Ok so I realised when researching this last night that the reason no-one really answers this question anywhere anymore is  because the topic has been covered in depth previously many times, even here at tpe, tho you have 2 search way back for alot of it.

Anyway Chimp (pleased to meet you btw) I have done the research myself. Also for anyone else asking themselves this… my report:

(donations into Pokerstars account appreciated ty).

[Disclaimer: Please understand I am totally unfamiliar with both products, so I might be way out.] 

Surprisingly, to myself in any case, both programs are way more similar in functionality than I had previously assumed. Back in the day, SNG Wizard was the ICM/ Nash calculator de rigueur. I am extremely familiar with sngwiz, and it is an excellent product. Even now. 

It is amusing to me, because the author of ICMIZER is extremely customer-focussed. By which I mean he is always out there willing and open to answer any questions about his product. Whereas the author of sngwiz seems like a very serious and dour, mysterious… even malevolent(?) entity. Please understand, I know neither of these individuals personally. This is just the impression I have from the research into the programs I have undertaken. Initially, I was unsure whether sngwiz or icmizer was for me, so I did alot of research. Ultimately, I went for sngwiz, as it incorporated a “quiz mode”, whereby the software would give you situations, and you had to decide whether to push, fold or call. It is an excellent feature. 

But the author always seemed to be extremely unapproachable, and when he did interact with the forums, I sensed a…hmmm? How should I put it? Superior attitude. 

Look, I couldn’t care less whether he was Hitler’s whore’s Satan-worshipping bitch-child, but I do feel the marketing of icmizer meant it stole ground on sngwiz. Nobody seems to talk about sngwiz anymore.

Take my word for what its worth…sngwiz is an excellent investment. Also its a 1 off payment, none of this sub nonsense.

And I might be totally wrong, maybe icmizer’s man is a total dick, and sngwiz’s man is 100% cool. These were just my impressions.

Moving on to today. Now the question is between ICMIZER (2) and HRC. Both are ICM calculators. Apparently, most prefer HRC. Certainly HRC is the cheaper, pay for icmizer2 by the month and its quite expensive. 

Some said they preferred the user interface of icmizer, some of hrc.

Alot of guys said they preferred hrc because it was able to approximate GTO solutions. Don’t want to say more about that, because I don’t know about its GTO capabilities. Sounds a little far fetched to me as a student of game theory, but brighter minds attest to its capabilities. 

But for me, I am really almost sold on icmizer2’s quiz mode. Rather than labour for hours downloading this and approximating that, the software apparently sets up the parameters, and tests the user in different Nash/ICM situations. Looks absolutely bloody brilliant to me, and I am almost sold here.

But if you are trying to decide between the two, I am pretty certain you will be very happy with whatever choice you make. Both have excellent reviews, and are similar in scope and function. Probably, HRC is the more capable engine, but that quiz mode of ICMIZER2 just has me salivating.

OK so in the end I opted for HRC, mainly due to me downswinging hard these last months.

HRC is like a 180 man turbo reg’s wet dream.

It is very easy and intuitive to interact with.

I am simply studying push-fold straightforward spots, but apparently it can calculate non all-in 3bets and 4bets…although for the life of me I cannot see where the appropriate settings are to set it all up.

So I am starting with simpler spots. I keep a pen and paper next to me when I play, and highlight hands where I was unsure. I am getting some confidence returning as I find that almost every spot I investigate is extremely close. Sometimes though, I really get surprised by a range.

I spend hours setting up fictional simulations around bubble scenarios, and fiddle with the parameters to see what factors influence which outcomes.

I am like a kid in a candy store, and I expect this is just what I needed to cement a not insignificant +ROI in my 180 man turbos.

I am +ev in these games…but I am certainly not a crusher…more like a “crushee”, but I do make money from them. Hopefully with the aid of HRC I can use my long experience and new-found knowledge around ICM and Nash to begin to crush…finally!

I cannot recommend HRC enough.

Hey Smallcat…

Where to begin? 

I thought I knew something about poker before I joined TPE. I have realised since I joined how very limited my knowledge is, even of basic things. I have always used an ICM calculator, but quite honestly, due to time constraints and maybe a little laziness I mainly used the quiz mode of SNGwizard, I never really analysed hands with a heat map, except with my coach.

I figured before joining TPE that push/ fold was the strongest part of my game, having been a SNG player almost exclusively for years. I was possibly correct, but I have come to realise after using HRC alot recently, and talking on these forums, that I have huge holes in my push/ fold game even.

To answer your question specifically, I have been amazed as I play and am actively looking for spots where I am uncertain, just how often these spots come up where I am unsure. I have already written this year off as a potentially profitable year, and so I am concentrating on playing few tables and studying my game. If I encounter a spot where I am unsure, I note down the hand number and analyse it after. Usually the spot is extremely close, but I am surprised by ranges often. Just last night I shoved a very marginal hand UTG on a final table as a short-stack about to hit the blinds, knowing it was probably -ev, but when I checked HRC I was astonished at the limited range I was able to shove there. I used Future Game Simulation and regular ICM analysis, but it was eye-opening to me how tight I was meant to be in that spot.

Also, I had questions around bubble situations, specifically for instance how large hero’s stack needed to be in order to shove a 100% range in a 9-max on the money bubble as a bigger stack. Of course, you can draw wider conclusions about other games of different sizes and structures from looking at a simplified situation as a working example. 

