Poker Winner Blog

Interactive Poker Software Programs

Computer poker programs have come of age. The best programs offer interactive learning opportunities that were unavailable only a few years ago. Improved versions are hurtling down the pipeline at warp speed, each leaving its predecessor light-years behind. The realism of contemporary programs has largely negated statements made by poker gurus only a few years ago:

“I suspect poker is just too difficult a game to program reasonably well,” wrote one expert in 1996. At about the same time, another expert wrote that computer opponents were unable to learn from events in previous hands when making decisions, something a human player always does (or should).

To do the most good, your practice sessions should be done under conditions approaching real play. The latest poker software offers the realistic game context you need to improve. Computer opponents have evolved, and so have other features.

Reviewers are now saying — half seriously — that they’d like to put some of the computer opponents in real games for real cash.

These new cyberopponents — with their ability to bluff and semi-bluff, slow- play and checkraise, can do all of the following:

• Make adjustments for position and number of players Alter strategy when checkraised
• React to events in prior hands
• Take their share of pots and leave you muttering No doubt that they’ll prepare you for real games.

Finding the best software

Tracking down the best software is easy. Just check out the highly regarded Turbo Poker series by Wilson Software. Poker experts and satisfied customers almost unanimously praise this software series for its realism and overall quality. Wilson Software offers these games:

• Turbo Seven-Card Stud
• Turbo Omaha High Only
• Turbo Omaha High-Low Split
• Turbo Texas Hold’em
• Turbo Stud 8/or Better
• Tournament Texas Hold’em

Using the offerings from Wilson Software

Program installation is remarkably easy and takes only a few minutes. You don’t even need to restart your computer.

The games are user-friendly. After a simple and speedy installation process that all but directs itself, you can be absorbed in a game within minutes. Feel free to plunge in!

Once you start a program, you can simply click the Help button at the top of the screen. It will bring up an index to detailed instructions, including how to start a game.

At the top of the program screen you’ll find five or six buttons. Click the button called Game Setup, and familiarize yourself with the options you find there. You’ll be able to structure each new game as you see fit: number of players, toughness of computer opponents, blinds or antes, betting limits, number of raises permitted per round, and many other variables. It’s well worth your while to explore all these options thoroughly. Type in your preferences and then start your first game. Get those cards in the air!

One option deserves special mention if you lose interest in any hand. Click Modify Game Settings-Game Setup-Always zip to the end. By “zipping to the end,” you immediately see the showdown result each time you fold. Then click Deal and you’re on to the next hand!

You can also zip manually by clicking on Zip at the bottom of the screen. Don’t like your hand after the flop? Zip! Missed the flop again? Zip! More lousy cards? Zip, zip! Fun, isn’t it?

Hmmm … should you call or raise? Need some advice here? Just click Advice. A disembodied voice accompanied by onscreen hand analysis steers you in the right direction. You get a warning if you make a play that the advisor doesn’t like (unless you turn off this feature before you begin).

Want to know the odds against making your hand? You guessed it — click Odds for a detailed analysis. Think you misplayed the hand and want to see what would have happened if you had raised? Click Replay. Play it again, Sam!

The latest versions of the games offer “tips,” which pop up automatically when you start a program. Read them carefully. It’s a good idea when you’re first starting out to read a group of them by clicking on Next at the bottom of each tip in turn until you’ve read as many as you can absorb for that session. These tips will give you a good idea of the program’s scope and possibilities. Once you start a game, you can return to reading tips at any time by clicking on the Tips button at the top of the screen.

A comprehensive user’s guide typically comes with each program. Don’t be intimidated — you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to glean what you need from it. If you’re a poker greenhorn, your objective is to just get playing, which you can do simply by using the Help and Tips buttons. (Be sure to read the manual. Just don’t get bogged down in the technical stuff when you’re first starting!)

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