Building the perfect HUD and powerful popups

06 Sep 2025

Intermediate

This material is for medium-skilled players

Introduction

In the world of modern online poker, where an edge is measured in fractions of a percent, standard tools no longer provide a decisive advantage. Poker is a game of information, and the more information we have, the better we can play. The real power lies in customization—creating a tool tailored to your analytical needs. That’s why a customizable HUD becomes a true “secret weapon”: it instantly shows the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. A standard HUD contains too many generic stats and doesn’t take into account the specifics of your strategy, which is why every player eventually builds their own personalized set of stats.

Hand2Note 4.1 offers rich opportunities for creating your own HUD and popups—the program provides three editors: the HUD Editor for arranging stats and designing layouts, the Popup Editor, and the Stat Editor (which we covered in the previous article). This article is a detailed step-by-step guide on working with the HUD and Popup Editor in Hand2Note: from creating the simplest HUD to building multi-level popup windows. Your own HUD is your unique tool for exploiting opponents’ weaknesses and making better-informed decisions.

1. The Editor – Your Control Center

In Hand2Note 4.1, the HUD Editor interface consists of several key parts.

• Stats List (1) – displayed on the left, showing all available stats that can be added to your HUD.

• HUD Layout (2) – in the center, where you visually assemble your stats panel.

• Properties Panel (3) – on the right, where you configure each HUD cell: font, background color, borders, and display conditions. You can also manage cell margins and other design settings here.

• Preview Button (4) – opens a mock poker table where you immediately see how the HUD will look in-game.

The Popup Editor looks almost identical to the HUD Editor, but is used for building extended analysis windows (popups).

2. Step by Step – Creating Your First HUD

2.1 Building the HUD

To assemble a simple HUD, follow these steps:

• Create a new HUD profile. Open the HUD Editor from the main menu and click New HUD. Enter a name for your HUD and confirm.

• Add a panel (Table). Right-click → New Table and set the grid size (e.g., 6 columns × 3 rows). A HUD grid will appear in the editor.

• Adding a stat to the HUD.

There are 2 options:

• Use the cursor to capture the desired stat in the list. Hold down the left mouse button, drag the stat to the desired grid cell and release the button.

• Select a cell, right-click, paste, and enter the name of the stat.
• Repeat for the remaining stats. Review the result. After filling in the cells, you can see how the HUD will look at the table. To do this, click the "Preview" button in the upper-right corner of the HUD editor. Arplayer with a new HUD will appear in the window that opens, where you will immediately see all the added stats. Close the preview window.
• After these steps, you will have a working HUD panel with basic indicators for each opponent. If necessary, return to the HUD editor to add or move cells - the changes will be automatically displayed when viewed again via Preview.At this point, you have a working HUD with basic stats for each opponent.

2.2 Customizing HUD Display

Now it’s time to make your HUD more readable and visually clear. In the Properties Panel, you can configure:

Font (1). Select the HUD cell, then select the appropriate font template and size in the properties panel. This allows you to change the appearance of the stats text, for example, to make it larger or change the style. As indicated in the manual, in the HUD editor, you can "set the font, background, frame" for each cell.

The color of the text and background. To change the background color of a cell, first select one or more cells (hold down Ctrl), then specify the desired color in the properties next to the "Background" field. The text colors are set in the same way. For example, you can make the background of all cells gray and the text white for contrast. After selecting the colors, click Preview again - you will see that the background of the HUD has changed. Margins (2).

In the same properties, you can adjust the internal margins of the cell. Smaller margins make the HUD more compact. To do this, select the cells and reduce the padding values in the "Padding" field (by default "4:2:4:2"). After saving the changes, the HUD panel will become noticeably more compact and easier to read.

The background and borders of the panel (3). In addition to the color of the cells, you can set the overall background color or frame for the entire panel in the HUD panel settings. This is done through the properties of the HUD panel (which can be selected by clicking on the edge). For example, in the demo, a black background color was selected for all cells.

Thanks to these settings, your HUD will be clearly visible on any tables: just one or two color combinations (dark background/light text or vice versa) and a clear font are enough.

