I was perusing the various poker message boards this week and saw a topic I found intriguing. A new player asked the following question: “Honestly: is it wrong to play without Holdem Manager or PokerTracker?”
Both are fantastic tools. They help you get reads on your opponents during the game, plug leaks in between sessions, and can assist you in tracking your bankroll. Many players swear by them, so the use of the word “wrong” in the subject line of the thread was interesting to me. Is it wrong to play without any sort of hand tracker software? Of course not.
While I am all for hand tracking software, it is completely understandable that it wouldn’t necessarily be very useful to everyone. I don’t feel there is any real reason why a casual player should feel obligated to spend money on a software package that is not really going to enhance his poker playing experience.
Many of us who are dialed into the poker community are serious about our poker. We multi-table almost every day. We want to win as much money as we can to buy fun things and treat ourselves to nice vacations. And, of course, many people play for a living. But the majority of players are not like this. Most just play for fun at the micro-stakes tables. A $10 profit in any given night is a reason to pop open a bottle of their finest bubbly.
For those penny-ante casual players, spending anywhere from $45 to $150 is simply cost prohibitive. That is a huge chunk of change for someone buying in for $10 or less. You still might say, “But having all that information at their fingertips will help them get better.” True, but most people don’t care. They just want to play for an hour and enjoy themselves. They don’t want to study and learn all about poker theory.
To most online players, the game is like Scrabble. They take pride in being good, but it’s just a leisurely game. Something might be learned in any given match that will help them down the road, but in the end, they just play for the enjoyment and maybe a night’s worth of bragging rights.
For most serious players, the Heads-Up Display (HUD) feature of hand analysis software is indispensable, as it gives them a snapshot of what kinds of players they are up against. But honestly, I think most casual players would be confused and intimidated by a HUD.
Some of the more hardcore players may laugh at someone who would have trouble using a HUD, but look, poker is an involved enough game; tons of numbers floating around each player’s seat can be distracting and confusing. And besides, if you don’t have a speedy computer with enough memory, a HUD can really make your machine start chugging. Take it from me – my laptop was cursing me out when I first started using a HUD.
The original poster mentioned that not using a HUD and instead relying on his own two eyes and brain to make the proper reads would help him in his live game. I can’t really argue with that. If you rely heavily on a tool online that you won’t have live, your live game will suffer. Even if it doesn’t suffer, it surely won’t be helped.
When I look at poker hand analysis software such as Holdem Manager or PokerTracker, I see them for what they are: software tools that serve a particular purpose for each individual. While I find them immensely useful, not everybody will.
I use tax preparation software because I find it useful and it meets my needs just fine. Others prefer taking all their financial documents to an accountant. Others might prefer to do their own taxes with pencil and paper. That one I find a little silly in the year 2011, but hey, if it works for them, then who am I to argue?
Poker software is the same way – casual, single table players or micro-stakes players who have no desire to move up in stakes probably have no reason to use it. Some players may find it useful, but only for the post-game analysis. And, of course, many players love all the features this kind of software offers, from HUDs to graphs to bankroll tracking.
It’s not “wrong” to not use hand analysis software. Like in most things in poker, it all depends on the situation.
Has anyone ever brought up the issue that this software could be viewed as cheating as should be banned? I mean come on, play the game straight up.
Of course it’s cheating, anybody with a tiny piece of brain knows this, even the poker sites like fulltilt and pokerstars know this, BUT,,,,, when thier getting a piece of the profits from the software thats sold why would they ban it??? money rules!!!
I guess it’s wrong to look for honesty in players when your sitting at a poker table.—I guess the word bluff also means it’s ok to cheat for some players.—I would like to think not all players do this and do play the game straight up!—I don’t have to worry no more being I live in the USA,—so good luck to those who continue to grind it out,–but remember luck has little to do with it!!—LOL