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Saturday, March 05, 2005 

How to use Calculatem and Poker Office successfully


Introduction



This article will give readers advice on how to optimise Texas Calculatem in conjunction with Poker Office. I will be updating this article on a regular basis as I learn more about both the tools and the game, so please don't be surprised if you come back and find a few changes here and there.

Poker Office is free for players who open new accounts with Empire Poker or Noble Poker. Visit the Poker Office website for more information.

Texas Calculatem is free for player who open a new account with either Bodog Poker (and deposit $20) or Paradise Poker (and deposit $50). Click Here for more information.

Before risking their own funds on Texas Calculatem's recommendations, players can test it for free using real money by openning a new account with either Royal Vegas Poker and/or Crazy Vegas Poker, and claiming their $10 no deposit bonuses.

Both of these tools are therefore high affordable.

UPDATE ON 17th July 2005

If MBO / 2 >= OTW then raise (or bet if it's been checked to you)

changed to

If MBO / 4 >= OTW then raise (or bet if it's been checked to you).

The change was made because the OTW takes into account hitting cards on the turn or river. I therefore need to be doubly confident of winning before I want to bet/raise.

Update 11th August 2005

Removed the configuration image and typed in the values instead. This was because the gif kept on getting deleted.

Texas Calculatem


Texas Calculatem


Texas Calculatem with Auto-Read is an Odds Calculator that will watch you play, offer instant odds and advice as you play, and therefore give you a significant edge when playing Poker online. One of its best features is that it will automatically read most online Poker rooms, removing the need for users to manually input every hand as it appears.

The Texas Calculatem website describes it as:

Texas Calculatem™ with Auto-Read watches you play, offers instant odds and advice throughout the game, and gives you a considerable edge in the fast-paced online environment. This poker odds calculator is an absolute must for anyone who plays at real money tables. It is also a valuable teaching aid for people wanting to learn the basics of game strategy.

Texas Calculatem's™ intuitive interface shows you your exact situation at a glance. The table, advice bar, and odds chart give you just enough information without being too overwhelming. A novice may choose to simply follow the advice given. More experienced users will find the additional info, including odds of making certain hands, odds of one of your opponents making certain hands, # outs, pre-flop hand strength & Sklansky score, very useful. In the fast paced online environment, it is essential to have a calculator watching along with you.

Under certain conditions, Texas Calculatem can provide strong advice, especially to novices who may find it hard to count all their outs and/or see all the possibilities of their hands. From my current experience, Texas Calculatem's main strengths and weakness are as follows:

Strengths



  • The pre-flop play is fairly solid when the settings are tightenned up. According my Poker Office records Texas Calculatem can play a tight-aggressive pre-flop game.

  • Texas Calculatem can quickly calculate the odds of various draws and give you the probabilities of various draws.


Weaknesses



  • The post-flop advice can be very weak. It often fails to recommend a raise when the pot odds suggest otherwise, and on other occasions will limp with a weak hand when it should fold. I therefore use a strategy based on Texas Calculatem's estimated Odds to Win. This has proved fairly successful so far.



Optimal Settings for Texas Calculatem


The first step users must take once Texas Calculatem has been installed is to update the settings. To do this go to Options and use the configuration below:

50% Small Blind
94% Big Blind
93% Just lleft of Big Blind
83% Dealer Button
90% Other Position

Set "Odds Display" to Ratio, as this make comparing MBO with the Pot Odds simpler.

The "watch fold depth" setting estimates what cards players were not holding based on the community cards showing at the time they folded. This uses up extra CPU time, but most modern computers should be able to handle this without significant degradation in performance. It should therefore be turned on.

The "Pre Flop Advice" needs to be set to "Tight", and the "Set minimum playable hands, by position" checkbox should be selected too. I have used the slider settings from the "hands to open the betting with a raise" table on page 135 of Carson.

These changes tighten up the pre flop game significantly, though I personally use a certain amount of descretion, especially if Texas Calculatem recommends "call unraised only".

I leave the "Post Flop Advice" on "Avg", and usually take its advice with a pinch of salt, though I always glance at it before making a tough decision to see if I'm missing anything obvious.

How to use Texas Calculatem effectively



Abbreviations



PO = Pot Odds - you'll need to calculate these yourself.
OTW = Odds To Win - this is the estimated provided by Texas Calculatem.
MBO = Maximum Bet Odds. This figure is equal to the number of opponents active in the current hand.

Pre-Flop



If Texas Calculatem tells you to fold then you should generally fold pre-flop.
However, if you are in the small blind position and the pot odds are greater than your OTW (Odds to Win) then you should consider calling. This is because the small blind does not have to pay as much to call.

If Texas Calculatem's advice is to call unraised then you should
- raise if no one has raised.
- call if someone has raised.

If Texas Calculatem gives any other advice then the settings are tight enough for you to keep on re-raising pre-flop.

