"How To Use An Odds Calculator To Win More Money At
Online Poker..."
Do you use a poker odds calculator?
I sure hope so. Odds calculators are
a CRUCIAL part of winning money at online poker. Here
are a just a few ways an odds calculator can QUICKLY
and EASILY improve your game:
UNDERSTAND YOUR STARTING HAND STRENGTH...
The biggest mistake made by most card
players is playing TOO MANY HANDS. For example, tell
me if this thought has ever crossed your mind...
"It's worth calling the flop even though
I have bad cards-- because who knows, I might catch
three-of-a-kind... or two pair... or something really
good!"
Every poker player has had this thought
from time to time. Even the pros.
But the problem is, thinking like this
will cause you to LOSE MONEY in the long run. And the
reason is because of the ODDS. Even though you might
make a "great hand" once in every twenty flops, those
other nineteen hands will cause you to lose MORE money
than you won.
But here's the thing:
The right odds calculator will show
you EXACTLY how strong or weak your starting hand is...
based on a PERCENTAGE and will show you the appropriate
"Sklansky Starting Hand Group". What this means is you
will IMMEDIATELY know how good your hand is, as soon
as the cards come out.
For example, at a 10-man table pocket
Aces has a hand rank of 100% and is GROUP 1. Pocket
two's has a hand rank of 63.3%, which is in GROUP 7.
(This is for hands to the river.)
But let's be honest... understanding
how "good" those hands are is EASY. You don't need an
odds calculator for that.
But let me ask you, which of THESE
hands do you think has the highest "Hand Rank"?
a.) Queen-9 suited
b.) Ace-5 suited
c.) Jack-10 suited
d.) Ace-Queen offsuit
(Here's a hint... the strongest hand
is NOT options "b" or "d"...)
Give up? Are you surprised that A-Q
wasn't the strongest? Well, that's just ONE of the ways
an odds calculator can be incredibly useful... you'll
know the exact hand strength right away and can make
a more educated (translation = MORE PROFITABLE) decision
before the flop.
KNOW YOUR CHANCES OF HITTING AN
"OUT"...
As you probably know, "outs" are cards
that will help you improve your existing hand.
For example, let's say you're holding
5-6 and the flop comes out 3-4-Q. That means you need
either a two or a seven to make a straight...
Since there are four two's and four
seven's in the deck, you have EIGHT OUTS.
Odds calculators will show you how
many outs you have at any given time... and also give
you the PERCENTAGE chance you have of getting them.
In addition, a REALLY good odds calculator will "break
it down" by each hand...
For example, in the scenario above
with the straight draw, let's say you ALSO had a spade
flush draw. That means you have more than eight outs,
since one more spade will help you.
Premium odds calculators will show
you the exact percentage chance you have of making the
straight, the exact percentage chance of making the
flush, and the TOTAL percentage for the two...
This is a huge time-saver for you.
Online poker is fast-paced... and it's not practical
to sit there and do advanced calculations and long division
while you're trying to make a decision.
PLAY YOUR POSITION MORE EFFECTIVELY...
In Texas Holdem poker, positioning
is everything. You want to play MORE hands with good
positioning and FEWER hands with bad positioning. It's
that simple.
The odds calculator I recommend allows
you to ADJUST your starting hand settings depending
on where you're sitting at the table. For instance,
if you're on the button (the dealer position, which
is the best position to be), the program will automatically
set the "Hand Rank Requirement" to 50%...
...So if you pick up a hand that has
a Hand Rank LOWER than 50%, it will recommend that you
fold.
But if you're UNDER THE GUN (the player
to the left of the big blind, which is the worst position
to be), the program will automatically set the "Hand
Rank Requirement" to 85%... so the software will make
"tighter" recommendations while you're in this position.
Make sense?
Now here's the real beauty of this:
IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS MORE QUICKLY...
Most poker players improve their skills
over YEARS of hard work, practice, and study. This is
the slow and painful way.
Using an odds calculator ACCELERATES
the learning process dramatically. Here's why:
As you're playing online poker, the
odds calculator will automatically compute the odds,
hand strength, percentage chance on outs, and so on.
You'll use this information, make better decisions,
and win more money.
Then here's what will happen...
In a matter of months, you'll find
yourself "knowing" the odds and hand strength WITHOUT
looking at the software! It will become "natural" to
you... because you'll be seeing the same types of hands
so frequently.
Of course, you'll still want to use
the odds software for the more advanced calculations.
But you'll be AMAZED when you sit down
at the poker table with your buddies, see the flop,
and then blurt out:
"He has an 19% chance of making the
flush on the river."
Your friends will think you're a poker
genius! Because the truth is, learning the odds ISN'T
about learning the MATH... it's about SEEING and PLAYING
with the numbers in front of you frequently enough.
This is how the pros do it... and this
is how YOU can do it with the right tool.
