Lakers vs Celtics

Woohoo! Dream Finals Matchup. I am sure David Stern is jumping for joy. Can't wait ....

Sharkscope HUD Update & Pokerbility

After using the Sharkscope HUD for a couple of weeks, I decided to just turn it off. It wasn't that it was not helpful. But it sort of confused my game.

The first effect that I noticed was that it made me play looser against the fishes to the overall detriment of my game. A case in point, I got AQ in cutoff. No action beforehand. So I raised 3x BB. The guy in the SB reraises me. Everybody else folded.

Normally, my play is just to call, take advantage of my position and see the flop & take it from there. I would also sometimes fold if I strongly believe he has KKs or AAs.

This time around, the HUD was there and it shows a flopping fish. HAHAH!! Bluffing, eh. So I put him all-in. Of course he shows AAs and I am a huge underdog. This kind of false tell happened once or twice with different kinds of hands. Hands which I could have easily gotten away from if I had played my normal game turned out to be bust-outs against certified fishes.

So I decided after a while to just turn it off and play my usual game without any enhancements. And surprisingly, my overall results were much better.

So what this does show? Well, for one thing, it shows that just because they're a fish doesn't mean that they don't get lucky. The often quoted "you don't need skill to play them Aces" also come to mind.

The HUD has some value especially near the end game where knowing who is good or bad is relevant to end game SNG play. But at my low limit levels, playing with it especially in a full table just makes me play looser. And that's bad. We all know that playing disciplined ABC poker in the lower levels is enough to keep a good ROI. So I don't think I'll renew it once my free subsciption ends.

Another product which I installed lately is Pokerbility. This is more of a traditional odds calculator which attaches to the main game window and gives you the percentages of hitting certain hands. It also has a hand ranking system for your opening hands with real time advise on whether to fold, check, call or raise. Sounds good in theory, right ? But at the end of the day, I also ended up not using it.

Why ? Well, it didn't give me any information that I already didn't know. After playing more than a year now, some of the odds I already instinctively knew. Chasing a flush draw while the opponent is overbetting is neg EV and vice versa. It doesn't work for multi-tabling as you can only attach it to one table and you also cannot adjust table size while using it. Finally it doesn't take into account implied odds in certain situations. So not much benefit for me.

But I believe this product is useful especially for a beginner. It allows you to be more disciplined in your starting hands and gives logical advice if you end up flopping good hands. So this product I would recommend wholeheartedly for those newbies just learning the game. But for some of you veterans out there, it's kind of redundant. Attached a screen shot in case you are interested to know how it looks

So there. Two "supposed to be helpful" poker products and I end up using not one of them. I guess nothing still beats the human mind. =)

Sharkscope HUD

I don't know if anybody uses the Sharkscope HUD software, but I recently got a free 2 month trial of this thru a promotion with Luckyace Poker.

Instead of opening sharkscope and typing your opponent's name to check his stats. It superimposes the stats like Ave ROI, Total games played, Ave profit etc on top of the playing window. It also tells you if the guy is a fish, a shark or on tilt. See sample below.

Theoretically, it should give you some sort of advantage as you can see who the good and bad players are. You can be wary of the good players and consequently try to take advantage of the bad players who have a tendency to overplay their hands.

I've only had time to try it once on a Full Tilt SNG and I finished 1st in that game. I'm not sure if it was because of the stats I saw. But there was one hand where I definitely used the knowledge given. I was in the BB and I get AAs. Two limpers. I checked out their stats on the display and both were negative profit players. One of them had a -16% ROI. I would usually raise my AAs here around 3x to get money in the pot.

But the HUD showed me a fish so I went all in. The other player folded. But as expected the neg 16 player called and showed 66s. No improvement and I immediately doubled up. As we know, an immediate double up near the start of the SNG almost always assures you of an ITM finish.

Right now, its still in Beta testing and only works with Full Tilt and the Ongame network as well as some minor sites. I will try to get some volume with this HUD and see if it can improve my game. After the trial period ends, I might then be tempted to buy it.

The danger I see is that I might encounter a fish who gets a legitimate hand but you end up thinking its a bluff because of his stats. Oh well, pros and cons for everything. I will give an update after maybe a month of use. This should be enough time to tell if it was helpful or not.

What do you guys think ? It is not an odds calculator but more of an indirect way of reading opponents online. So should have some value one way or the other.

Prepaid Broadband Internet

If you are one of the less than 10 people following my posts regularly, you would know that I recently changed address. It was a move to a much better neighborhood with easier access to malls and commercial establishments , so I'm pretty happy with the move.

Except for one thing. It's taking forever for PLDT to install my telephone line and consequently my Internet connection. It's been weeks of excuses and whatnot.

Finally the other day I just got fed up and got a Smart Bro Prepaid Kit.

The kit will cost you 4,500 which is relatively expensive because you are basically just getting a HSDPA USB modem. But certainly better than getting one of their fixed plans. With my erratic schedule and out of town trips, I didn't want to get monthly bills for something that I wasn't able to utilize fully. The lockin period of 2 years was also bothersome. So prepaid broadband is perfect.

Aside from just loading the amount that I need, now I can take my laptop anywhere there is a Smart Signal and voila, instant wireless broadband internet and you know what that means. Poker Anywhere. Now when my wife drags me to the province to visit her parents, I'll be set. Heheh. Playing poker while lounging in a beach chair in Laiya is now a reality.

The rate is quite reasonable. P10 for 30 minute blocks. The speed is just average. They claim you can get 384 kbps, but actual speedtests give me somewhere on the 200+ range. Good enough to run any poker software. Of course, you will still get better speeds with your fixed DSL line. Also, sometimes the speed drops for no apparent reason. But all in all, I was quite satisfied with the thing.

I am also expecting the usage rate to drop within the next few months as Globe is also gearing up for their own mobile internet thingie, so competition rules. =)