Question on hand frequencies and practice software...

[Arcturus]

Hey everyone! This is my first post at this great website.

I started playing poker at live casinos this past year and have had pretty good success at the lower-end tables. However, I know that there is much improvement to be made in my game. I picked up SSH and found it to be a great source of information. I'm looking to start playing online, but I am trying to practice up the techniques I have been reading about before "jumping into the deep end". The only software that I have access to currently is Hoyle Casino. Now, I KNOW this software is not the best to use, but like I said before, I am just practicing my preflop and postflop techniques.

What I am looking for is either a website or a possible poker simulator that I could practice on until I'm ready to play online. I have read about Wilson Turbo, but it seems rather expensive to just run out and buy it. Any good suggestions out there?

The second question I have deals with hand frequencies. According to SSH, you should only play certain hands preflop (which I agree with!) I calculated that out of the 1326 possible combinations of preflop hands that you can get, 374 (or 28.2%) of those should be considered using SSH guidelines. Now, some of those hands won't be played from early position or against very tight players. So, that percentage will naturally decrease. During my practice play, it seems like I have been only getting 1 "playable" hand per 10 deals. Even with those hands, I end up folding most of them due to multiple raises after the flop and terrible flop cards. Like I mentioned before, this is using Hoyle software, but I wanted to know if this sounds "normal" to those of you playing online or not? After reading some of the other posts on this website, I feel that I should be getting more cards to play.

Thanks for your time and good luck to all of you!

[Mangatang]

Wilson's Turbo Texas Hold'em is a good tool to practice on. It has a lot of advanced features, or you can just play against computer opponents (you select their playing styles).

Following most good preflop guidelines, you will see about 25% of the flops. This number, of course, depends on your opponents and the table texture, but 25% is an good average number.

If you want to practice your preflop decisions, I have a free Preflop Simulator that you can download from: www.KingsCascade.com

If SSH is the first book you've read, I suggest putting it away for a while, until you get more experience. That is a very advanced book. The first book I always recommend is Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones.

Good luck.

[daveymck]

Rather than buy simulation software I would stick the cash into a site and play penny limits, stars and I beleive UB have small .01/.02 limit tables.

Once you have built up confidance move to the party .5/1 tables (need $300 bankroll), you will find the penny tables are a much better shallow end than simulation software.

[luckydog]

[ QUOTE ]
Following most good preflop guidelines, you will see about 25% of the flops. This number, of course, depends on your opponents and the table texture, but 25% is an good average number.


[/ QUOTE ]

Are you talking about a long term average here?
The reason I ask is that for me it seems rare that I see more than one hand per round of a full table (not counting the BB)and I'm wondering if I need to see more.
Also I thought in one of the books I read it stated that on average a player will see about 10% of the flops and that in some cases that is high.

Luckydog

[Mangatang]

10% is very tight. That might be correct in some very tight/aggressive games, but for most low limit games, that' way too tight.

Following Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players' preflop advice for loose/passive tables, you will see about 20-25% of the flops.

If you're just starting out, it's a good idea to stay on the tight end of the scale to minimize your loses, but once you feel comfortable, you should be see a bit more flops than 10%, and letting your post-flop skills take care of the rest.

[Arcturus]

Thanks for the info. I know that SSH states that it is not a beginners book, but the stuff in there makes logical sense. 10% of the flop does seem pretty tight. I'm sure I will have more questions as I study on.

[scott1]

[ QUOTE ]
Rather than buy simulation software I would stick the cash into a site and play penny limits, stars and I beleive UB have small .01/.02 limit tables.


[/ QUOTE ]

Very good advice. A small deposit like $10 or $20 should give you plently to play around with at the micro level. Once you feel comfortable move up slowly.

If I was seeing only 10% of the flops I'd be bored out of my mind. Try sitting down with different starting hand requirements and see how it feels. You'll probably settle into something you are comfortable with. Then tailor it to the games. That said, 10% will be too tight at most every micro limit game.

[JustDerek]

[ QUOTE ]
I have read about Wilson Turbo, but it seems rather expensive to just run out and buy it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I confess that I haven't really tested any of the other "practice" software. Nevertheless, I agree with a review I read of Wilson's TTH before I got it, which said (in essence) that if $90 seems like a lot of money for poker software, then think of it in terms of how much you'll save at the table because of the improvement to your game. As far as I personally am concerned, the TTH software very quickly paid for itself. Also, you get significant deals on upgrades to the software when they are released -- I think they might even be free upgrades, but I'd need to check that again.

Now I'm including the Wilson Tournament HoldEm software in the pool of poker materials I'm saving up for, along with more of the essential texts (S&M&Z, Brunson, et. al). [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[KenProspero]

Wilson's seems good for the following

1. You don't have internet access (say on an airplane with a laptop) and
2. You want to test a strategy and play a lot of hands quickly.

I read that most poker software is miserable, TTH isn't great, but it's passable. Anyway, if you buy it for not internet times, and consider the rest to be a bonus, you're ahead of the game.

[JustDerek]

I guess I could see that. I don't know, maybe I need to rely more on other methods of practice (micro-limit online, etc). Another good thing about TTH is that there are a million different ways you can tweak it in order to simulate various playing situations, e.g. dozens of computer opponent profiles, each of whom plays with different tendencies; numerous groupings of profiles to form "lineups" with labels like "TIGHT," "LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE," "LOWLIMIT," "TOUGH," "AVERAGE-PASSIVE," etc; you can also create profiles of virtual opponents and customize their tendencies e.g., sensitivity to pot odds, going on tilt... heck, you can make it so a guy will call up to one raise with suited connectors no lower than 67s as long as he's not in early position, in which case he'll do the same with at least 9Ts. That kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm new here and I don't want to go on and on and make the webmasters think I'm just here to shill for Wilson, so I'll just say that you can check out the details of the various Wilson poker software at the ConJelCo online store.