Relevant

Tournament Indicator

Tournament Stratetgy and Odds Calculator

Of all the poker calculators available on the market, none of them have ever addressed the needs of the amateur online player that focused his play and growth in the game by way of tournaments. Let's face it, the new players that come to this game are by and large, influenced by tournament action seen on television.

So why hasn't this huge segment been addressed in software? The reason (at least in part) is because programmers may feel there are just too many variables and nuances in a tournament that are simply too difficult to quantify. Stacks, position, structure, escalating blinds, profiles, payouts, rebuys, qualifiers.... and on and on. How can a poker calculator cope with that?

Even Roy Rounder's Sit and Go Shark set out trying to master single table tournaments failed miserably at offering clear advice - instead reverting to multiple, automatic coaching style quips that more often than not conflicted with each other at critical stages!.
Yikes what a mess that was - and a shame really.

Mzone Tournament Calculator Concept

Now things are getting interesting because recently, I got an email from the designers of Hold'em Indicator. They tell me they have a new piece of software for tournaments, and ask if I could I test it for them. Now just the fact it's from the group who designed the best poker calculator interface on the planet, I am now far less skeptical than I am optimistic.

I start playing with this brilliant blue, sharp looking software and discover it is based upon the MZone strategy, a key decision factor professionals use in real tournaments. In fact Dan Harrington predominantly based his top rated tournament strategy book on this single concept. "The most important single number that governs your play toward the end of tournaments is M, which is simply the ratio of your stack to the blinds and antes. This number is crucial and you must develop a facility for calculating it quickly and easily at the table" says Action Dan.

I used the Mzone tournament strategy myself and went on a respectable run last summer earning $25,000 in tournament winnings. Not huge to some of you, but these were from very low buy in tournaments. I made 41 final tables in three months! To put this in perspective, I made one final table in the two years before that! I even created a spreadsheet that I used by my tournament window that calculated the Mzone with some inputting on my part. Yes Dan, I agree. Understand the MZone, and you can start winning tournaments - even online!

So upon that good starting premise I tested the "tournament strategy and poker odds calculator" software. True to form, I am impressed with its simplicity and seamless functionality. Now finally, thank you for this, I don't have to calculate the Mzone anymore. Not only that, it calculates the Mzone for my opponents as well.

I find myself wondering why this product not been created any sooner. I mean most internet players play tournaments, right? This is especially true of the hundreds of thousands of players who are working from limited bankrolls, just trying to get ahead in this game.

This is one of those products that when you first use it, you have to ask yourself why hasn't this been done before?

I find myself wondering why this product not been created any sooner. I mean most internet players play tournaments, right? This is especially true of the hundreds of thousands of players who are working from limited bankrolls, just trying to get ahead in this game.

Here is the clever reality of Tournament Indicator. It avoided the dubious challenge of making recommendations in a tournament - by NOT making recommendations! It does however provide you with an array of indicators (as well as the MZone) that allow YOU to make the right decision at a game critical intersect. These same "indicators" are what the pros use to make to make correct decisions in tournaments. Making correct decisions win tournaments, but often those decisions may seem, and quite likely are, counter-intuitive to standard book play. Tournament Indicator shines a bright light on those opportunities, and will guide your way to more money finishes, and deeper money finishes.

If you are in that group of striving online tournament players learning your game and working towards earning some prize money worth braggin’ about, then Tournament Indicator is your ticket. In addition, this is about the best piece of software you can have running for single or multi table sit and go action, as it works just as effectively.

The brilliant simplicity of the Tournament Indicator software is not lost in this, the most feature rich poker calculator ever created. Besides the critical Mzone, there are extensive profiling indicators, which you can adjust yourself, if you like. I also really love something Tournament Indicator calls MatchCards. On a screen you can toggle to, your hole cards will be matched up against other common hole cards that may be putting pressure on you. When your do or die moment arrives, you are going to have to make a good, and perhaps uncommon decision. MatchCards is going to let you know exactly where you stand. This feature alone is worth the investment.

