[Harv72b]

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So if I understand, you guys pretty much mainly rely on PT with PA HUD overlay to get a read on villans, more than actually observing their play?

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Not at all. It takes a while when you start multi-tabling, but believe it or not after a while you'll get so used to it (and so many of your actions will become automatic) that you can still do quite a bit of observation on your opponents. That, along with note-taking and of course the PT stats, is what forms my online reads.

To give an example, let's say I'm playing limit hold'em. It's folded to an opponent in MP who raises, and I have 99 on the button. I reraise, the blinds fold, he calls, and we're heads up.

I see from my PA HUD overlay that he's got a VPIP of 36, a PFR of 17, and a postflop aggression factor of 1.8--a LAG. My notes on him say "will take ace high to the river, will bluff any street if shown weakness, including check/raise bluffs." The flop is good for me, 522 rainbow. He checks to me, I bet, and he calls. The turn is a jack. He checks to me, I bet, and he check/raises.

I bring up my popup stats on PA HUD, and it shows that he only wins 43% of the time when he raises the turn. That, plus my note & his general numbers, tell me that he's bluffing often enough to make the calldown. I call his c/r. The river is an 8, he bets, I call. He turns over KQo & I win.

In a hand like that, I'll instantly recognize that I need to 3bet preflop based solely on his preflop stats (and the strength of my hand/position). The flop bet is routine & requires no thought when he doesn't cap it preflop. Really, the only point in the hand where I'd even pause would be after the turn c/r, and even then only a second or two to click on my popup stats. Knowing that he's prone to bluffing, the river call is also automatic once I've decided to call the turn c/r.

Admittely there's a bit more to it when you're talking about NL, but I see enough very good players crushing NL games while 6- or 8-tabling to be convinced that it's very possible.