Free Poker Soft
The net is virtually flooded with free poker programs, so I’ll try to present you the ones most
functional, helpful, and respected by players (by the way, programs listed on the site are for Texas
Hold’em only if not stated otherwise).
Let’s start from the very beginning – the preflop. I hope you’ve already read about my program
“Prefloper” that can help you with your preflop strategy. Another good program that can help you
make your own preflop strategy is “PokerStove”
(if site isn't available, you can download the program here). That’s a simulator for different pocket cards. You
can choose cards for any number of players and run simulation (soft uses two methods – random
Monte-Carlo or enumeration). As a result you’ll get chances to win for every player so you can decide
whether it’s worth to complete 96o blind after three limpers. The really convenient thing is that for
each player you can choose certain pocket cards, random cards or set of cards corresponding with the
percentage of hands played. Simulation results are stored in a file. Unfortunately you’d hardly be
able to use the program during the play – it takes time to choose cards and run simulation, but it’s
really helpful to make your own strategy and to understand things like domination, single-suitedness,
number of opponents, etc. “PokerStove” can also help you after the flop enter the board cards and
run simulation again, in which case you’ll get an odds calculator.
I was planning to write about odds calculators here, but I didn’t manage to find a sufficient and
free one. Many simple calculators are paid while their functionality is so elementary that it’s easier
to use the plain outs table. I must mention that many players are against the use of odds calculator
during the play. It’s much more useful to understand how outs and
pot odds are calculated, especially
taking into account that these computations are quite simple. So if you need simple odds calculator you
can use “PokerStove” or have a look into “Paid Soft” page for the advanced ones.
It seems that there are no other good stand-alone free poker utilities. There are many free programs
and scripts, but they have a very narrow scope and can help a limited number of players (professional
players mostly). True, several popular free programs exist, but those work with “Poker Tracker” by
expanding its abilities (they work for PT v.2 and became
obsolete since PT v.3 issue).
The first of such programs is “GameTime+”. This program shows the opponents’ stats directly in
the poker-room window. It’s very convenient to see the opponents’ major stats, because it helps to
make right decisions and play several tables efficiently. You can set which stats shall be visible all
the time and which are opened by a mouse-click. The small field containing figures can be easily dragged
into any part of the window. The program supports all poker-rooms. If you have “Poker Tracker
v.2” you
must use GT+ or you can buy its analogue PokerAce HUD, which is reviewed at the “Paid Soft” page.
“Poker Patterns”
(site isn't available now, you can download the program here) program also works with “Poker Tracker
v.2” and allows building graphs with your
results. Instead of average numbers the Tracker gives you’ll see a chart with all you raises and
falls.
As you remember, my program “Poker Luck Meter” works with Tracker as well. For example, having
charts with steep increase or decrease you can determine with the help of “Poker Luck Meter” whether
your luck or your lack of luck was the reason of this outcome. |