Post-Flop



For post-flop play, I prefer to use a combination of Texas Calculatem's OTW estimate and the Pot Odds. This strategy has given me superior results as it is less vulnerable to aggression and bluff raises.

Concise Strategy



To decide what to do, work your way down the list below until a condition is met.

If MBO / 4 >= OTW then raise (or bet if it's been checked to you).
If PO / 2 >= OTW then bet (or call if it's been bet or raised to you)
If PO >= OTW then check (or call if it's been bet or raised to you)
If none of the above conditions are met then fold.

Explanation



The strategy raises if the odds are significantly in favour of the player, but only calls if the bet is still profitable. Assuming that Texas Calculatem's estimates are accurate, this is simply a straight forward statistical arbitrage strategy, applied to the game of Poker.

Using Poker Office to pick a suitable table



Free Poker Office


Poker Office is a Poker Tracker program that allows you to track all of your opponents actions as well as your own game, while you are playing, without any need for hand histories or user input. It works with a few Party Poker skins such as Empire Poker and Coral Poker (also known as Eurobet), and their developers are working on making it compatible with a wider range of Poker rooms. It has a Live Tracker function that will track up to 4 poker tables in real time. The Live Advisor function will then present the player with useful probabilities and the characteristics of the opponents based on their historical actions.

An effective method of using Poker Office, is to open up 4 tables you're potentially interested in (e.g. $0.50/$1.00 fixed limit tables), and then using the Live Tracker monitor them for desirable characteristics. After about 30 minutes Poker Office will have collected enough information for you to decide whether or not you wish to play at any of the tables analysed. Any table that's passive and with a high number of players seeing the flop would be a good place to start.

For example, if you find a table with 3 or more players who frequently see over 50% of flops, then it's time to sit down and make some money!

Poker Office Free Trial



At time of writing, the Poker Office evaluation version only lets users track 300 hands. This is not nearly enough to gain any sort of insite into it's usefulness. It is therefore recommendable to acquire Poker Office via the Empire Poker offer.

Useful Links



# posted by The Edge @ 3:56 PM  
Click here to view or post comments

Comments:

 

# tHREAt_69 wrote at 5:00 AM :

Just wanna say thanks.. Been reading you blog for the past couple days. I was using Calculatem and Poker Office. But I had the settings on Calculatem set to Tight and Tight with no special settings elsewhere. I decided to give the settings you had shown on your blog. Put in $100 at Empire. Now up to $600 less than a week later. The first few days I was playing $1/$2 and was holding my own but still going down slow. Then went to a $2/$4 game and everything took off. Up $550+ in 3 days playing your settings.
 

# threat_69 wrote at 2:45 PM :

Finally had my first losing day yesterday. Lost a whole $30. Still up. Thats what counts. Cant have winning days everyday.
 

# Anonymous wrote at 1:39 AM :

I have the most recent version of Calculatem. I changed the settings you recommend but it seems VERY tight especially Pre Flop. Is it possible that your settings may not be as accurate on the newer version or am I just having bad luck?
 

# mwilding1981 wrote at 5:08 PM :

HI,

Just found you blog and it has been very interesting. I however want to ask a few questions! first of all I am going to try this on Tourney's have u ever? I am assuming you r playing NL am i right? Can I have clarification on how to calculate MBO please?

Also I am prob doing this wrong but I had an K7o when I tried this out and flopped aa 2,10,K with 11 outs. sSo my po were 23% my OTw was 53% therefore according to you because my po is not >= OTW i should fold!!!!! Cant be right surely?

Cheers
 

# sean wrote at 2:07 AM :

I'm trying to set up Texas Calculatem like you suggested, but unfortunately I don't have a copy of the book you used to set the minimum playable hands. Is there anyway you can just tell me where to put the sliders?
 

# The Edge wrote at 12:00 PM :

Sean, I've added a screenshot to this article. You can use it to help set the sliders.
 

# The Edge wrote at 12:05 PM :

mwilding1981,

I have used Calculatem in tourneys, but find it much more effective in fixed limit holdem cash games. The reason is that mistakes are more punishing in NL tourneys, and so a short term run of bad luck is more likely to wipe you out.

MBO is the "maximum bet odds" - the maximum possible odds you can get on a bet. It is equal to the number of remaining opponents in the current betting round.

Regarding your questions of Odds, I set my "Odds Display" to "Ratio (3:1)". The strategy on this page is designed for that configuration.

Regards,

The Edge.
 

# FuJao wrote at 6:26 AM :

Two Questions.

1) How do you calculate Pot Odds ?

2) Is odd to win same as card odds ?

A quick calculation card outs that I used is 4x total outs on the turn and 2x total outs on the river. This gives me a close enough approximate.

BTW, I'm a newbie.

Thanks.....
 

# The Edge wrote at 8:03 PM :

Pot Odds: From http://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/pot-odds.html we have
The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1. If your chance of having the best hand is at least one out of twelve, you should call. Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush. If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct.

