Do you mind if I revive this argument? (since no one answered I take that as a yes)
I know that I am just about to be ridiculed for being "anti-HUD." I also know why. Most of the people here are ethical people and they use a HUD so when someone claims using a HUD is a form of cheating the take it personally, which is very understandable.
Now, let me confess that I have never used a HUD (partly because after black Friday I don't play
real money and pre-BF I did not need it) but I have seen what it does and know a little about it.
So my question
Does a HUD give an advantage to the person who uses it?
Well obviously it does, or people wouldn't buy it. (Can we agree on that?) if we can't then this whole argument will not work.
Is that advantage unfair?
Well some of you will say no, because everybody has the chance to buy it and it is not limited to the few elite. It does not change the odds. It does not make your decisions, it does not change the cards or the result of the hand and all the information is already available if you bother to do it yourself. How am I doing so far?
Well I will say yes, it is an unfair advantage.
Just because everybody has the chance to buy it does not make that fair. It is a luxury that you have to pay for. I know this is extreme but if someone can't afford to pay the $50 then it unfair to that person economically. It also unfair to the recreational players that are looking to improve their game and not to win, the shouldn't have to drop 50 dollars to be in the same league as everybody else but unless the do then they're at a disadvantage. Its unfair to people that are new to poker and haven't heard of a HUD. Why? because they shouldn't have to drop 50 bucks to be equal to everybody. It is not economically fair to the poor and it is not fair because it gives people an advantage before any card have been dealt. Previously
I have seen this discussion be sidetracked by the price, if you can't afford 50 bucks to improve your game then we shouldn't be forced not to. (that's a different argument, and not what I am trying say). My question is it an advantage that you have to pay for? Not whether is it an advantage that everybody can pay for.
Does it change the odds? No a flush will come or won't come the same % of the time. Does it change the results of the hand? No, the winning hand always wins, the losing hands always losses. (at the showdown, lets not argue about schematics)
Does it make your decisions?
No, it does not. It does however, influence your decisions. It will influence you to fold against a certain type of player and shove against a certain type of player. It will change how you play a hand which you would of otherwise played if you did not have a HUD. During any one hand you can't be sure if that is +EV or -EV but over the long run it is most likely (almost always likely) to make your play +EV. So it affects how you play, which gives an economic advantage to your opponents that don't use a HUD. Which to me, is not fair. Since your not doing that yourself but letting something else do for you, its is unfair.
All the information you have is available to you if you actually take the time to do it yourself.
Yes, the big thing there is "
you actually take the time to do it yourself" Most people don't take the time to do it themselves and wouldn't do it if there was no such thing as a HUD. (although unproven, very true and I think we both can accept that). In addition to that, it is something else that doing all your work, your just reaping the benefits. Its not an personal advantage that you gave yourself, it is a given advantage that you managed to buy. Finally, and one of my biggest points, it is super human, it does mathematics and gives you accurate results while playing your current session per hand, that a human could only do in hindsight, No human can do that and lets not lie to ourselves about that. It has perfect memory, no human has that (except for few occurrences that are statistically insignificant). It will always be mathematically correct, no human is always mathematically correct. It gives the people who use it a superhuman analyzing advantage which is unfair to anybody who plays without it.
@ seachicken, you don't have to deposit online to play for real money online. You can be a live player that knows of HUDs and how the work.
forgive my grammar and spelling mistakes.
Let the ridiculing begin.
