Live Poker Apps Make Great Holiday Gifts

I just came back from Prague to witness the last-ever European Poker Tour events as PokerStars has rebranded all of its live events under the umbrellas of PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival. While it felt good to see the end of a chapter in poker history, in a way it isn’t really an end as many of the stops that took place during the EPT will return against just with new names tagged to them.
 
While walking around both the tournament room and in the cash room, I noticed many players on their smartphones and tablets. This is nothing new to anyone that has played or been around live poker before. As usual, many were chatting to friends, surfing the web, posting on social media, and playing games. However, there were also many using their handheld devices to track their game play to help them with both future record keeping as well as for analysis.
 
The timing seemed perfect as Christmas and Hanukah are both just days away. We imagine some of you are still in need of getting your loved ones a last-minute present or just adding something small but nice to a stocking already full of gifts. While many of the live poker tracking apps do have a free version, they are very limited in its capability. So, you may want to think about giving your loved one or friend a gift they will use for years with a poker app.
 
Live poker apps come in many shapes and sizes. Everyone likely has a top list of the ones they like. However, after going through many apps, I have been able to narrow down my list to two.
 
The app I am currently using for my own play is the RunGood poker app. The free version of this app limits you to just 10 sessions which will likely be over very quickly. You can track multiple bankroll in any of 152 different currencies and have it convert to the currency of your preference.
 
Stats are a plenty with 160 useful ones including most importantly how profitable or unprofitable you are and your win/loss rate in big blinds for ring game players. Combining this with amazing graphs, extensive filters, customizable goals, and a great tagging system, this is a great app for any poker player.
 
Honestly the only downside about this app is that it is only available on iOS devices. So if the person you have in mind does not use an iPhone or iPad, you should take a look at the other app on our short list.
 
The other thing you may not like is the relatively high price tag of $17.99 (€17.99 in some stores). While this is not cheap for this type of app, I do feel it is the best one and worth the extra few bucks. Besides, when it comes to spending on Holiday gifts, this is still a cheap one to give that will provide value for years.
 
The app I was using before RunGood is Poker Income Pro. While there are dozens of apps to choose from, I recommend this one if looking for something a little cheaper and something that is available on both iOS and Android handheld devices. It also stores information in a cloud, meaning you can grab it from a PC as well and switch from device to device.
 
Poker Income Pro features many of the same features that RunGood offers, however, the graphical interface is a bit more crude. One feature it has that RunGood doesn’t is a HUD tracker. However, this requires a lot of maintenance while you are playing and it is doubtful even the most arduous player is updating each hand to make the information in the HUD accurate.
 
There are tons of charts and filters available with this app, however, it isn’t the best if you are a worldwide player that plays in multiple currencies. However, if you know someone that is based in the US or another country where they play a majority of their games in one currency, this app should really handle all of their needs.
 
Just like RunGood, at the end of the day the app allows for a bit of analysis through data and charts to tell what games are the most profitable and even what times and location have proven to be the best. Also similar is that the app tracks tournaments and ring games. You can even add your own casino games such black jack, roulette, and sports wagering if you choose to do so.
 
This app costs only $9.99, or a little more than half the price of RunGood. However, based off my experiences, if you have a few extra dollars to spend and plan to support the app on an iOS device, RunGood is worth the extra money.

More articles