Hot Topics in Poker Software - April 7th, 2010

We’ve seen a tidal wave of activity on the boards here at PokerSoftware.com, with members posing a bevy of questions. Take “thatguy610,” for example, who asked about poker tracking software for play chip games. It’s important to keep in mind that not everyone plays online for real money. Instead, there are plenty of players who employ mainstream sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker to further their knowledge of the game at play money tables.

In a thread in Software Discussion, “thatguy610” succinctly asked whether poker tracking software like Holdem Manager and PokerTracker could be adapted for play chip games. It took all of a half-hour for PokerSoftware.com Admin “AdminMcNulty” to post a code that could convert PokerStars play money hands into real money hands for use with PokerTracker. He explained, “What you need to do is put this code into a webserver with mod_php installed and then you should be able to copy/paste hands into it that will be regurgitated as 'real money' hands, which you can then import.”

Later on, “thatguy610” threw out Holdem Indicator, which provides basic stats like VPIP, PFR, cbet, and Aggression Factor for play money games in its trial mode. Holdem Indicator is geared toward lower limit players and pulls its sample data from PokerRoom. Think of Holdem Indicator as a stepping-stone to programs like PokerTracker and Holdem Manager. Text found in our Holdem Indicator review notes, “The data is a simplified version of what many players do with PokerTracker 3 or Holdem Manager and will get you ready to use those programs later in your career. Also, it can help you understand the importance of making different plays against different opponents.”

AHK scripts are a major component of an online poker player’s arsenal. Automating tasks across the world’s largest sites, AHK scripts make it easy for a player to fire up as many tables as possible. Looking to enter the wonderful world of hotkeys was PokerSoftware.com member “mmfitter,” who regularly plays MTTs on Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Poker. He inquired, “I'm trying to get the hand combo script going. I'm working on hand combinatory analysis for hand reading and this seems fascinating. So far I've downloaded the main AHK program and I tried to put the other downloaded files from the Wiki in one folder. Now what?” Check out Software Discussion for the full conversation.

Our local hero, “AdminMcNulty,” was on the scene to describe the process of launching a player’s first AHK script. We have a complete video review and analysis of Table Ninja for PokerStars and its sister software, TableNinjaFT for Full Tilt Poker, both of which feature shortcuts for actions like betting, checking, calling, folding, street-dependent betting, opening sit and gos, and clicking your time bank. TableNinjaFT is the top user-rated program on PokerSoftware.com, so check out our review today and get started.

Finally, every poker player wants to know if they’re running badly. With variance being such a big part of the game, players constantly assess whether a downswing or upswing has been caused by changing luck or simply skill. PokerSoftware.com member “tinkle” posed that question to himself, when he posted in a thread in Software Discussion reading, “I am running at 10% ROI on $20 turbos over 500 games, but I am convinced I am having a bad run. I would like a program that looks at my hand history from those games and tells me if my premium hands/all hands are losing more than statistics say they should.”

You can discover whether you’re running above or below par through a program like Holdem Manager and PokerTracker. However, we’d like to suggest Poker Luck Meter, which presents graphs of your luck. The program supports No Limit, Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, and Cap Limit Hold’em tournaments and cash games. How does the software determine what luck is, you ask? Site developer “MonkeyPushnButtons” chimed in, “It uses the assumption that your ‘luck’ is basically the difference between your expected results and your actual winnings.”

If you have any burning software questions, don’t hesitate to post them in the Software Discussion forum. We’d be happy to point you in the right direction.