Poker Software Evaluation: Poker Academy Pro 2.0
Developed by BioTools, Inc., Poker Academy Pro hit the market where (much like the poker book and DVD industries) a number of poorly designed and produced titles had already come before it. Their approach is “most of us learn best by doing”. So the theory is, the more hands you play, the better you’ll become. Sounds about right to me.
Poker Academy offer’s a bevy of AI opponents to play against in a vast number of different sceanario’s, and while granted playing against a computer is different than playing against a real person, you’ll be amazed at how much you can learn by just playing against the computer, researching your mistakes after the hand is played out, and being able to correct your play right on the spot, for again, free. If knowledge is power, than Poker Academy is lighting in a bottle.
So those looking for quick answers on percentages, odds and so forth, Poker Academy offers up the “Showdown Calculator”, where you can select up to ten players, set their cards to any two you want (Or even unknown to you). You can then set the board (Flop, Turn, River) to any real or unknown cards, and then set Poker Academy to run all possible combinations, going through all of the unknown cards, and then letting you know how many times each player will win, lose or tie each hand. You set a large number of unknown cards, and try out a hundred thousand different possibilities, experience that would require years of live sit-down poker to even begin to compare to having that probable information.
This is particularly useful if you’re a No Limit player, where frequently you will be in the position to move All In or call an All In from another player. Using the Showdown Calculator, I was able to easily recall my percentages of winning the showdown in a real game, and this allowed for me to make the best decision the majority of the time, which really is the only secret to winning in poker.
Other tools include a Hand Evaluator, which analyzes any current hand you load up and then look at its specifics, allowing you to see its mathematical strengths and weaknesses, as well as information on how tight/loose the AI is playing and how that affects the probable strength of your hand. Running a quick simulation with the Hand Evaluator will allow you to see a large combination of future board and hole cards, so that you can figure out how many times your expected to win, lose or tie.
For the more detail oriented player like myself, you’ll find use in the Player Statistics window. Here I was able to monitor my progress and was able to determine if my play was improving in short growths, or steadily over time. Using the Statistic’s window I was also able to track abnormalities in my play, like when a AI opponent sucked out on me at the river, which made me play rather “on tilt” poker afterwards, which of course lead to a dent in my bankroll. Being able to micro-manage my poker career to this extent is what in the real world makes the difference between players that make money for a living, and those that play for a hobby, and lose.
Combine all of this with that the fact that you can use Poker Academy for all current forms of Windows (98/Me/NT/2000/XP) and event Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), a unlimited amount of bots and AI opponents to play against, and tracking and analytical tools that will expose every strength and weakness of your game, I can strongly recommend that any player serious about playing for a living, or any player in general that wants to turn their game around from a losing hobby to a prosperous venture needs to pick up a copy immediately.
By: Chris Iaquinta
