Oddly enough I think you are asking one of the most fundamental questions about the game today, perhaps not even realizing it. There are certainly two camps on this one and I will give you my opinion from my side, so remember there is another side so take it for what its worth.
That being said, I am a pro software guy. I don't use it because I think there is an easy answer in it or that it gives me a magical edge, but I do believe that it helps augment my ability to capture all of the details about what is happening at a table and to put it into a digestible/manageable form that I can use to help my decision making process. I have used PT3 and I now use HEM (after an unfortunate PC failure I thought I would give it a whirl and I like it) and I can say that they pretty much do the same thing from a HUD perspective, but HEM is nicer on the backend, simpler analysis. Another program that I have added to my aresenal which I am very happy with is Note Caddy. This little program goes through and adds notes on players that I find are very complimentary to my own notes and are extremely useful in helping me understand players and what their tendencies may be. During the course of play I find it personally very difficult to take as detailed notes as I want to and this really helps me accomplish this.
So there are my thougths, I am a pro-software guy but I am a firm believer that it isn't a crutch, but a tool and it should be used as such. It will not be the magic 8-ball of poker, but there is a lot of powerful tools that will make your arsenal more deadly when brought to bear correctly (or so is my humble opinion 🙂 ).
July 3, 2010
You can easily play tournaments and win without a HUD but you should have one of these databases just so you can analyze your own play and keep records away from the tables.
The $90 is worth it just to replay your tournaments and see how many leaks you have that you don't notice in real time and it'll make its money back in a single deep run.
June 22, 2010
I have PT3 on my Macs and Hold'em manager on my Windows based machines. I believe it is helpful but as lespaul mentioned a lot of people use it as a crutch sometimes and will make bad decisions without a big enough sample size. I play games both with it on and off. I do think it is a valuable tool for learning after the game with statistics, you can find spots were you are spewing. It is a tool and used right it will help you to improve but just having it will not increase your skill. I think it is well worth the investment for post-game analysis. Check out the free trials and hit us up the nation with any questions.
"Your either in Sheen's Korner or your with the trolls."
Very importand imo! Any info that helps you make better decisions in poker is a must. Poker is all about an edge right? I will quote Cracker9ball from the TPE chat, “if you are not using everything available to help you play better poker, you are ****ing up.” That says it all. GLGL!
Ive had and used HEM for about a year or more. I use it but use it more for reviewing tendancies of myself as well as replaying pots and tournaments. Of course I use the HUD but i dont rely on it purely. IE if im on BTN and see the SB and BB run 9/2 and 4/2 over 25 hands, ill raise a wide percentage of hands, however if UTG+2 opens and he is 33/14 over 25 hands i wont necessarily 3bet him that wide.
I recommend going the route i did. Signed up for rakeback and after raking $100 I got HEM and 3 months membership to Cardrunners for free. I only really did it for the HEM as I hardly used Cardrunners due to lack of MTT content.
hawkeyeK9 said:
I would recommend rakebackpros.com… that is what i use and they are great. They pay u every Friday. I didn't get it till after i already had accounts also. They explain what to do on the website. GLGL!
I don't mean to hijack this post, but is there any similar site for an existing Stars acct?
A HUD is not essential, but it is hugely beneficial. I don't get people who want every stat visible to them, since this just complicates matters and in most cases they are not useful, but if you can just have VPIP/PFR/3-bet then you get a very good picture of how someone plays.
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