Odds to Win: No, these are not the same as card odds. Card odds are the odds of you drawing a card to hit a better hand. The "Odds to Win" is an estimate of your chance of winning. For example, if you have AA and the flop is a ragged 2,6,J unsuited the you'd estimate that you have two outs to hit 3 of a kind. You'd have odds of around 14:1 to hit your set by the river, but calculatem would estimate your "Odds to Win" to be 2.37:1 in a ten player game. That is - you would be 2.37:1 to win, and this probability is irrespective of whether or not you hit your set (as you could win unimproved).
 

# Alex wrote at 10:41 AM :

Hiya

Love your blog!
I'm also having problems opening your Calculatem slider options picture (link goes to unavailable page). Any chance you could email it to me? No problem if too busy :-)
programmeplanner@aol.com

Cheers, Alex
 

# The Edge wrote at 7:03 PM :

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you like my blog.

I've typed the settings into this post instead of using a gif.

Good luck!
 

# lain21us wrote at 12:05 AM :

Okay, this doesn't make any sense to me. Say you are in a 3-handed pot and it is your turn to act. If I understand this correctly, MBO=2?

Suppose my odds to win are 4:1. Now, going down the list we calculate:

MBO / 4 = 2/4 = .5

My OTW is .2, so since .5 >= .2, I should bet. However, this makes no sense, since I'm clearly on the losing end of the bet with only 20% pot equity. Can you please explain this better for me?
 

# The Edge wrote at 8:16 AM :

lain21us,

If your odds to win are 4:1 then you need to compare the 0.5 with the 4 from 4:1. 0.5<4 so you would not bet.

Please let me know if this makes sense.
 

# lain21us wrote at 1:54 PM :

That clears things up nicely, and thank you very much for your prompt reply. I've been waiting all weekend for Calculatem to activate my license, and I'm looking forward to giving your method a shot. I'm curious, do you usually play 6-max tables or full ring games? If you play both, does your method seem to be more successful with one than the other?
 

# The Edge wrote at 3:35 PM :

I always use Texas Calculatem in 10 player ring games. Short handed 6 player ring games require more psychological skills than 10 player games.

Try to find loose passive games. Sitting down at a table where 60% of players see the flop is a good start.

Good luck!
 

# qitrader wrote at 3:49 PM :

I still don't understand how the Pot odds and Cards odds is used to our advantage.

Why is MBO divided by 4?

thanks
 

# Anonymous wrote at 5:47 PM :

awesome information. how has it been doing for those using it, including yourself?
 

# Randy wrote at 10:19 AM :

Hi,

I love this program and thanks the great advice on the settings.

http://www.texas-holdem-poker-guide.net/
 

# Anonymous wrote at 2:42 PM :

Hi there,
I use Poker Office 2 and "Holdem Indicator" rather than texas calculatem. Holdem indicator worls really well and has a really excelent display showing the probabilitiy of your opponents holdings it also has a really neat "you have the nuts" alert. The hole cards are also given an evaluation figure based on the average number of big blinds the hands lose or win. Playing only positive expectation hands. These evaluations change dramatically with position and number of players in the pot and seem to be fairly accurate. my overall profit loss statistics for a given starting hand match the EV value remarkably closely.


I find that Poker office is most useful for analysis of course but on the live table overlay I set mine to give detailed information about post flop play. The more aggressive the opponent the less weight you need to give to their raises. While conversely a player that is typically passive post flop raising hard definately means trouble if you dont have the nuts or very near. This is where a quick glance at the holdem indicator screen shows the probability of any hands higher than yours on the board and the odds of hands improving so you can better tune a raise to either tempt a bet at moderate to good odds or shut out a bet from an opponent.
The knowledge that a player is a serious aggressive over better after the flop can ensure you call bets that otherwise you would be driven off easily. because you always know the odds of the call you can always ensure you have the best of the wager on any hand and so combined with the knowledge of the relative agression passivity pre and post flop and turn you can avoid losing many big pots and maximize winning many. I have managed a comfortable 50 - 80 dollars profit per night over four hours at 25-50 and 50 -1 dollar tables with a maximum variance of only 60 dollars. The profit curve in poker office looks like a (somewhat rickety) staircase but the point is it is always going up week on week with the odd day of dip. once I reach 10,000 I will switch up to 2-4 and 3-6 tables. following Chris Ferguson's advise to maintain a 20 times max buy in margin in the bankroll.

Unlike fcmisc I find that more profit is achievable from aggressive loose players especially those that are agressiive pre flop and passive post flop.

Thanks for the interesting blog!

Scoot
 

# Anonymous wrote at 5:28 AM :

is there any chance of not paying to get the license for the calculatem?.....i want to try it out b4 i put money into it...if there is, or if someone wouldnt mind giving me theres that would be great

PS well done threat....i cant wait to start playing for cash as well...goin to be fun
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