Best Rated Poker Calculator Products
Tournament Indicator
The best new Poker Calculator for 2007 this innovative thinking-man's calculator is designed specifically for tournaments which had never before been attempted. Ingenious indicators fill out this product along with profiling and MZone categories. Use this tool and watch Marty Smith's MZone Video series and you got a new attitude for tournaments that will get you in the money more often and deeper in the money.
Full Tournament Indicator Review
Poker Office
PokerOffice 2 is an excellent resource tool that allows a player to improve his game while developing the opportunity to compete with the knowledge of a more seasoned player. But this recently updated version (2) program is far from being a poker assist tool for novices as its wares have been touted for some time now amongst many experienced players. You rarely find anything but positive comments about Poker Office it in the forums and that speaks volumes to be sure. In recommending Poker Office to players who want to improve their game, and take itseriously enough, you may find some of these features as beneficial as I have to my game. Full Poker Office Review
Holdem Indicator
The quintessential empirical poker calculator that neatly displays profiling and odds indicators while keeping track of your opponents' tendencies while appointing them with an easy to identify icon. Simply the best of the empiricals and very handy for collecting data while you are waiting for a seat at a table. Marty Smith has some free Holdem Indicator strategy videos as well that will intorduce you to some of the powerful features of Holdem Indicator.
Full Holdem Indicator Review
Smart Buddy
This is a great tool for those ring game rounders that want to know where their favorite opponents are playing. Add any player you like from a wide range of poker sites to a specific list you create in Smart Buddy. Then watch when they go on and offline even if you aren't logged into that poker site. Also shows you some basic table statistics where they have seated.
Full Smart Buddy Review
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Full Tilt Poker
One of the best sites on the internet now in terms of action, features, tournament prizes and playing points. Everybody plays there, even Americans which means there are many fish swimming around all times of the day. Sunday tournaments are huge and there are satellites to WSOP and WPT events as well as FTOPS running all the time. You can also chat with resident pros the likes of Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon and Jennifer Harmon.
Big Hand Blunder: Greg Raymer vs Aran Kanter WSOP 2005
Well its not often I get to critique a pros blunder, but this one stood out as a whopper, which turned the tables at the 2005 WSOP and propelled a young internet player to the final table in place of Greg Raymer who was on a miraculous path to challenge for the WSOP main title for the second consecutive year.
Down to 26 players, Raymer is one of the chip leaders with around 4 million. With the blinds a very comfortable 20 and 40 thousand, he picks up KK in middle position and puts in a raise to 100 thousand. Does that seem small to you? It does to me, even though it is a well concealed 2 and a half times the blind, it literally invites a draw out. Raising that small, compared to your stack in an internet tournament is tantamount to limping in. What it also negates is being able to judge what your opponent may have later in the hand when it could become crucial, as it did in this case.
With a small raise you are inviting low pairs, low connecters, weak suited aces, weak suited kings, and unpaired big cards. With such a variety of possibilities, you are essentially playing blind, and hoping your kings hold up. Kanter calls in the cutoff followed by Ivey and Hechem folding the blinds. The pot is around 300 thousand including the antes. The flop comes 6c, 3h, 5d. Raymer could look at this as a good flop, assuming Kanter called with big cards. Myself, I see straight chemistry, and definitely something that could jive with a call of ace, 4 suited or 8, 7 suited. When there is chemistry on the board you need to get your opponent out. If he calls a big bet, or re-raises, I am apt to let the hand go if I am playing another big stack. If my opponent is significantly shorter, I will put him all in without fear of jeopardizing my tournament.
Raymer follows up his wimpy preflop bet with an even more pathetic flop bet of 150 thousand. When assessing this flop, you need to bet big, and cut your losses with that. With an over bet here, you either eliminate the danger, or you determine that you are beat, or on way to being beat. But this is also your stop-loss bet. Once a reaction is taken by your opponent, you will know to fold, or check it down, save for other intelligence factors. Curiously, Raymer moves rather quickly through this hand, failing to assess this game critical intersect properly. Clearly, at this point Raymer failed to realized he was not the favorite in this hand anymore. Turn card is 7h. This is a great card for Kanter as it gives him his heart draw, and puts a scare card out there him to take it at the river. Raymer simply seems not to notice.
The odd thing about this hand is that Raymer was in fact, ahead all the way. Kanter played this hand like an internet rookie calling the flop bet with only a back door flush draw, and over cards. He could have been planning to take this pot from Raymer with a bluff on the river, but that doesnt explain his rash all in call after reraising Raymers 300 thousand turn bet. But when Raymer does make his turn bet and gets reraised, in that spot, with my tourney on the line, and that board, I am out of the hand, even if I still feel I am ahead. It is simply too risky, and too probably that your kings are beat. You think I am over analyzing? I have laid down aces in this spot, several times in money play in online tournaments. Maybe just a couple thousand was on the line, not millions!
I take this situation to reiterate several things here. Play back the hand, and figure your opponents possible hole cards. Investigate the flop by knowing what the nuts are at all times. Do not go up against another stack in marginal situations while moving up the pay scale. Raymers actions here would have been perfectly fine if he were up against someones last 700 thousand chips, but as it turned out, and I quote Norman Chad from ESPN, Kanter makes an horrendous play and puts a big hurt on Raymer. The heart came for Kanter who should have really never been in the hand, but his awful play was surpassed by Raymer in that particular exchange.