GET "ODDS-BASED" RECOMMENDATIONS...
Ultimately, the point is to reach a
conclusion about WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IN A GIVEN SITUATION...
BASED ON THE ODDS.
You and I both know that "odds" are
only a PART of the game. They may be a BIG part, but
they're still just a part. There's bluffing strategies,
betting patterns, and many other factors that will affect
your decisions...
Now let me show you the odds calculator
that I use when I play online poker. It's called "Texas
Calculatem". One of the great things is that it gives
you "odds-based" recommendations...
In other words, it take the outs, percentages,
ratios, number of players, starting hand strength, and
everything else... compile it all together... and then
spit out a "decision" about what you should do.
So while you're playing online poker,
this program will run near the bottom of your screen
and say something like, "Check" or "Fold" or "Call Unraised
Only" or "Raise and Re-Raise"... and so on.
And here's another reason why I like
Texas Calculatem so much:
ADJUST YOUR PLAYING STYLE AUTOMATICALLY...
Texas Calculatem lets you adjust your
"style" according to your preferences and table strategy.
For instance, let's say you're playing
a 10-player Sit and Go. Well, at the beginning you want
to play extremely tight because you just want to SURVIVE
as the other players start knocking themselves out (after
all, Sit and Go's pay out for the top three finishers,
so there's no need to risk many chips in the beginning).
So what I do is set the "Pre-Flop Slider"
to a very tight setting.
BUT... when you DO play a hand in the
early stages of a Sit and Go, you want to play it AGGRESSIVELY.
Especially if it's a really good hand like a high pocket
pair. Because the reality is, there are a lot of "loose
manics" at the Sit and Go's who will call anything...
so you want to increase your chip stack by taking advantage
of them.
So in that situation, I set the "Post-Flop
Slider" to a more aggressive setting.
You see, with Texas Calculatem you
can adjust each of these settings without affecting
the other. And you can adjust them mid-game or any time
you want (I adjust mine back to more normal levels when
it gets down to six players in the Sit and Go).
Of course, it's the same way with Ring
Games and other tournaments. In a four player ring game
I like to play lots of starting hands and aggressively
"bully" my opponents... so I adjust the sliders to the
looser and more aggressive settings and "Bam!"... the
program adjusts its computations automatically.
AND... get this...
Texas Calculatem instantly adjusts
all of the odds and recommendations based on HOW MANY
PLAYERS are at the table. In ring games people are constantly
getting up, sitting out, coming in, etc... and in Sit
and Go's players are continuously being eliminated.
All of this makes it confusing to figure out which hands
to play and how to play them.
Calculatem adjusts everything AUTOMATICALLY.
You don't have to input anything, either. It "detects"
everything by itself.
Speaking of detection... that's something
else you need to be aware of:
DON'T BUY AN ODDS CALCULATOR WITHOUT
THESE FEATURES...
There are some KEY FEATURES that make
an odds calculator a very effective tool. But ironically,
MOST ODDS CALCULATORS don't have these features!
For instance, most odds calculators
make you "manually" type in what your cards are... what
the flop cards are... and so on.
This makes no sense. After all, you
can do the math faster than that!
Texas Calculatem was designed in a
way that requires NONE of your time or effort. It automatically
"attaches" to your poker game and detects your cards
and the cards on the table (from the flop, turn, and
river). You just sit back and focus on the game.
Obviously Texas Calculatem doesn't
read your OPPONENTS cards, though... since that information
is completely secured by the casino. (That sure would
make things easier, huh?)
Another great feature that Calculatem
has is called "Fold Depth". This basically uses "human
logic" to make the odds computations more accurate.
For instance, let's say the flop came out 7-7-3 and
two players folded.
Texas Calculatem "knows" that neither
of those two players folded the seven. (Duh!)
The reason this is important is because
it affects all of the ADVANCED calculations from that
point forward. Using the "human logic", Texas Calculatem
knows a more accurate percentage of WHERE the other
two sevens are... as well as all the other cards in
the deck.
The result is a program that is far
superior and more useful than any other on the market.
In fact, I've really only "scratched the surface" of
all the features that Texas Calculatem has... and all
the ways it can help you win more money at online poker.
Honestly, the question isn't whether
or not you need an odds calculator...
The question is: How can you afford
NOT to use one?
The cold hard truth is that many of
your opponents WILL be using Texas Calculatem... which
gives them the IMMEDIATE ADVANTAGE at the tables.
If you're only going to play poker
for "play money", then I guess it's OK. But if you're
playing for REAL MONEY, then you need to download Texas
Calculatem to your computer TODAY. Without it, you're
just another fish.
The best part is, Texas Calculatem
is FREE when you setup a new account at one of the partner
poker rooms...
So click this link, setup your account,
and download Texas Calculatem for FREE. You'll be winning
more money at online poker within the next five minutes...
See you at the tables!
