You should always use Poker Crusher to launch your poker site before you start playing.

From the Launcher tab on the main Poker Crusher window select your poker room of choice, and click the Launch Poker Room button.

Poker Crusher 5 allows users to launch multiple poker rooms from one instance of Poker Crusher. To do this, simply navigate back to the Launcher tab on the main Poker Crusher window, and launch another site.

After a poker room has launched, you can open tables from the poker room lobby just like you would if you were running the poker site without Poker Crusher.

Once a table opens, a loading bar appears across the top of the table, and within a few seconds the HUDs should appear on the table.

Before we get into all the cool features of Poker Crusher, I want to explain a few KEY concepts in Poker Crusher 5.


The "Profile" contains ALL the settings and customizations that you see when you use Poker Crusher. Poker Crusher comes with 2 default profiles: Simple and Detailed. You will be prompted to select one of these 2 profiles the first time you run the program. If you are new to PE, we highly recommend you start with the Simple profile so you are not overloaded with information. You can easily change your active profile at any time by going into Options (From the Settings Menu) and changing the Active Profile.

The default profiles (Simple and Detailed) cannot be modified! If you attempt to modify them, you will be prompted to create a NEW profile that is a COPY of the currently selected profile. Once you create your new profile, you are free to modify it in any way you like.


All the data that Poker Crusher shows you is automatically filtered to show you the most relevant information for the table you are playing. For example, if you are simultaneously playing on a 9-max table, and a 6-max table, the data for each table will be filtered differently. On the 9-max table, the data you see on each player will be filtered to be more relevant to full handed tables. Likewise, the 6-max table will have data filtered to be more relevant to shorthanded games.

If you are playing on multiple tables, you may notice that your stats can be different between the tables. This is due to Auto Filtering. There are many factors that go into the Auto Filtering, including: number of players at the table, table stake level, and cash vs tourney. Like all customizations in PE, the Auto Filter is defined and can be customized in your "Profile."

The Open Tables tab gives you a quick overview of the tables you currently have open, and the quality of the players that are sitting at these tables.

When you open a table, the name of the table and it's rating will be shown here. The table's rating, shown circled in red, is an average of the values given to each player sitting at that table based on their icon player type.

A higher rating indicates a weaker table and therefore a greater chance of success for you. As you can see here the 7.9 rated table is populated with mice, elephants, fish, and a calling station; while the 2.9 rated table is mostly populated with sharks.

The default player icons are described here.

You can click the plus/minus signs next to the table name to expand/shrink the table details. This will show you all of the players sitting at the table and their icons. The color of a player's name will tell you how loose or tight he/she plays.

The tighter player's names will be in red, the looser player's names will be in green, and neutral players will be colored black.

Player icons and colors are defined and customized in the Profile under Auto Rate Manager.

The HUD, or Heads-Up-Display, is the most powerful feature of Poker Crusher.

The HUD displays statistics for each of your opponents directly on the poker table while you play! The new HUD States technology allows you to see the most relevant statistics on your opponents as the hand progresses from Pre-Flop through the River. The HUD also provides you with a Table Summary that includes table averages, pot odds, poker outs, and more.

Each component of the HUD can be repositioned by left clicking and dragging the component to the desired location. When you close the table, Poker Crusher will automatically save the HUD layout for the next time you open a table from the same site with the same number of maximum seats.

(Circled in purple, right)

Each player at your table will have a Player HUD Box next to his seat. This box shows you the player's icon as well as valuable statistics on his playing style. Hover your mouse over any item in this box to see what statistic is being displayed. Right click on this box to bring up the Popup, showing even more detailed stats. Double click on this box to bring up a full Detailed Report on the player. The stats shown in the Player HUD Box can be fully customized in the HUD Manager.

(Circled in yellow, above)

An innovative feature of Poker Crusher 5 is the concept of HUD States. HUD states allow different statistics to show up in the Player HUD Box based on the state of the hand. This allows you to fit more statistics into your HUD, without consuming additional table real estate! The State bar (circled in yellow, above) shows the current state that is being displayed. As the hand progresses from Pre-Flop to River, the state automatically changes, and the stats in the Player HUD Box change as well to match the current state. You can also click the State bar directly if you want to see stats from a particular state. The stats shown in the Player HUD Box for each state can be fully customized in the HUD Manager.

Table Summary

(Circled in green, above)

Averages for the entire table as well as your real time Pot Odds and Outs are shown in the table summary. You can customize the contents and appearance of the Table Summary in the HUD Manager.

Right click on any player's HUD box and a Popup will appear giving more detailed statistics on the player.

The stats in blue under the Session section pertain only to the hands played so far at this table.

When you are done and want to close the Popup, just click anywhere in the pop up window.

The contents of the Popup are fully customizable in the HUD Manager.

To get an even more detailed report on a player, double click on that player's HUD box. This will bring up the Detailed Player Report window.

In this window you will be able to see a much more advanced report on a player.

At the top of the report you will see some filtering options.

When the Detailed Player Report is first opened, these filters will default to the same Auto Filter settings that are currently being used on the table. This is a quick and easy way to see the filters currently in place at a table.

Under the filter options there is a row of buttons that allow you to see very detailed statistics on this player for each street.

Under the Key Stats and graph, in the box titled All Stakes Played, information is displayed for this player at different stake levels.

If you click on a game type under the GAME column, the filters for the entire Detailed Player Report will change so that information is only being displayed for this player at that particular game type.

Lobby Crusher is a plugin to Poker Crusher that assists you in cash games with a Table Finder and Buddy List. The Table Finder feature allows you to search for the softest and easiest tables to play at and the Buddy List allows you to track other players, see when they are online, and what tables they are sitting at.

You must own the LobbyCrusher plugin (one time fee) in order to use the Table Finder and Buddy List.


To use the Table Finder select the Table Finder tab on the main Poker Crusher window.

You must own the LobbyCrusher plugin (one time fee) in order to use the Table Finder.

Here you will see the search parameters on the top half of the window, and your search results on the bottom. Simply use the drop down menus to select your parameters and click search.

Tables will then be organized by score, the higher scoring tables at the top. Just like on the Open Tables tab the Score for a table is the average of the values given to each player at the table depending on their Icon. As you can see here the table at the top of the list is populated with Elephants and Calling Stations. These are the types of players that you want to be playing against.

To open a table, simply double click the name, or you can right click it and select Open Table. If you would like to add a player to your Buddy List, click on the icon next to the player's name.

There is also an expanded view of the Table Finder. To use this expanded view, click the Table Finder tab (The highlighted region in this picture) and drag it off of the Main Poker Crusher window. In this expanded window you can see a lot more stats on tables and the players sitting at the tables.

Poker Crusher 5 allows the user to customize the stats that are displayed on the expanded view of Table Finder. To do this go into the Options Window and navigate to the Lobby Crusher Tab. Here you can add columns of statistics by selecting an item in the left box and clicking on the green plus sign button.

You must own the LobbyCrusher plugin (one time fee) in order to use the Buddy List.

The Buddy List is used to track your opponents and friends. You can add a player to your Buddy List through the Table Finder as explained above, or by clicking on the button on the Buddies window. After clicking this button, you will be prompted to select which group you would like to add the player under, the poker site that he/she plays, and the player's name.

Once a player is added to your Buddy List their name will appear on your Buddies tab. When the player is online you will be able to see their name, and the poker site they are playing on. By clicking on the plus sign next to the player's name you will be able to see all of the tables he/she is sitting at and the stake level of the table. You can click on the table name to see the table and all the players sitting at it, in your Table Finder.

The Options window for Poker Crusher 5 can be found by clicking the button to the left of the search bar on the main window, or in the Settings drop down file menu.

The Options window allows you to change your active profile, or customize your profile by changing Auto Filters settings, customizing the HUD, customizing the Table Finder, and managing notifications. Hover your mouse over the icons throughout the Options window to bring up tooltips that give information on a particular feature or setting.

A Profile contains all the customizations within Poker Crusher 5.

The software comes with two default Profiles: Simple and Detailed. These Profiles are not editable.

When you attempt to make a change to one of them you will be prompted to create a new profile based on a copy of the default.

There are four buttons underneath the active profile drop-down menu. These buttons allow you to create new profiles, delete created profiles, export a profile, and import a profile.

When you create a profile, you will be prompted to select which profile you would like the new profile to be based off of instead of creating a new profile from scratch.

Within each profile there can be multiple Rule Sets for both the Auto Rate Manager and the HUD Manager that apply to different table types. We will go into further detail on each of these Rule Sets later on.

On the general tab, you can adjust your Auto Filter settings, and customize the high level behavior of Poker Crusher.


The Auto-Filter will automatically filter retrieved data based on the parameters of the table.

For example: if you are playing on a table with two opponents, the information shown on your HUD will be filtered differently than if you were playing on a table with nine opponents.

Because of the Auto-Filter, the information you are getting on your opponents is much more accurate as to how they will play at this table. The Auto-Filter slider can be used to change how narrow or broad you would like these filters to be. The more narrow you set your filters, the more relevant and accurate the stats will be for a player. However, this comes at the cost of a smaller sample size of hands on the player. With broader filters, you get a larger sample size, but the data will not be quite as relevant. It's a tradeoff.

By clicking the Custom Filters button you can view and edit the Auto-Filter parameters.

The Player Filter on the left side of the Filter Settings window maps how data will be filtered based on the number of players sitting at the table.

For example: When sitting at a table with 3 players, the data is filtered for historical situations when the player was seated at a table with between 3 to 6 players.

The Blind Level Filter works in a similar manner. You can customize the stake levels by which the data will be filtered. Here you can see it is currently showing information for All Stakes. The Time Frame Filter determines how old the data being used is, and the Structure determines whether the data used is for NL, PL, or Fixed.

The Tournament Filter Settings work the exact same way, except the Blind Level Filter is replaced by the M Filter. A player's M-ratio is a measure of the health of his/her chip stack in relation to the cost to play each round. This is determined by the following equation:




An Auto Rate Rule Set defines the rules that are used when determining a player's icon and text color (in the open tables tab). A single profile can have many rule sets that will automatically apply to different table types. This is extremely useful because icon definitions (a maniac for example) vary between Full, Short and HU games. In the default profiles, we include 3 rule sets to cover all bases: Full, Short, and HU.

To view or edit a Rule Set simply select it from the drop down menu on the left. You can see what table types the rule set applies to by looking at the "Applies to" secion to the right.

For example: the Rule Set "FULL" (shown here) applies to only Full tables, since Short and Heads Up are not checked.


Feel free to modify any of the current Rule Sets, or create your own custom Rule Set that will only apply to a particular table type. When you create a new Rule Set, just like when you create a new Profile, you will be prompted to select which current Rule Set you would like to base the new one off of so you don't have to start from scratch.

NOTE: If two rule sets apply to the same table type, Poker Crusher will use the rule set that appears higher up in the list. If you create a new rule set, you should delete other rule sets that apply to the same context to avoid conflicts.


This is where you can view and edit the information and requirements attached to each icon, and even add new icons (we have many icons to choose from).

When you click on an icon in the box on the left, the information and requirements are shown on the right.

The Score for an icon is how desirable it is to play against a player fitting these parameters; higher Scores being more desirable and lower Scores being less. The score is used in many places including the Open Tables tab, the Table Finder, and on the HUD Table Summary.

The Priority rating is used situations where a player fits the requirements of multiple icons. If this is the case, the icon with the lower Priority rating will take precedence.

The Requirements box is where the parameters for each icon can be edited. As you can see here: the Bomb icon will apply to a player with an Aggression Factor >2%, who Pre-Flop Raises>8% and a VP$IP>20%.

To create a new icon, click the Add button on the left, above the current icons. Now you can give your new icon a name, choose the image for the icon itself, give it a score and priority, and finally set up the Requirements.



There are 12 Player Icons that come pre-configured with Poker Crusher 5. Each icon has different requirements for each of the default Auto Rate Rule Sets: Full, Short, and HU. Below we have listed the 12 pre-configured icons and their requirements for each Rule Set. Remember, these are just the default definitions. You can customize these icons however you like!


Use the HUD Manager tab to customize what stats are shown in the player HUD boxes, Table Summary and Popup. You can create different HUD rule sets that will automatically apply to different table types.



A HUD Rule Set defines what information will be shown in the player HUD box for each state (Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, River and Custom), as well as the information shown in the Table Summary and Popup. A single profile can have many rule sets that will automatically apply to different table types. This is extremely useful because you may want a different set of HUD stats during a Tourney versus during a Cash Game. In the default profiles, we include 6 rule sets to cover all bases: Cash Full, Cash Short, Cash HU, Tourney Full, Tourney, Short, and Tourney HU.

For example: when you are playing a cash game you will most likely want to see different statistics than when you are playing a tournament. Poker Crusher 5 will also allow the user to create a custom HUD Rule Set that will apply to a particular game type. When you create a new HUD Rule Set you will be prompted to select which current Rule Set you would like to base the new one off of so you do not have to start from scratch.


NOTE: In the default profiles, the only difference between the Full, Short and HU rule sets are the color ranging for certain stats. If we didn't care about color ranging, we would only have 2 Rulsets: Cash and Tourney.


There are 5 different States that dictate what stats are shown in the Player HUD Box. These states are Preflop, Flop, Turn, River, and Custom. The Custom state can be used to put general statistics, or anything else you want.

By default, the HUD state will automatically change to match the state of the current hand, and the stats in the Player HUD Box will also change to show the most relevant information. The State Bar (pictured above) shows the state currently being displayed, in this example "Preflop". You can manually click on the state bar to change the current state for the duration of the hand.


The bottom half of the HUD Manager is where you can view and edit what items are displayed, and how they are arranged. The first 5 tabs here pertain to the 5 states discussed above. The last two tabs are where you can view and customize the information displayed on the Table Summary part of the HUD, and the Popup.

To customize the HUD first select the tab for the portion you would like to edit. On the left you will see a long list of Items that can be added. These stats are organized into different categories. To add a statistic to the Current Items list, simply highlight it under HUD Items and click the green plus sign above the HUD Items box. Stats will automatically be added to the bottom of the list and can be moved up or down by highlighting the item and clicking the black arrows above the Current HUD box. If the list of item is extremely long, it is easier to right click the statistic you would like to add and then you will be able to specify where on the list you would like it to appear.

In this picture, we are looking at the Preflop tab. Here you can see the stats available in the Preflop Category, the stats currently displayed on the Preflop HUD, and the Properties of the PreFlop Raise item "PreFlop Raise". In the blue rectangle there is an example of a Player HUD Box in the Preflop State as it would appear on the table. Each stat in the Current HUD list is displayed in this Player HUD box. As you can see, the first item is the player icon, then the graph, etc. The Item "Newline" (Circled in red, above) is used as a line break. When you would like HUD items to start appearing on the next line simply add the "Newline" item, found under the Misc category, and all stats listed after it will appear on the next line.

The Properties section is where you can edit how a particular stat is displayed. Poker Crusher 5 allows the user to change the font, add prefixes, suffixes, and even color ranges. The color range can be set to display the statistic in different colors depending on the value. In the above picture, there is a color range set up (Circled in orange, above) so that if a player's PreFlop Raise percentage is greater than 10% it will be displayed in green and if it is less than 6% it will be displayed in red. The next 4 tabs (Flop, Turn, River, Custom) all work in the exact same way as the PreFlop tab.

The Table Summary tab works in a similar manner, but has a few additional categories available. This is the part of the HUD (Shown right) that is always visible no matter the street, and where overall table statistics will be displayed.

A statistic that usually applies to only one player, like Aggression Factor, is displayed on the Table Summary as an average of the all the players sitting at the table. This is notated in the Current HUD section with "[Avg]" before the item.

The Popup tab pertains to the data displayed when you right click on a Player's HUD Box. You can edit the items displayed on the Popup the same way you can edit the other parts of the HUD. The Popup will always be displayed in Grid format, instead of using a Delimiter to separate the items.

Notifications are alerts that you can set up to notify you when certain things happen on a table you are playing on.

For example: you can set up a Notification to alert you when you get pocket aces. You can configure this in the Options menu under the Notifications tab. Just like the Auto Rate Manager, and the Hud Manager, you can set up a Rule Set to apply different Notifications depending on the type of table you are playing on

For each Notification there are 3 available alerts, an audio alert, a taskbar popup, and a HUD popup. These alerts can be turned on and off from the Properties box (pictured here). To make a new Notification, click on the Add button, name the new Notification, select which alerts you would like to use, and then set the requirements for this alert. In the example shown here we have made a new Notification that will alert the user with an audio alert and a taskbar popup when he/she has flopped a flush.

Under the Settings drop down menu you can also configure the Poker Crusher HUDs to display correctly if you use the Preferred Seating option at your poker room. To set up HUD Preferred Seating simply select your poker room from the drop down menu on the left and then select the preferred seat you use with that particular poker room.

To report an issue directly to the Poker Crusher Support Department, select "Contact Support" from the Help drop down menu on the main Poker Crusher window.

A separate window will appear where you can enter your email address, your question or issue, and even attach a screenshot.

When filling out this form please use as much detail as possible, so that our Support Department can resolve your issue and get you back on the tables as quick as possible.

Some of the Key Stats in Poker Crusher are defined below.