Sharkscope HUD

I don't know if anybody uses the Sharkscope HUD software, but I recently got a free 2 month trial of this thru a promotion with Luckyace Poker.

Instead of opening sharkscope and typing your opponent's name to check his stats. It superimposes the stats like Ave ROI, Total games played, Ave profit etc on top of the playing window. It also tells you if the guy is a fish, a shark or on tilt. See sample below.

Theoretically, it should give you some sort of advantage as you can see who the good and bad players are. You can be wary of the good players and consequently try to take advantage of the bad players who have a tendency to overplay their hands.

I've only had time to try it once on a Full Tilt SNG and I finished 1st in that game. I'm not sure if it was because of the stats I saw. But there was one hand where I definitely used the knowledge given. I was in the BB and I get AAs. Two limpers. I checked out their stats on the display and both were negative profit players. One of them had a -16% ROI. I would usually raise my AAs here around 3x to get money in the pot.

But the HUD showed me a fish so I went all in. The other player folded. But as expected the neg 16 player called and showed 66s. No improvement and I immediately doubled up. As we know, an immediate double up near the start of the SNG almost always assures you of an ITM finish.

Right now, its still in Beta testing and only works with Full Tilt and the Ongame network as well as some minor sites. I will try to get some volume with this HUD and see if it can improve my game. After the trial period ends, I might then be tempted to buy it.

The danger I see is that I might encounter a fish who gets a legitimate hand but you end up thinking its a bluff because of his stats. Oh well, pros and cons for everything. I will give an update after maybe a month of use. This should be enough time to tell if it was helpful or not.

What do you guys think ? It is not an odds calculator but more of an indirect way of reading opponents online. So should have some value one way or the other.