Holdem Genius?

[oldskool]

Well, I've seen this Holdem Genius thing. It attaches to the table you're at, and calculates the various poker odds for you. I don't have the $20 at the moment for it, but I'm just wondering if anybody's used it and if it's any good.

[kale]

well, there is a free odds calculator on www.cardplayer.com so I wouldn't waste $20.

[oldskool]

That one requires that you put the opponent's hands in, and also takes forever. According to the site, Holdem Genius doesn't need that information to be manually input (especially the cards your opponent had...if I knew what they had, why would I need a calculator?), it reads all the cards you can see (hole cards, flop, turn and river) straight from the client and calculates odds based on that.

[kale]

unless it can actually read what cards the opponent holds, what makes it any different from what the odds calculator at cardplayer.com does?

edit: on a side note: I doubt any major online poker site would allow such a program, especially if it can read what cards your opponent has.

Edited January 1, 2006 by kale

[oldskool]

It reads in your cards without having to input them, and gives you the odds throughout the hand (pre and post-flop, turn and river), it has adjustable sliders that more or less tell it how aggressively you want to play, and it immediately tells you any and all outs you have on any hand.

That's just what I read from the FAQ.

[kale]

bleh, why bother playing if you are going to have the program tell you how to play the hand.

This program is for people who don't actually want to play poker.

[apsham]

He wants to use it, no matter what you think so leave him alone.

[K]

Sounds awesome, hopefully you can attach it to a mouse and keyboard macro, and get that to actually play the game for you.

[Psicosis]

Sounds a lot like Poker Spy

http://www.poker-spy.com/

It's ok, but unnessessary imo.

[oldskool]

bleh, why bother playing if you are going to have the program tell you how to play the hand.

This program is for people who don't actually want to play poker.

[Hugar Twriker Eats Spam]

You should be able to do odds in your head.

[kale]

bleh, why bother playing if you are going to have the program tell you how to play the hand.

This program is for people who don't actually want to play poker.

I can play poker, or I can play poker with an assistant that will help me minimize my losses and maximize my winnings. Yeah, that sounds like a stupid idea to me

Edited January 2, 2006 by kale

[apsham]

It's a tool to use if you aren't good at math, that's personally why I wouldn't use it. If other people at the table can do the odds in their head, but I can't then I am leveling the odds by using the tool. As well, it's not telling you how to play the hand, it's telling you information that still comes down to you to interprut whether or not to play the hand still. Stop acting like you're special just because you don't want to use it, you're not helping anyone or anything in this topic.

[kale]

I'm sorry, but if you cant tell what your outs are against possible hands you are up against then that's pretty bad.

As for the odds that you will have the best hand in the end, that I can see someone not knowing the actual math but even so, you can judge the strength of your hand based upon what possible hands are out there.

All in all, I'd have to say the program is not worth money.

[apsham]

What is Hand Rank? What about ranking hands by historical strength?

Hand rank is a number, from 0 to 100, denoting the quality of a given hand (100% being the best).

Pre-flop

Before the flop, hands are ranked according to statistical performance with the given number of opponents. Note that a hand that ranks highly against one opponent may do poorly, statistically, against 5 or 8 opponents. AA is always the best hand pre-flop, but 72o is not always the worst hand (statistically speaking, 32o loses more often in a heads-up game). You can tell Holdem Genius™ how to sort hands pre-flop, using the "rank hands by historical strength?" option under the "Playing Style" menu. Selecting "At the river" will sort them by their strength when all 5 cards are on the table. "On the flop", on the other hand, will place some lower scoring hands, like lower pairs and suited connectors, higher up on the list, because of their ability to gain a lot of value early. They don't always hit on the flop, but when they do, they make great hands.

You may also force Holdem Genius™ to never advise you to play hands in certain positions, unless they are in a certain top percentage. For example, if you never want to call in the small blind unless your hand is in the top 5% of all starting hands, simply check "Also force these minimum starting hands" under the "Playing Style" menu. Next, move the "Small Blind" slider to "95", and the rest of the sliders to zero (disabling them).

Post-flop

After the flop, hands are ranked strictly by their strength in combination with the cards on the table. For example, if your hand rank is 50% after the flop, this means that half of all possible hands out there would beat you at that point.

http://www.holdemgenius.com/faq.html

Read here to see how it works etc, you can do the math from the cards on your table and what's in your hand. This just gives you a percise statistical value. Useful for some people? Not at all, but a serious online poker player might find it useful in fast paced games.

[kale]

I believe a serious online player would be able to figure out the strength of their own hand without this tool.

[apsham]

And I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, what's your point?

[kale]

My point is that this tool is not worth paying for if you are serious about poker.

But if you are new to poker, I can see why some people might want this but it will eventually become useless.

[naiwf]

And I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, what's your point?

[Psicosis]

bleh, why bother playing if you are going to have the program tell you how to play the hand.

This program is for people who don't actually want to play poker.

I can play poker, or I can play poker with an assistant that will help me minimize my losses and maximize my winnings. Yeah, that sounds like a stupid idea to me