Holdem Manager: "We're Extremely Proud of What We Accomplished This Year"

It was a pretty busy 2013 for Holdem Manager, which has been developing around-the-clock and continually innovating. The online poker tracking and analysis program is in its second incarnation and recently released HM Cloud Alpha along with a slew of new HM Apps. We caught up with Jim Varnon from Holdem Manager to recap the year that was.

PokerSoftware: Talk about the year that was at Holdem Manager. What were some of the highlights for you?

Jim Varnon: Development has been going strong all year long and we added many new features along with updating existing features. Additional poker sites are now supported and new user interface elements were added and adjusted for ease of use. We released three new HM Apps (Leak Buster Limit, Table Ninja II, and Table Scanner 2). We're all extremely proud of what we accomplished this year.

PokerSoftware: How has HM2 evolved over the year? We know it was launched in 2011, but how has the product evolved in 2013?

Jim Varnon: In 2013, we focused on (i) adding new features and (ii) fine-tuning the user experience. We kicked it off this year by releasing brand new HUD Popups. Over 500 new stats were added in 2013 along with new Omaha Hand Grouping Reports and a redesign of the Report Filters.

In addition to a major redesign of the hand replayer and hand viewer, several user interface enhancements were released for:

1. Reports and HUD settings
2. Opponent analysis views
3. Improved pan and zoom graph controls
4. Centralized site setup feature

We also revamped the process for selecting a Preferred Seat. It can now be done directly from the HUD.

PokerSoftware: Talk about the continued evolution of the HM Apps, including a new version of Table Ninja and an upcoming new version of SNG Wizard.

Jim Varnon: TableNinja II just added support for iPoker, and 888 support is just around the corner. Multi-site hotkey support in a single package makes TableNinja II the premium hotkey software that is years beyond anything else on the market today.

SNG Wizard II is extremely impressive as well. It's better integrated with HM2, so analyzing hands is much easier. Enhanced equity calculations with ties are exactly computed and it has the ability to customize opponent hand ranges. A new Quiz Mode is also currently in development.

Table Scanner II was recently released and its integration with HM2 is also impressive. Auto-rating players is now shared with HM2 along with the ability to mark and tag players. Use the Graph Tables feature to see your current tables and how they rate with tables that are more profitable.

PokerSoftware: Talk about the introduction of HM Cloud this year. How is that product's development going?  Why would someone use HM Cloud over HM2?

Jim Varnon: When we started development of HM Cloud in 2012, it was a concept product that was driven by a few key visions:

1. Unique and intuitive perspectives on game results that are highly visual
2. Relevant to both advanced and casual players
3. Minimal configuration or setup required
4. Most importantly, exceed the customer's expectations on what is possible in terms of features and responsiveness in a Cloud environment

We have remained true to this vision for HM Cloud and are excited to announce an open Beta release in early Q1 of 2014.

There are several reasons why a customer might choose to use HM Cloud as a companion product to HM2 or as their platform of choice. The most significant are:

1. Portability. You are no longer tied to a single laptop or your home PC
2. Visual "info-graphic" inspired feedback on your game and opponents
3. Incredibly small footprint on your local computer (even if multi-tabling) because almost all of the computer processing and memory requirements are handled by HM Cloud servers
4. 100% tablet-friendly by design

PokerSoftware: What can HM2 users expect in 2014?

Jim Varnin: 2014 should be a great year to use HM2, as we have multiple projects planned, enhancing the user experience even more. The two projects I can talk about include a new HUD Bank allowing you to download and use custom HUDs that HM2 users submit along with new Nash Popup Charts for tournament players. We also have a couple of impressive features in development that I can't talk about right now, but they are big and the poker software community will undoubtedly embrace them.

Visit Holdem Manager 2's website to check out the lineup of products.

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