Poker Programs helpful or nonsense?

[srm80]

I have been wanting to find another way to improve my game other than reading and browsing websites, and heard there were poker programs that simulate live play. you can set the level of your opponents, how loose or tight or tricky they are, set the game for short-handed or a full table. I have seen these programs advertised in a Caro book and some others, one is called Turbo Texas Hold Em for Windows. Has anyone used a program like this to improve their play or to practice against tougher competition before actually moving up a level? Are these programs actually helpful or just a waste of money?

[AaronBrown]

They are very helpful. You don't use them to gain the higher skills of Poker, but to make the everyday skills automatic. In half an hour of casual fooling around, you can play over 100 hands, with all the probabilities displayed. A few hours of that and you won't have to think about the basics. You can reserve your brain at real money play for figuring out other players and planning strategy.

Also, it makes a nice break from reading or playing for money. I advise turning off your brain while you play, use it like Tetris or Solitaire. You want to train your unconsious brain.

The great Poker players of the 1970s and 80s learned the game from playing a few hundred thousand hands, much of it low quality Poker. You can get that same amount of experience against consistent, but not brilliant, play in six months on computer. You don't get all the lessons from playing real people, of course, but you also don't get the distractions and bad habits.

It's a huge advantage to automatically recognize all the possible combinations and probabilities without having to think, and to feel them, not just know them intellectually. By itself it won't make you a great, or even good, Poker player, but it will free up your mind so you can learn to be great.