SharkScope Interview with PokerSoftware

PokerSoftware.com: Explain how SharkScope came about.

SharkScope: SharkScope started life back in 2004 as a personal tracking tool. I simply wanted a way of tracking my own tournament results and then quickly realized that knowing the abilities of other players was hugely important to my profitability and made games much more interesting to play.

It worked so well that my friends started using it and then they told their friends and so on to a point where I decided to start a public site.  In terms of traffic, SharkScope is one of the largest poker content sites on the internet and we've never advertised. All of our traffic comes from word of mouth from users that love the site.

PokerSoftware.com: Why is having a program like SharkScope so important?

SharkScope: SharkScope has two main functions. First, it allows you to analyze your own tournament results and understand where you make money and where you lose money. Most players think they are winning or breakeven players and the reality is that most aren't. Having an independent tracker of results forces you to see which games you can beat and where your game needs to improve.

Second, SharkScope allows you to choose which tournaments to enter by using the Tournament Selector. Regardless of how good you are at poker, the amount of money you make is totally dependent on the standard of players you are playing against.

PokerSoftware.com: What features make it stand out from other programs like it?

SharkScope: SharkScope has built its reputation as the leader in tournament results tracking mainly through our levels of coverage. We track virtually every tournament that takes place on virtually every poker site.

The Tournament Selector and the ability to search running games by Tournament ID is also unique to us, along with our advanced search options that allow you to filter your results by any criteria you wish.

PokerSoftware.com: Talk about the pricing model.

SharkScope: All users can get five free searches per day. The cheapest subscriber package we offer is $9.99 for an additional 200 searches. This package is ideal for casual players and those that are only interested in viewing their own results and typically want access to the advanced search filters. The next package up is for $15.99 for 150 searches per day. This is designed for more regular players who want to look up others and use the Tournament Selector.

$29.99 per month gets you 500 searches per day and gives you free access to the SharkScope HUD, which places player statistics directly on your table, and the Tournament Opener, which allows to open tournaments you see in the Tournament Selector with one click.

PokerSoftware.com: What features can subscribers anticipate in the future?

SharkScope: Our main goal at the moment is to complete our coverage matrix. We are gradually improving our coverage of all networks to 99% of games and progressively adding them to the Tournament Selector. Once that is complete, we have a whole range of new features lined up to be launched.

PokerSoftware.com: How did you get started in poker?

SharkScope: I started playing casual single-table tournaments online back in 2004 on the old CryptoLogic Network after a friend had stumbled across it and found (in those days) that it was easy way to make money. All you had to do was read “Super System” and not be as drunk as the other players on Friday night were and you could make a fairly decent income.

The game has progressed dramatically since then, but I've always found that as long as you are willing to put in more effort than your opponents, then sit and gos are the most fun form of poker.

PokerSoftware.com: Has SharkScope helped your game in any way?

SharkScope: SharkScope doesn't directly improve your poker ability; however, once you are in a tournament, it tells you who the good and bad players are and you soon learn the common characteristics of each type of player. There are of course different ways to be a bad player, but most players fall into the standard "too tight" and "too loose" groups. There is a far smaller variation in the types of winning players. By studying your opponents in this way, you soon learn to copy the very best players.

It won't be for everyone, but sometimes when I'm in the mood to try to improve my game, I will use SharkScope to find the hardest opponents I can to play against. You can often find exceptionally good opponents sitting at stakes far below their norm as they just try to find a game. It's far cheaper to take your "lessons" at those lower levels than blindly entering high-stakes games.