I just love to spend time setting up simulations.

Hey ShowBiz, one question…you’re not Jamie Gold with a name like that are you? If so, I am sorry, but I cannot help you. Joke! Jamie Gold is probably a decent enough dude, at least, I expect his heart is in the right place, and I know his father is ill and all. But didn’t he have some kind of backing deal with some dude that he tried to wriggle out of after he won the ME? I don’t know, maybe he is a schmuck after all! In re-watching his ME run, I actually thought it was a pure master-class in manipulation. He had those guys wrapped around his little finger; but there was something about him which didn’t sit right with me. I am not sure I could put my finger on it precisely…but something insincere perhaps? A little fake. No offence if you read this Jamie! 

Hey! That was a classic Riceman Ramble! 

I play mainly 180 man turbos on Stars. And 18 man turbos. And some MTT’s. I’m not too sure about those 45’s, they don’t seem to fire up so fast. At peak times…1400 to 2300 UK time, those 180’s are constantly firing up. But not as fast as they used to, for sure, not sure why. I never clicked with the 45 mans, but for some reason I did well in the 18 mans since the get-go. Possibly this may be to do with the factoring of the field size, with 18 mans being 1/10th the size of the 180’s. Not sure if that is why.

If your deeper stacked NLHE skills are better than your shorter stacked, then give the $3.50 Rebuy turbos a go. 

The 180’s, if you can master them, are a great way to learn ICM push/fold, they are like mini-MTT sims. And particularly the $15 and $30 180’s feature some well known faces in the game…even some HS MTT regs.

No No Im not William Kassouf, although I would swap bank accounts with him! I heard him on the Thinking Poker podcast and boy can he talk. I’m sure he’s smart and a lawyer and all that…but man! STFU already! I haven’t seen much of his performance yet but forget about the rules of poker…the rules of basic human etiquette preclude someone from talking at someone else when it is obvious that they are trying to concentrate.

You know what? My wife knows better than to try to speak to me when she enters the room where I am poker-ing and I hiss “not now!”. She has learned that I am not, in fact, indulging in a power trip when I tell her “Don’t talk!” [25 seconds later] “OK you can talk now” [9 seconds pass and she is in mid sentence] “Stop! I need to think!” [guy folds two seconds later] “OK you can talk now, but hurry up!” etc.. And so, when I ask (demand) her to stop talking, because I need to freakin’ well think, she will be quiet. But she will stand there, and despite all the Zen mental fortitude and peace I am able to muster…I am bloody well buggered if I can even think at all whilst she is standing there in silence waiting to talk! I have read books on this subject. I am not supposed to try to deny the existence of any distracting influence. Rather, I am supposed to accept it for what it is, respecting its place in the world, and finally, as a true master, I am even meant to be able to incorporate it somehow into my game and use it as a fortification! What utter bullshit! I cannot think even when my wife is standing there in silence. How the hell is somebody supposed to Zen out a guy like William Kassouf? He would destroy my game I fear, it pains me to say. I might, just, be able to get to where I can shut him out…to where I might just find the mental space where I can begin to think about the hand. But by the time I have managed that? (20 minutes later)…Someone will have called the clock! Don’t guys like this ever get their asses kicked in the car park? I promise you this: If a guy who looked anything like William Kassouf cost me multiple thousands of dollars by purposefully putting me off my game by trying to distract me? He would not be walking home from that car park. (If the guy looked more like Van Damme this doesn’t apply…in fact if he even looks a bit more like Mike Matusow it doesn’t apply either!).

And anyway, why is every Englishman who gets on TV a nob jockey? We’re not all complete tools. Anyway I have always hated being English. I never knew why, but it never sat right with me. Maybe because every Englishman abroad seems to be an effete bell end? Anyway, imagine my sheer delight when I found my original family tree and discovered I am in fact Irish! Then it all made sense!

And Kassouf is a solicitor, not a barrister, so I already think he is in the wrong job.

Anyway, in order for me to continue spouting all the bull#?!t which spews forth I have made a blog. It’s crap. Probably no one will read it. Funnily enough, and in all seriousness, this really is not all that important to me. There will be poker product reviews. In fact I am working on an HRC review right now.  A fundamental motivation for the software reviews is the fact that I will be forced to become very familiar with the software I run. It’s a pretty selfish motivation. Although it is a space for me to put my thoughts down in word. I feel guilty sometimes for rambling on in TPE forums!  So far I have just ended up writing about a load of philosophy and psychology! 

Its actually live now,  but there’s not much on it yet, so I won’t provide a link until there’s a significant amount of content.

Edit: Oh and I have finally thought of one Englishman who does us proud, who I expect most of you will be familiar with: the Devilfish, God rest his soul. The Devilfish gets the Riceman seal of approval.

Andrew Feldman does not.

Hey Matt..2 things…

1) What is this post flop GTO software? Is it like CREV? Its free, so is it any good?

2) More importantly…why are you leaving UK? I always felt an affinity with you, a fellow UK resident. (I don’t really hate my Englishness! I actually love England…at least, what I can remember of it before it became an EU colony).

I spent some time in Florida doing some flying…I too like the States. Also the people aren’t so wound up over there…I actually found it a little awkward trying to interact with our American cousins, I always felt like an uptight awkward Basil Fawlty!