Is CoffeeHUD worth the investment? - interview with its creator 'Coffeeyay'
We talk to the man behind CoffeeHUD to find out why he thinks it is a must for HUSNG regulars.
CoffeeHUD is the first add-on partner for PokerTracker 4 specifically designed for HUSNG players to have the most relevant information on display.
"The stats are intuitive and useful"
PokerStrategy.com: How does CoffeeHUD differ to the standard HUD on PokerTracker 4?
Coffeeyay: CoffeeHUD is an advanced HUD that I designed specifically for HUSNGs to give the players as much extra valuable information as possible. Standard HUDs might have 10, maybe 20 basic stats. CoffeeHUD not only has advanced stats relevant to heads up sit and gos, but also street by street and broken down by effective stacks.
Furthermore all the stats are made with HUSNGs in mind so they are intuitive and useful. It doesn't help you to know if your opponent is raising 75% of hands in a hyper turbo HUSNG, because most players raise a different percentage of hands at 20bbs compared to 10bbs. Similarly, it doesn't help to know villain's OOP VPIP is 75% when that includes times you limped and villain didn't raise you, or times you open shoved and villain called.
We break down into the common effective stacks that players change their play, as well as into the types of plays they make, so you can make decisions knowing your opponent is opening say 90% of hands at 20bb, and 55% of hands at 10bb. On a normal HUD you'd just see "75%" in both situations and it would be relatively useless information. Similarly we want it so that when you see 50% VPIP OOP you don't need to worry about how many times you limped or open shoved--you know it's specifically versus your regular opens and so strategically relevant.
There's nothing like this available on the market currently. The second most popular HUSNG HUD is actually our free CoffeeHUD lite for PT4. It contains some effective stacks, but it is basically a bare bones version of CoffeeHUD. If you're a regular HUD user and an aspiring professional, the full version of CoffeeHUD is really helpful, as there is nothing like it out there in the HUSNG market.
Many people who don't use HUDs have a bad taste in their mouth due to what could be accomplished with them in years past. That just isn't the case any more. The guys at PokerTracker have made it so we really can do some amazing things with a HUDs thanks to PT4.
"I will never play without it"
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| CoffeeHUD creator and HUSNG coach 'Coffeeyay' |
PokerStrategy.com: Tell us about your own experience as a player, and can you put a figure on how much this has helped your own game? Or other players games?
Coffeeyay: I'm constantly getting messages from players about how useful the HUD has been for them. It's hard to put an actual dollar amount on it, as I've moved up in stakes in the last year and a half (since the HUD launched), and it's always impossible to truly measure the value of things like coaching, videos, extra studying. I do know that I will never play without it.
For players that are very knowledgeable and have photographic memories, the HUD may not give them that much, but for the 99% of us that don't have photographic memories, this HUD really gives us valuable, relevant information that the average human mind just cannot keep track of. And it's a nice edge at the tables to be able to have access to all that information during the decision making process.
PokerStrategy.com: Some people think the price of the HUD is expensive relative to other poker software out there, how do you justify the price?
Coffeeyay: While there are no similar HUDs in the HUSNG market, there are similar HUDs in the cash and tournament game market. And those HUDs (most for Notecaddy Premium on Holdem Manager 2), contain custom stats, built by pros similar to myself (but for other game types), and they cost anywhere from $100 to over $1,000 (depending on the HUD and buy-in level a player plays). So compared to other custom advanced HUDs, our HUD is on the lower end of cost.
