There are a variety of software programs, legal software programs (yes, there are programs that are banned from poker sites) that are designed to help you play poker. I haven’t tried them all by any means. I have tried most of the big ones including:

PokerCalculatem: Calculates pot odds based on your hand, the cards on the board, pot size, bets to you, and the odds of hitting certain hands. If I recall correctly the demo does not automatically work while you play, but the paid version will automatically get the info from your table as you are playing. Worthwhile giving the demo a try if you’re a beginner.

Poker Academy: The University of Alberta has the Computer Poker Research Group which is working on trying to build a better computerized poker player. To test their program they’ve run matches against Phil Laak and Ali Eslami, as well as a group of instructors from the Stoxpoker site. Out of that research comes their poker simulator and training game. Fun to practice with, though I found the default settings for the player characteristics a little wild and easy to beat. Mind you, I had an older version, and a more recent demo seemed a little more realistic.

Wilson Turbo Texas Holdem: Another simulator/practice game. Both these simulators include pot odds calculators and computer advisors to help you learn the basics. My parents play some computer slot machines and blackjack at home, and these would be the equivalent types of software except that they include some training and practice.

PokerStove: This one I’ll give a text link to, ’cause I’ve mentioned in many times and it’s free. It’s a small stand alone program that does not work in real time, but it’s invaluable for analyzing your play and getting exact card odds against not only specific hands that you opponent(s) hold, but even calculates based on a range of hands that you think you opponent might be holding. This is important stuff. If you go to a forum and look at people discussing how a hand was played, they don’t try to narrow the hands down to one or two hands, but put a player on a range of hands that he might be making this play with, and then calculate your chances against that range, and PokerStove will do that for you.

Later edit:

SitNGo Wizard: I forgot about this one when I wrote this post originally. This program is for, you guessed it, playing Sit and Goes. It’s a post-game analyzer designed specifically for reviewing your Sit and Go games. Not designed for a raw beginner as it requires some knowledge of at least hand ranges as well as basic understanding of 10 big blind push/fold concepts and others, but if you’re serious about understanding how to play SnGs and want to get an instinctual feel for ICM, this is a good place to work on your game.

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My posts often get too long, so I’ll carry on in the next post with software to use while you’re actually playing on-line.

• Poker software; stats analysis and HUD