A friend of mine got a trial version and, while he was amazed at the amount of information available to him, is still unsure if it is worth the investment. I suspect all serious on-line players use some kind of software of this nature. Why wouldn't they? Still I have my reservations.
On a purely emotional level, I think it takes some of the fun out of the game. Win or lose, I know I don't have anyone (or anything) else to credit or blame. Poker is an individual vs individual game, and the introduction of computer analysis just spoils it somehow. I know this is kind of petulant of me. And maybe it's dumb to "bring a knife to a gun fight". I suspect that poker software is really now just part of the game - if all players are using it, then it is still an individual vs individual game, just a much more complex one where your success is not only based on poker skills, but the ability to quickly interpret and apply raw data to a specific situation. A more complex game - but still a game. My dislike for the software might just be laziness on my part - I don't want to do the work of having to analyse statistics!
But I also worry about statistics misleading me. If I have a good read on a situation, the statistics might lead me to make a wrong decision. Of course this could easily, and more likely, go the other way - that the statistics would likely keep me from making bad decisions.
I just don't know.
I'm hoping those of you reading this post will leave comments offering advice.
I agree with you that almost every serious online player does - and probably should - use poker software to improve their winrate. My reluctance to commit six SnG's worth of buy-ins (at the level I'm currently playing) for PT has everything to do with the fact that I don't consider myself a serious player.
ReplyDeleteI'm serious in that I play to win (unless I get silly, which I do occasionally), I read and study, and I genuinely try to improve my game. But I'm not serious in that my primary motive for playing is not making money; my primary motive is enjoyment. PT has shown me some interesting stats and has allowed me to make some profitable calls (and folds) that I otherwise wouldn't, but it hasn't made me enjoy the game more, and although it helped me to analyze my game somewhat and garnered me a few short-term wins, I don't know if it helped make me a better player overall.
In one respect it certainly did - it immediately showed me a huge leak to plug: I played WAY too many hands from early position. On the other hand, I found myself using the HUD to substitute for observation of my opponents' betting patterns, introducing a potentially weakening laziness to my game.
In the spirit of your semi-scientific experiments on this blog, why don't you try a PT experiment? You can configure PT to track your wins/hands at one site and not another; play the same number of .01/.02 hands at 2 different sites over six months, one using PT and one using good old-fashioned paying attention, and chart your results - both quantitative and qualitative.
Did it improve your winrate? Did it improve your experience of playing? Did it - and this is the big one, I think - improve you as a player, so that when/if you decide not to use it (and there's no HUD at the live table) it helped you become a stronger player overall?
Great suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI like the comment of how over-reliance on PT can make you less observant of opponents. This is one of my fears.
The best answer is the one you suggest - try to be scientific about it. Like you I play for enjoyment and worry that making this like a job will take the fun out of it. But if I really am serious about being serious, then it is what I should do.
See you on PokerStars.
The other useful thing about PT is that it can give you insight into how other players perceive you. If you're playing cash games you can be sure that 75% or more of your opponents are multitablers who are using software to track you; a quick blast of the HUD can show you what stats they have on you and you can use that to your advantage.
ReplyDeleteSteve is a successful business owner who takes his business very seriously. He focuses on growing his business and has several employees. People love his products and services and are sharing them with others. What Steve is struggling with is making his business financially fit. It seems like his business is always tight, and he is barely making it each month. Sound familiar? https://adobe.cheapsoftwaredownload.net/adobe-photoshop.html
ReplyDeleteWhen you have business owners who spent a lot of time in their business working really hard, they don't necessarily want to stay running around any more. They want to automate and have systems and processes. Sure, they may have a C-Suite, but they don't necessarily focus exclusively on automation, systems and processes because that C-suite has their own responsibilities to complete within that business. how to get cinema 4d for free
ReplyDelete