triad and more:

VPIP / PFR — looseness and preflop aggression at a glance.
3-bet % and Aggression Factor — re-raise tendency and postflop aggression.
WTSD, fold-to-c-bet, steal, and dozens of optional stats in popups.

The critical caveat is sample size. A 60/0 readout over 4 hands is noise, not a profile — VPIP stabilises fastest, while 3-bet, fold-to-c-bet and showdown stats need hundreds of hands before you can lean on them hard. Colour-code by sample and treat thin numbers as hints, not facts.

Note the rules: many sites now ban third-party HUDs (or restrict them to hands at your own tables), and a HUD is meaningless in live play. The skill of reading the table directly still matters most.

Example

You sit at a 6-max table and the HUD prints 23/19, 3-bet 8, AF 3.2 over 2,400 hands on the player to your right — a tough, aggressive reg, so tighten up and avoid bloating pots out of position. The player to your left reads 41/6 over 900 hands: a loose-passive fish to target, isolate and value-bet relentlessly.