|
 The old wisdom for becoming a good poker player says that
there's no substitution for experience. For many people, just learning to read
the board well enough to stay out of traps takes many thousands of hands that
can end up being very costly. Even if you're good enough to catch on more
quickly than that, chances are you'll drop a good bit of money before becoming
profitable. In the old days of poker there was no alternative to this method
of gaining experience at the tables, but today's computer technology has
changed the situation in many respects. Playing online for low stakes or play
money is the preferred method of learning the ropes, but simulation programs
are available as well. Among these programs, Poker Academy Pro 2.0 is one of
the most recent - and also one of the best.
Three separate playing environments are available in PAP 2.0. The first, the
ring games, is very simple - any number of opponents from one to ten can sit
at the table, and each opponent can either be hand-picked by the user or
randomly selected by the computer. This ability to customize makes simulating
different table situations very easy. Do you want to play against a table full
of loose-aggressive maniacs? No problem! Would you rather learn how to tighten
up by filling the table with rocks? Also not a problem. Maybe fine-tuning your
heads-up play is more your style? You can do that, too. One of the nicer
little touches is that the user can specify whether he wants the pots raked,
and if so what house rake to use, making the transition from pure simulation
to real games easier to prepare for. Available options for the rake include
the Mirage Las Vegas and almost every major online site. In addition, every
hand played is recorded in a hand history database that the user can look over
at any time, leaving a sort of paper trail that can be used to analyze holes
in your game.
The next playing environment is the tournament simulator. Again, limit and
no-limit hold'em formats are available, and the user can select from any of a
number of tournament structures. Many of these are based on real structures at
online sites, and structures from the World Series and Bay 101 WPT tournaments
are also available. There are even separate structures available for 6-max
tournaments, in both single- and multi-table formats, so that fans of
short-handed poker can polish up their tournament skills. While the tournament
options are fantastic, one small problem is that the user can't easily create
his own structures to simulate, say, his local card room's weekly tournament.
This is a minor issue that will most likely be addressed in future updates of
the product, though, and it doesn't mar the program's usefulness.
Finally, the newest playing environment is Poker Academy Online. In my time
with the program I haven't seen very many games going in the lobby, but I
mostly play poker late at night. Also, at the time of writing this article the
ring games are experiencing some difficulty and only tournaments are
available. I can't fairly say what the action is like in the network play.
However, I do know that the software developers play every weekday at 3:30 MST
in the BioTools SnG.
While having these different playing options is wonderful, they'd be nothing
without the statistical analysis tools that round out the PAP 2.0 package. The
hand evaluator is extremely useful for players whose instincts for reading
opponents aren't yet fully developed, providing a full rundown of information
on any hand's chances of hitting a draw and the likelihood of opponents
holding various poker hands in any given situation. Then there's the showdown
calculator, another handy tool that will simulate a showdown between any two
sets of starting cards, with any board, and provide a breakdown of each hand's
chances of winning. Knowing the numbers in these sorts of situations is a key
skill that any successful poker player must master, so the spending time with
the calculator is definitely worthwhile.
The final tool in PAP 2.0's box is the player statistics database, which
records every hand played by every human and bot in any ring game or
tournament. Users can look at any session they've ever played in PAP 2.0 and
break it down in any imaginable way. Particularly useful are the graphs that
track progress over any number of hands, showing variations in the player's
bankroll and the amount of luck involved in the player's results. The database
is so full of information that it's easy for a dedicated player to lose a few
hours dissecting different aspects of his game.
Poker Academy Pro 2.0 is about as good a poker simulation training tool as
there is on the market today. The only real downside to the package is the
lack of a full manual, which steepens the learning curve a bit, but there is a
decent-sized community of users active in the free forums on the web site who
can help with any big problems. In addition, the programmers are very
receptive to suggestions for improving the program and respond quickly to user
requests. The price may seems steep to some, but it's worth noting that Doyle
Brunson's Super System was around the same price when he first published it
two decades ago. With Poker Academy Pro 2.0, much like Super System, you'll
definitely get your money's worth.
Poker Academy Pro 2.0 is available for $129 from BioTools, Inc., at
http://www.poki-poker.com .
|