2.3 Dynamic HUD and Display Conditions

Hand2Note supports dynamic conditions for displaying stats. This means that you can set the parameters at which the stat appears or disappears during the distribution process. For example, you can configure the stat to be shown only on the flop or to be hidden after the player folds. These options are also set in the cell properties below in the sections:

• “Show when player position is” (1) - opponents' positions where the stat is shown,
• “Show when YOUR position is" (2) - player's position,
• “Show when" (3) - various additional conditions under which the stat will be displayed,

• “Show on following streets” (4) - select streets when the stat will be shown,
• “Show when action hits" (5)- shows the stat only when some action has occurred. Regulated by other action stats
• “do NOT show when action hit" (6) - DOES NOT show a stat only when some action has occurred. Regulated by other action stats

When such conditions are set, "the stat can be shown or hidden during the distribution." For example, you can select the "Flop" condition for a cell with a counter stat so that this stat is not displayed before the flop.

The simplest dynamic HUD works like this: if the "River" condition is set in the cell, then the corresponding stat (say, Fold-to-River-CBet) will be visible only after the river appears in the hand. If the player leaves the hand earlier (from the flop or turn), the cell will become empty. In some rooms, these dynamic features are disabled due to the rules of the poker room, but in most other sites they can be used to their full potential.

3. Next Level – Creating an Informative Popup

Popup is an expanded window for additional statistics that opens when you click (or hover) on a HUD cell. To create your own popup, repeat the similar steps in the Popup editor:
Create a popup. Open the Popup Editor and click "New Popup", enter a name for the new analysis window (for example, "Popup1").
Adding tabs. You can create multiple tabs in a popup to structure your data. Click "New Tab" and enter a tab name (for example, "Statistics" or "Advanced"). You will have separate sets of stats on each tab.
Populating a folder with stats. Drag the necessary stats into the cells inside the tab in the same way as in the HUD. It is appropriate to display detailed information that is not available in the main HUD. For example, you can split the folds into a contbet: create the stats Fold-to-CBet Flop OOP, Fold-to-CBet Turn OOP, and Fold-to-CBet River OOP and place them in a popup column. Or add a table of opponent stack sizes by position.
Binding the popup to the HUD. After creating the popup, you need to "bind" it to the HUD element. To do this, go back to the HUD editor, select the stat cell to which you want to link the extended window (for example, the player's name or stat score), right-click and select the "Assign Popup" command in the context menu, specifying the created popup. Now, when you click on this stat, your popup will open on the game table.


Thus, the HUD becomes a "shell" for a quick overview, and the popup becomes a deep "squeeze" of statistics. You can see the key numbers at a glance, and additional information is available with a click. This hierarchical structure makes it easier to analyze: first, look at the HUD, and if necessary, study the details through the popup.

4. Advanced Features & Tips

Color Ranges. One of the most useful techniques is to automatically change the color of the stat value according to the specified ranges (Color Range). For example, specify that for 3-Bet%, a value above 10% is red, and below 5% is green. To do this, select a stat in the HUD editor, open the color properties and add two ranges in the "Color Range" section (from "-∞" to "10" - red, from "10" to "+∞" - green). As a result, high stats will be highlighted in red, while low stats will be highlighted in green. This immediately draws attention to unusual indicators.
Badges. To simplify the perception even more, you can add small labels, for example, a text "3B" or emoji for certain statuses. In Hand2Note, these tags are called badges. They help you quickly identify the necessary exploits.
Structuring pop-up windows. If you have a lot of statistics, break them down into tabs inside the popup. For example, create separate Preflop, Flop, and Turn/River tabs to display relevant stats in each one. This allows you not to clutter one window with hundreds of lines. (Example: in the "Preflop" tab, display the cut by position, and in the "Flop" - aggression on the flop.)
Practical advice: Do not overload the HUD with too many cells. Focus on 5-8 key metrics to quickly evaluate your opponent. Put everything else in the pop-up. This approach reduces visual noise: you immediately see the main thing, and look under the details if necessary.

Conclusion

So, we've gone all the way: we've identified why we need a customizable HUD; we've got to know the Hand2Note editor and its windows; we've created the first simple HUD and customized its appearance; we've mastered dynamic options and popups; and we've also reviewed advanced features such as color coding and tab statistics.

Remember that creating your own HUD is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. As your game changes and new data becomes available, you will supplement and improve the HUD and pop-up windows. So don't be afraid to experiment.: Your unique HUD is your personal advantage at the poker table!

[Hand2Note]