Tournament Hold Em Software

Brad F. · #1 12-13-2004, 01:46 PM

I tried searching first folks, but I couldn't find any threads.

Are there any good practice Tournament Hold Em Software out there with good, customizable opponents? Hoping for No Limit Multi Table practice. Would do freerolls around the sites but that's not practice, it's a crapshoot.

Thanks for any and all advice.

Brad

SharkBait · #2 12-13-2004, 05:06 PM

I used Tournament Texas Hold' em when I started playing and thought it was helpful for getting the feel for different tournament structures. There are a number of different players that all have different attributes but I don't think you can customize players in Tournament Texas Hold' em. Turbo Texas Hold' em is by the same developer and that I'm pretty sure you can customize and allows you to ask for advice on plays, replay hands, etc. The downside of Turbo is that it is ring game/limit only. This was also a great program when I was starting to learn the game. If you run a Google you should be able to find some reviews and the web address.

PuckNPoker · #3 12-13-2004, 05:08 PM

Wilson Software is one. It is a little older but is good.

Poki is the other, supposedly the AI learns and adapts to how you play. I've only played the poki demo so I cant attest to how good/bad the full version is.

top2pear · #4 12-13-2004, 07:41 PM

Wilson's Tournament Texas Hold'em -- read the advice from earlier post.

Poki Poker Academy -- is NOT equipped for tournament practice; it is merely ring game (like Wilson's TURBO Texas Hold'em).

There's a slew of cheapo tournament games for PC that have come out over the last two years. None of them are as good as they claim to be. The manufacturers are merely cashing in on the poker craze. People who watch poker tournaments on TV now have another way to waste their time.

Most computer games will probably give the wrong impression about winning strategies for no-limit hold'em tournament play. The Wilson product is both far too passive and insanely willing to call all-in under very suspicious criteria.

There's a "World Series of Poker" CD-ROM (by Masque) that came out in the 90s--if you play this one enough, it will teach you that balls-out aggression at every stage of a hand and tournament is the way to win the tournament.

If you play computer opponents, remember that they're nowhere near as sophisticated as humans can be. The worst human players will remind you of the computer players you encounter in these games. Don't believe the hype about artificial intelligence--playing correctly in no-limit hold'em is not even as easy to turn into an algorithm as the insanely difficult task of making a reputable LIMIT hold'em bot. (University of Alberta's Poki Poker bot is fairly good as a competitor at limit hold'em . . . thanks tto several years of work by teams of people! Heads-up, it's even tougher than for ring game, but that's because it can employ game theory much more rigidly than can the average human.)

Enough from me -- i'm no expert in artificial intelligence.

Luv2DriveTT · #5 12-13-2004, 08:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Poki Poker Academy -- is NOT equipped for tournament practice; it is merely ring game (like Wilson's TURBO Texas Hold'em).

[/ QUOTE ]

Incorrect. They now have a NL tournament mode, and its probably the best I've tested so far.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Soleo · #6 12-14-2004, 10:06 AM

Search archives. Wilson Tournament V4 is almost non-customizable and there are no detailed stats/modeling. I feel like I wasted $57 some time earlier when I bought it - I found that it's much less valuable than Turbo Texas Holdem V5. Look for reviews of Acespade for tournaments.

trojanrabbit · #7 12-14-2004, 03:27 PM

I was a beta tester for Wilson Tournament V5 which should be coming out around January or so. I can tell you the playing strength has improved dramatically.

Programming a good NL AI is insanely hard, but Wilson has done a pretty good job. It obviously doesn't play at professional levels, but is much better than a typical tournament player.

top2pear · #8 12-14-2004, 08:09 PM

Thanks! How long have they had no-limit capability?

I wasn't clear on the interface from their website. I have to download the program to my machine and install it after the download? Do i have to be online everytime i use the program or is it completely resident inside my computer after the download?

onegymrat · #9 12-14-2004, 08:42 PM

I ran across this cheap new program called DD Tournament Texas Hold'em at Target for $19.99. Thought the cheap investment would get me some entertainment value. Very realistic structure, including customizing the level of skill as well as tournament structure. I'm sure not as good as Turbo, but a lot of fun.

SossMan · #10 12-14-2004, 10:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I ran across this cheap new program called DD Tournament Texas Hold'em at Target for $19.99. Thought the cheap investment would get me some entertainment value. Very realistic structure, including customizing the level of skill as well as tournament structure. I'm sure not as good as Turbo, but a lot of fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, i got that too. players are way too tight for small bets but call all ins preflop w/ startling frequency.

plus it's rigged to give bad beats [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

i did finally win the WSOP 2003, though.

i like the options, though...another nice thing is that you can set up your own home tourney structure (with custom blind levels, payouts, time per round, etc...) and it comes with a cool clock. We have used it w/ a laptop for our tourneys at my buddy's house and it works real well.