Looking for beta testers for a new poker training software product

Hello all:

I am looking for a small number of beta testers for a new poker training product my company we be releasing soon. This is a unique and new approach to mastering pot odds and pre-flop system decisions. It also includes a pot odds calculator (both for known and unknown hands), and a variety of other useful tools beyond training.

The only requirement to join the beta program is to have a Windows based computer (any version will do), and a bit of time over the next few weeks to try it out and provide feedback. Beta users who provide good feedback and/or bug reports will receive a free copy of the software of course.

If interested, e-mail me: dan@deepnettech.com

Dan Pronovost
DeepNet Technologies
www.deepnettech.com

Hello Folks:

Just to let people know, my poker training product is now available for download and officially launched (and thanks to all the 2+2 beta testers who signed up and provided great feedback!).

"Poker Drill Master" is a very different kind of training program (unique, to my knowledge). You don't play against the computer. Instead, semi-random games are presented with a betting decision to you. You have to determine the pot odds (post flop), or use a poker system (pre-flop) to make your betting decision. A thorough pre-flop poker system 'editor' is included with many default systems. There is virtually unlimited control over the testing options, and very detailed reports to understand the correct answers. Also, there's a very powerful (and extremely fast) poker calculator that allwows for both known and unknown hands. Finally, there is of course a simple outs table calculator. And very detailed and complete online help/documentation.

"Poker Drill Master for Windows" is shareware, free to try out (100% functional), and available for download at: www.PokerDrillMaster.com. We make our living sellinf advantage gambling training software, so there's no adware, viruses, malware, online casino affiliations, or other crap. We don't even ask for your e-mail if you want to dwonload the program and try it out. Windows 98 or higher required.

Dan Pronovost
DeepNet Technologies
dan@deepnettech.com
www.PokerDrillMaster.com

[beatua]

Well that certainly wasn't a very long beta cycle. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Oh, and the screenshots on your page don't work in firefox. Therefore I can't comment on this software. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

ie: the img tags are: http://www.deepnettech.com/images%5C...ll_mode_02.gif

instead of
http://www.deepnettech.com/images/pdm_drill_mode_02.gif

silly IE.
-runstop

Ah... dumb mistake on my part! I've fixed the web pages to run properly now. You should be able to see the images for the demos now in FireFox.

It was a short beta cycle, which is pretty standard for us. Since we provide free updates, and it's shareware, it's easy to simply apply more fixes and release new versions. But, the beta showed the software to be very stable, and the feedback very positive. Few bugs were reported, and a handful of suggested features reported, which we implemented in the release version. Small companies like our can respond quickly on updates, features, bugs, etc., hence the fast beta cycle.

Having said that... if anyone wants any specific features, please send them my way! We will implement anything that seems reasonable and desirable to have in the product.

Dan Pronovost
dan@deepnettech.com
www.PokerDrillMaster.com

[RatFink]

I like the concept and the execution. However one change I think that is important in the post-flop questions is to not just use "random" cards for the opponents. It skews the equity considerably to think you are still playing against random cards when its two bets to you and you hold bottom pair. Also some concept of your position without have to back-calculate the pot size would be nice.

That's a very good point I haven't yet factored in... if indeed you're at a table in a late round (say, the turn or river), it's very unlikely that the 'unknown' hands (or opponents) have average hands (assuming they are playing sensibly). While the pot odds are still valid, we can generally make some assumptions about the quality of the opponent hands based on their being in this far.

The more common way this is put is: the pot odds are in your favor, but you can predict from the betting (or opponents past betting) that they still have you beat (i.e. they have the nuts), hence fold instead of calling.

This is one of many subjective factors I'd like to account for (another somewhat less subjective one is implied odds, which I have wrestled with a lot in terms of how to include it somehow).

By the 'position' observation, do you mean only on pre-flop rounds, or also post flop? Do note that each opponent hand is labelled 'in' or 'undecided', which gives a more accurate position marker than your actual starting position. In the documentation, I quote the example of being in the big blind (which is late position), but the small blind raises... this really makes your position (from the POV of system betting) early now, assuming there are callers yet to decide again. The 'in/undecided' indicators reflect this in PDM. But if I've misunderstood your question, please let me know.

Thanks again for the excellent feedback... I am very interested to get peoples' feedback, and incorporate changes where/when possible.

Dan Pronovost
dan@deepnettech.com
www.PokerDrillMaster.com

[Gene2x]

Minor: There was a mispelling in one of the answer windows ("rasie" instead of "raise").

As for random hands, I suppose if folding makes sense against a random hand, it would make sense against other hands too. But what about calling and raising? Maybe an option to change from random to type of game would be good (random/loose/average/tight).

Actually, we do handle that now, as follows:

- First, for pre-flop decisions, our poker system editor includes many different author's systems, some tight some loose, so you can confgure and choose which system to use. You can even create your own, or make new copies and tweak the ones there. Our poker system editor is a very powerful rule-based approach that lets you implement very subtle things (for example, if no one calls and you're the small blind, you can choose to follow in more situations so the big blind doesn't steal the blinds). So, you can change when to fold, call or raise for pre-flop... totally under your control.

- For post-flop, Poker Drill Master does use pot odds to determine when to fold, call or raise. There is effective a range around the minimum pot odds (equity) where calling is justified, and below which you raise and above fold. The docs go iinto the algorithm a bit more (it's a bit complicated and has a few special cases that are obivous in real games).

Dan Pronovost
dan@deepnettech.com
www.PokerDrillMaster.com