Don’t get left behind! Knowing which poker tools to use and how to use them gives you a big edge over your opponents. Implementing poker strategy software into your repertoire will allow you to analyze your game like you never thought possible. In future articles, I’ll provide short tutorials for the software mentioned below. But for now, let’s just get to know them and the capabilities of each tool.
This program should go without saying but if you’re new to online poker, it’s the absolute most essential poker tool to have. PokerTracker 4 delivers the edge you need to focus and improve your game while simplifying your online playing experience. It comes with many bells and whistles but it’s bread and butter is its database tools and HUD, allowing for deep analysis of hands as well as exploitation of opponent’s tendencies. PokerTracker 4 supports all limits in your favorite format of Cash Games, SNGs, or MTTs and is the best game tracking choice for Holdem and Omaha. Alternatively, you can try HoldemManger, however, PokerTracker has the slight edge in features and performance.
If you remember PokerStove, you’ve been around online poker for a while and most likely know about Equilab. On the surface, Equilab looks like just another equity calculator. And while it does just that, it also has a great built-in feature that allows you to test your equity intuition. If you haven’t used Equilab before, stop reading now and go download it because this is a tool you should be using EVERY day when analyzing hands. The premium version, Power Equilab, is available for $49.95 annually and includes several great features that aren’t included with the free version.
Here’s a software tool that lets you make better all-in decision in NL Hold’em by showing you exactly the right times when to go all-in given specific ranges and stack sizes. With ALL IN Expert, you enter information about a given situation (pot size, stack size, etc.), then make some estimations about your opponent’s range, and let the software do the rest. It’s a great analysis tool that cuts out any complicated calculations. And best of all, it’s free!
Flopzilla is a poker calculator that has been designed to let you quickly and easily figure out how a range hits a board. Just enter a preflop range and board texture and FlopZilla will work out for you how often that range hits hands like top pair, middle pair, a flush draw, a gutshot, etc. The interface is designed to be quick, easy to use and intuïtive. The calculations themselves are so fast that a “calculate” button is not even necessary. Just make any change and the results will instantly adjust.
BPC FlopZilla Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Instead of having to select one range then click calculate to wait for answers, Combonator allows you to quickly select and divide a hand range into one or more groups using manual and automatic selections. See equities, combination counts, and hand value breakdowns instantly. Combonator will help you learn flop textures, how ranges split up on boards, and how equities shift on various turns and rivers.
This analysis tool allows you to analyze how often certain ranges hit two pairs, trips or sets and to find out how often those hand strengths win. You can also calculate your expected value or fold equity in various lines and even import hand histories. Another powerful function is the automatized calculation of expectation value and equity in different spots on each street. PokerRanger is very similar to FlopZilla, in that it’s built to calculate equities of various range matchups. The difference is that PokerRanger combines all the best features of both Flopzilla and Combonator and improves on them.
This is a true must-have for any serious tournament player. With ICMIZER, you can master your preflop strategy based on ICM theory and the ChipEV model with a user-friendly preflop Nash calculator, time-tested and used by thousands of players worldwide. ICMIZER is the most robust tool when it comes to GTO calculations and visualizing a wide range of equities in tournaments.
Here’s another tool for Nash Equilibrium approximations for push/fold and raise/3bet situations. It has flexible, fully editable hand ranges, advanced equity models, quick analysis of entire sessions with its convenient hand importer and is supported by all major operating systems and online poker sites. It also includes the infamous Malmuth-Harville ‘ICM’ and MTT/MTSNG ‘ICM’ equity models, as well as Future Game Simulation (FGS) and ChipEv model.
This tool is artificial intelligence-based software for NL Hold’em. It has learned to play NL game, from heads-up to 10-max, and knows how to play with a short stack all the way to 400bb deep. Through several modes of learning, PokerSnowie provides a fun way to train yourself to become more balanced and less exploitable against any type of opponent. By using this tool, you will surely raise overall proficiency but also your enjoyment of the game.
This tool uses cutting-edge mathematics to find game theory optimal (GTO) strategies for real-world poker situations. Set up the flop, turn, and river scenarios by entering hand ranges for each player and GTO RangeBuilder will compute standard GTO lines for every hand in every situation. Learning how to apply GTO to improve your win rate has never been easier with this tool.
PioSolver is GTO RangeBuilder on steroids. It’s the most advanced GTO software available and provides a level of insight that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, and its cost reflects that. With PioSolver, you can solve games from the turn or river and find perfect bet sizes at any point. It also exposes the entire solution tree with exact ranges, expected values, and strategies and gets to near-perfect Nash equilibrium in seconds.
