Poker HUD Stats Explained: VPIP, PFR, AF, 3-Bet

The core HUD stats each answer one question about an opponent: VPIP measures how loose they are, PFR how aggressive preflop, 3-bet how often they re-raise, aggression factor how they play postflop, and fold-to-c-bet how they react to pressure. Read them together and you can profile a stranger in seconds. This is the field guide to what each number actually means.

The five stats that carry the load

A HUD can display dozens of numbers, but a lean, effective layout leans on a handful. Here’s the working set, with the values a solid tight-aggressive (TAG) regular tends to show in six-max cash:

Stat	Full name	Question it answers	TAG value
VPIP	Voluntarily Put $ In Pot	How often do they play a hand?	~24%
PFR	Preflop Raise	How often do they raise it?	~19%
3-Bet	Three-bet %	How often do they re-raise preflop?	~7%
AF	Aggression Factor	Do they bet/raise or call postflop?	2–3
Fold to C-bet	Fold to continuation bet	Do they cave on the flop?	~45%

Everything else on an advanced layout — fold to 3-bet, check-raise %, turn c-bet — is a refinement of these five ideas.

VPIP and PFR: the two numbers you read first

VPIP is the percentage of hands a player voluntarily puts money in preflop — a call or a raise, but not a free check in the big blind. High VPIP means loose; low means tight.

PFR is how often they raise preflop. It’s always equal to or lower than VPIP, because every raise is also a hand played.

The magic is in the gap. When VPIP and PFR sit close together (24/19), the player raises most hands they enter — a thinking, aggressive opponent. When the gap is wide (40/8), they call far more than they raise: a loose-passive station whose limps and calls signal weak, capped ranges. That single comparison sets your whole plan against them.

3-bet: how much they fight back

3-bet percentage is how often a player re-raises a preflop raise. It’s a purer read on aggression than PFR because 3-betting takes real intent.

• Under 3% — they only 3-bet premiums. Fold your marginal hands to their re-raises and give them credit.
• 5–9% — balanced. They mix value and bluffs, so you defend by both calling and 4-betting.
• 12%+ — they 3-bet light. Widen your calling and 4-betting ranges to punish the bluffs.

Aggression factor: the postflop tell

Aggression factor (AF) is a ratio: (bets + raises) ÷ calls after the flop. It captures whether a player drives the action or mostly tags along.

• AF below 1 — passive. When they finally raise you postflop, it’s usually the nuts.
• AF of 2–3 — healthy aggression, a typical winning reg.
• AF above 4 — a maniac or a spot where their sample is small. Bluff-catch wider.

Pair AF with fold-to-c-bet: a player who folds to 60%+ of flop bets is one you fire continuation bets at relentlessly, regardless of your own cards.

A quick worked read

A player shows 41/7, 3-bet 2%, AF 0.8, fold-to-c-bet 62%. Decode it:

• 41 VPIP / 7 PFR — extremely loose but almost never raises. Weak, capped ranges.
• 3-bet 2% — their re-raises are the pure nuts. Fold to them.
• AF 0.8 — passive postflop; a big turn raise from them is a red flag.
• 62% fold to c-bet — they surrender the flop nearly two-thirds of the time.

Plan: raise wider for value preflop, c-bet almost every flop, and give up the moment they show real aggression. That’s a textbook profitable target, read entirely off five numbers.

Reading stats responsibly

• Respect the sample. VPIP and PFR stabilize in a few hundred hands. 3-bet needs a thousand-plus; fold-to-3-bet needs several thousand. Small samples are noise.
• Layer in position. The same player is a different animal from early position versus the button — read their stats alongside where they’re acting from.
• Watch for pop-ups. Most layouts store positional and street-by-street breakdowns behind a hover, which is where the real precision lives.
• Know the engine. These numbers only exist because tracking software is recording every hand in the background.

The bottom line

Master these five stats and you read opponents faster than they can read you. Learn what each measures, then train yourself to see the combinations — 40/8 versus 24/19 tells two completely different stories. For the display that surfaces them, revisit what a poker HUD is, and see how they fit the wider poker tools toolkit.