Which Hold'em Software Is Best??

Lampsteen · #1 06-19-2005, 10:28 PM

Just wondering what everyone is using at home to sharpen their skills (other than online rooms). I'm looking for something that has good ai and lets you program the players (with it being random during play) to be loose / tight, etc.. Any suggestions? [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

FredJones888 · #2 06-19-2005, 11:07 PM

poker academy is great, although I have not used wilson turbo holdem which gets good reviews.

theRealMacoy · #3 06-20-2005, 05:45 AM

by far the best ai in any poker game is poker academy pro.

it comes directly from a world leading academic research team in ai systems from the University of Alberta. i own it and it is an excellent practice tool for both limit and no limit.

Wilson allows you to run more simulations than poker academy, although with pokerstove and other such programs widely available perhaps this is a moot point.

cheers,
the Real Macoy

Lampsteen · #4 06-20-2005, 09:41 PM

Thanks to you both. Poker Academy it is.

BritNewbie · #5 06-21-2005, 12:37 AM

Poker Academy is excellent. If you go for that, don't forget to also install the convertor which someone on this forum has made available for free - it allows you to convert Poker Academy hand histories into Party format hand histories, which you can then load into PokerTracker. Neat, in the extreme.

There is another piece of poker software which nobody's mentioned - the one from AceSpade. I've only just got it, and haven't had a chance to use it much but it looks pretty useful. The graphics are nowhere near as good as Academy, but my feeling is the opponents can be defined in more detail than is possible in Academy. (With the default settings, against 9 loose passives, I did fine. Once I set myself up against 9 tight aggressives, things got a tad more difficult :-) )

tek · #6 06-21-2005, 08:47 AM

I have been using Wilson for two years. I just tried Poker Academy Pro demo, and bought the program. Much better than Wilson.

speirs · #7 06-21-2005, 09:16 AM

Honestly, I think they all suck. I bought Poker Acadey Pro for myself and really think it's a $99 waste. Mainly because the advisor wants you to make some very questionable plays IMO.

I also mailed them about it but didn't get a satisfying answer. Maybe it's just me or maybe I have to put a little bit more time in it but this is how I feel about it now.

The best hold'em software are the pokerrooms themself. Learn while playing real poker (real money, not play money).

sk8erboy1 · #8 06-21-2005, 02:14 PM

I wouldn't go as far as saying they suck, however they are not great.

theRealMacoy · #9 06-21-2005, 02:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Poker Academy is excellent. If you go for that, don't forget to also install the convertor which someone on this forum has made available for free - it allows you to convert Poker Academy hand histories into Party format hand histories, which you can then load into PokerTracker. Neat, in the extreme.

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds very ver cool...
anyone have the link for the converter?
cheers
the Real Macoy

tek · #10 06-21-2005, 03:38 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The best hold'em software are the pokerrooms themself. Learn while playing real poker (real money, not play money).

[/ QUOTE ]

You are right. But those of us that use software (as well as play with real money) have a point also.

With software you can target certain types of players to practice against. You can play many more hands than you can in a poker room.

You can also do "drills". When I used to bowl competitively, I would practice pocket shots. But I would also do drills in practice, such as going for the 10 pin on frame 1 and the 7 on frame two. Or 6-10 then 4-7, etc.

Same thing with software. You can practice whatever you need to work on over and over.

It's not the same as being a real table, but practice of any kind helps.