Hot Topics in Poker Software for October 14th

It’s a busy time in the poker software industry. With Holdem Manager and PokerTracker set to release new commercial versions and the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event November Nine weekend on the horizon, our poker software forum has been buzzing in recent weeks. In this article, we’ll go through several of the hot topics receiving attention.

One hot topic of conversation is Poker Calculator Pro, a Poker Pro Labs product. Poker Calculator Pro will set you back a one-time fee $49.99, or you can opt to pay $7.99 per month. The program automatically detects your hands, displays your percentage chance of winning, and shows your odds to draw to any number of hands. You can even adjust your opponents’ styles to match the actual table dynamics.

One poster in the PokerSoftware.com forums lauded, “To be honest, this program is really one-of-a-kind and Poker Pro Labs tends to make the best type of software when it comes to not just having a basic HUD, but also showing things like pot odds, drawing odds, and dead cards.”

An avid user of Poker Calculator Pro relayed his mixed experience with the popular poker odds calculator: “Not all information is displayed and when a player leaves and another takes his place, the HUD does not reset to display the new player stats – rather annoying when you are trying to make a read. But, it is a great value and I mainly just use the pot odds calculations and percentages to help me make a decision.”

Also bantered in recent days were the merits of Advanced Poker Training, which utilizes a series of ratings on areas like pre-flop play and c-betting to help you identify what to work on.

One poster in the PokerSoftware.com forum noted in a thread that he started playing on one of the hardest Advanced Poker Training simulation and profited 70,000 in chips.

He explained, “I’m picking up useful tips. I must also say, though, that some of the advice is questionable, i.e. it will rarely, if ever, advise you to lay down top pair or an overpair. Even if a tight player raises back heavy, the advice is to re-raise, all-in if necessary. It totally overrates big pairs.”

When you receive poker training, whether from Advanced Poker Training or somewhere else, it’s useful to critique the advice being given and not just blindly follow it. The same poster explained his overall take: “I'm delighted overall with the advice and analysis of my game that I'm getting with Advanced Poker Training and I thoroughly recommend tHEM. But it's also good to try have a constructive view and to question some advice.” Well said.

Finally, we’ve had general poker discussion in the forum. One poster popped in to ask how often other PokerSoftware.com members play online: “A typical poker week for me usually involves about 4-8 hours of cash games (NL Short-Handed, 4-6 tables at a time) and maybe two nights where I play every tournament that appeals to me, which works out to 6-8 going at a time.”

David “dhubermex” Huber, who authors much of our feature content, responded that he was once a grinder extraordinaire: “I don't play as much online poker as I used to, but back in '05-'07, I played about 80 hours per week (tournaments). My schedule was waking up at around 3pm and playing low- to mid-stakes MTTs from approximately 6pm ET to 2am ET every day of the week.” That’s quite exhausting. Huber has since eased up on his schedule and is one of the top poker writers in the industry. You can also find him on PocketFives.com.

See what else is making headlines by visiting our software discussion forum.