"100s of hours have been put into this"
| Customer testimonials |
| The CoffeeHUD is a necessity for any HUSNGer trying to maximize his profits. The stat detail, simplicity, and organization make this tool worth the price and more. Sa1251 I love the CoffeeHUD. I have used the CoffeeHUD for over a month now and have purchased it for over a dozen guys in my staking/coaching program. This HUD puts every stat at your disposal that you could possibly need to crush HUSNGs. If you want to take your game to the next level, the CoffeeHUD is a necessity. You simply can't afford not to use this program. I have been a HU SNG pro for the last 6 years. Recently I invested in the CoffeeHUD, which is without a doubt the best HUD for HU SNGs I have ever encountered. I can strongly recommend it to any HU SNG player regardless of stakes. I believe it is a major leak for any serious SNG player not to buy the HUD. I play 100-300 HUSNGs on PokerStars and have used the CoffeeHUD for a couple of weeks now. There are a ton of unique and useful stats for grinding hypers as well as playing 75bb deep. This HUD is definitely excellent value for anyone who grinds a decent amount. |
PokerStrategy.com: Couldn’t someone just adapt their existing PT4 HUD to show what CoffeeHUD displays? What does this product do that a standard PT4 HUD can't?
Coffeeyay: As someone who has taught 100s of poker players, ranging from the $5s to the $1,000 buy-in level, I feel like I've been able to see first hand what is most important for players of all levels when making decisions at the table. When you combine that with my mathematical education (a Masters in theoretical mathematics), I bring a unique skillset to the table. 100s of hours have been put into this HUD, from coming up with custom stats, to testing them, retesting, organising, building and putting it all together.
The colour coding system was painstakingly chosen for every single stat based on my extensive research of the population together with theoretical concerns. There are many players that tinker with HUDs, but just to make some modest changes, a fellow HUSNG.com Pro recently told me how he has put over 10 hours into customising his HUD. It would take a winning professional player many hours to build something like this, and cost far over the price of the HUD.
PokerStrategy.com: Of all the games, isn’t heads-up poker perhaps the most ‘feel’ orientated, wouldn’t a HUD distract from that?
Coffeeyay: Since you play so many hands and are postflop so often in heads up poker, using an advanced HUD is actually one of the most valuable games you can use it for; there's just so much extra information that you can potentially use to get an edge. While experienced players do have a good "feel" for hand ranges and situations, HUD use is very important, many of the top players use it.
There has to be some caution that the HUD isn't being improperly utilised. We do have many videos demonstrating HUD usage, from the premium pack, to the hyper turbo masters pack to my Math in HUSNGs pack. I have seen players on the forums talk about using HUDs improperly. For example, a player will just look purely at a number and make a decision. The player might see "25% 3bet percentage at 20-25bb effective stacks" and just assume that their opponent is 3betting the top 25% of hands. That is a common mistake that newer players make, and the correct usage of that information is to pay attention to the types of hands that they are 3betting. If your opponent 3bet 72o, then AA, then AK, then 62o, and his overall 3bet % is 25%, you would not want to assume they are 3betting the top 25% of hands (maybe bottom 12.5% and top 12.5% with a margin for error). So, like any valuable information being given, whether it's a hand chart, HUD stat or written concept, it can be misapplied and misused.
In the end though it's important to remember that having more information can only be a good thing. You can choose to ignore some stats while in game, but you can't add stats. Having as much information as possible so that you can make the most accurate decisions possible is very important to being as profitable as possible.
"It will take some time to adjust to the stats"
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| CoffeeHUD screenshot (Click to enlarge) |
PokerStrategy.com: The sheer amount of information on the HUD seems vast – couldn’t this actually be overwhelming for a player to use?
Coffeeyay: Yes, it will take some time to adjust to. I recommend starting out by reading over the list of stats and watching some videos utilising the HUD. This will get you familiar with the purpose of each stat. Then you should focus on maybe 25-30% of the stats to start. Cutting down a table for the first 5-10 hours might also help.
The colour coding system makes this easier as it helps draw the eye to the stats that exhibit extreme tendencies. Because each stat was individually colour coded the information present in the colour coding is going to be almost as important as the numbers, but since it is simply a colour it is easy to get information from it quickly.
From there, you should be able to start using more and more stats to help you make decisions. If you feel overwhelmed, you should tone it down a bit. You don't need to read every stat, but over time you'll learn which stats are valuable for which situations, and you can always just focus on the colour coding to find important details you may have missed.
PokerStrategy.com: Thanks very much. Our users can ask more questions in the forum thread below:
