Poker Programs in a nutshell
I was curious what kind of Poker Programs are out there and how many ppl here use them? There's so many I've seen, generally I know they pretty much do the same thing, they analyze the way u play hands, and show the most effective move but which really stand out? which is the most user friendly? that sorta thing.
Comments
ACEhud is also very good addition.
For statistical analysis I use pokerstove.
For running simulations I sometimes also use Turbo Texas Holdem.
You can review your own play and see where you have holes in your game. IE: you can see what hands are profitable for you, in what position do you make money or lose money and how much, etc....
There's just so much this program does it's an absolute MUST HAVE. I have friends that run 2 computers 24hrs just data mining other players, so when we do encounter them we already know generally how they play, what hands they play in what positions, aggressivness, etc...
do a search on google and you'll find ebooks and sites devoted to just pokertracker and how to get the most usefullness and gain from it. Takes a while to get use to the program but once you use it, you'll never go back.
Imagine - sitting in a online game and knowing before any encounters with that player - how they play, what they play in certain positions, aggressiveness, passiveness, knowing if they're a winning player or not, etc...
you might even know more about that person's game then he does.
But Pokertracker is an absolutely must have program for anyone who plays a fair amount online.
2 basic stats are;
VPIP - Volume Put in Pot. This tells you how loose the player is. It is a %age of how many pots that this player voluntarily puts money into.
PFAF - Pre-flop Aggression Factor. This tells you the %age this player is raising pots pre-flop.
On these two stats alone you should be able to find very exploitable leaks at at a low limit table. Here is a very basic practical application:
Say a guy on your right has a VPIP of 50% and an Pre-flop Aggression of 3%. What does this tell us? It tells us he is loose and passive. In other words he is garden variety fish who calls way too much. It also tells us that he is only capable of raising premium hands.
2 Plans of action verses this player:
1 - Raise the heck out of him. He calls too much so make him pay for it. Punish his mistake. Raise, raise and raise. When he calls and checks the flop c-bet him out of the hand.
2 - If he raises call with any deceptive hand that may flop huge. Suited connectors, any pair, even suited Aces. You know this guys raising range is so tight that he will have trouble laying down the AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo that make up his raising range and you should be able to stack him if you flop a huge hand.
(Watch what hands he takes to showdown and note how he played them. He may be limping the AA, KK, AK for deception and raising some smaller pairs to make up that 3%.)
This is like the tip of the iceberg. There are a million other stats for plugging leaks on your own game or identifying leaks in your opponents game.
LOL at "its not illegal because they can't stop you." Please take a breath and think about that statement for a second.
Here is a link to the Pokerstars site and a quote.
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/prohibited/
"In between those two extremes are many programs - some of which we consider to be too close to cheating. For example, there are people building huge databases with profiles of every player on PokerStars, and they are selling access to these databases. A player with access to such a database can call up detailed information about every one of his opponents without ever playing against those opponents himself. We believe this gives that player an unfair advantage against others at his table."
"Q May I use a permitted program to record information about players from hands in which I am not playing?
A No. You may only collect hand histories and player information from hands in which you are a participant."
I don't really care so I am not prepared to debate this subject with you. Just making you aware of what I believe to a fact. Data Mining is illegal and is prohibited on PokerStars.
www.pokertracker.com <
If you haven't signed upt here, I'd appreciate the referral bonus
Mark