Someone at Tournament Indicator was seriously thinking about real tournament action here. Evidence of which is within the profiling grid, where there are also columns that monitor streak and balance totals - as in, how have your opponents' stacks changed, and how many hands have they won or lost over the last 10 deals. If you want to know which of your opponents is (ala Mike Sexton) frying an egg on his head, just refer to these indicators. We all know the tempo of a tournament changes rapidly at times, and that is why tournament play is all about what has happened recently. Tournament Indicator keeps you as the most informed player at the table.

Tournament Indicator is offering a free, unlimited use, 48 hour trial period which would be great for at least a few tournaments!

The MZone and Game Critical Intersects In Poker Tournaments

Knowing your MZone in a poker tournament is going to give you an advantage over your opponents, but it won't save you from bad beats, better players, and mental errors on your part. However, there is a way that (knowing) your MZone can help you make better decisions that will ease your decision making process and thus your second guessing.

The concept is called the Game Critical Intersect or GCI for short. What the GCI does for your game is somewhat like having a little coach sitting behind you and telling you if you should be involved in a hand or not. It can eliminate huge losses from bluffs that don't work, get you off of dangerous boards, and make you more sensitive to position plays. Not only that, the GCI can make your all in decisions much easier especially when you are getting near the money.

Here is how it works. There are five color zones of M you can have and I like to divide them between two good mzones that are named yellow and green, and 2 weak mzones that are named red and orange.

Being in one of the good mzones of yellow and green you have the ability to have a more flexible game allowing you to make moves at pots, steal blinds, and see lots of hands in late position for cheap. This is because you ratio of stack to the blinds and antes are at least comfortable at this point. We can call this situation a PLUS stack, where you are likely above the average stack size of the tournament.

If however you happen to be red or orange mzoned, you don't have much, if any of that kind of flexibility. Chances are you are already looking for a hand to go all in and double up in a heads up confrontation. This we can call a MINUS stack where you are likely below the average stack size of the tournament.

The difference between these two stack situations is that very often you may be involved in a hand that threatens your position in the tournament in to becoming a MINUS stack where you started the hand in a PLUS stack situation. In such a hand then, you are in a game critical intersect, and the type of hands you need here, are the nuts, or very close to it. In other words, as your stack depletes in a tournament, the more your game should open up. You would easily let your red or orange stack ride on top pair, but with a PLUS stack you want more than that if it means a huge hit to your tournament hopes.

This is just one of the ways knowing your mzone allows for better decision making and adds a clear advantage to your game strategies.

Multi-tabling Like Scott Fischman Using a Poker Calculator

Can I use my poker calculator on more than one table at a time? Multi-tabling is one of the major issues when playing on the internet. It is definitely a skill in that it requires 100% concentration. Poker calculators fit very well with multi-tabling because they do a lot of the ground work for you in profiling and odds displays so that you are able to make quicker decisions which keep the flow of the table going while improving your hourly rate as well.

If you are planning to get a poker calculator for multi-tabling though you need one that you know can handle the task because many poker calculators simply cannot monitor more than one table because of something called screen scraper technology. Magic Holdem, Holdem Genius, Calculatem Pro all come to mind as poker calculators that are limited to one table only, because they are based on outdated software programming.

What this means is that the software you choose may very well not be what you are looking for. If you like to play at least two tables at a time, you need holdem indicator or tournament indicator both of which will automatically attach to all your open poker tables, while adding the further benefit of resizing to match your table or mini-sizing so that you can open it whenever you want a more full description of the statistics collected.

Most of the major poker sites allow for resizing now along with cascading or tiling instantly just by clicking a button. Since they are widely offering it, you know that a lot of players are multi-tabling then as then. I might caution you here though that it still takes a lot of skill and knowledge of the game. The more tables you play simultaneously, the more small edges you may have to give up to the table, playing more tight than normal.

In his book titled "Online Ace" Scott Fishman describes multi-tabling as part of the online rounder's game in that it evens out those bad beats you take. He invokes the bad beat variance as simply a part of the game and one of the best ways to get over it, is just open another table or tournament and start again. He regularly has 6, 8 and 10 tables going at one time, across multiple sites and several monitors.