[FREE APP] Pokermetrix - Improve your poker playing

[Adam David Hill]

I've just released a free app for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7:

Pokermetrix.

The app is a Texas Holdem Poker tool which brings an immediate improvement to less experienced players by helping them avoid unprofitable hands and situations pre-flop. Featuring:

? Pre-flop profitability analysis
? Heads-up Shove/Fold strategy advisor
? Live Mode to prevent the app locking during a game
? Practical, touch-friendly UI for rapid input
? Hand rank reference sheet for absolute beginners (WP8 version only)

Available FREE from the Windows Phone Store.



Enjoy & happy reviewing! :grin:

 

[martinmc78]

Pretty good app. Rated and put up a brief review. Really love the fact you have factored in position when playing not seen that on a poker app before and its just as important as the cards your holding.

Have got a couple of suggestions though.

Make the instructional text slightly larger? - ive got pretty good eyesight but even I had to hold the phone closer to my eyes than I usually would.

Add in a betting value page. One of the biggest things I notice from beginners is not knowing the value of the hands and how much to bet. I know poker hand calcs are never straight forward but maybe just having info such as Pairs A-A down to 8-8 4xBB A-K down to J-10 3xBB 10-9 down to A-2 call BB or check.

 

[Adam David Hill]

Hi, Martin.

Thanks for taking the time to give your feedback. It's very much appreciated.

Glad you like the position feature. When I've tried this with some beginners, at first they wonder why they have to enter the position, but when they actually see the difference it makes they're instant converts! I'm hoping the fact it scales everything according to the player count also helps this app stand out a bit, as that also has an important impact. Sometimes people look at a chart for say 6 or 9 players, but that's naturally going to be a world apart from 3-way play.

I'm very intrigued by your suggestion - are you referring to a pre-flop opening bet? I especially like the fact that it sounds very doable from a technical perspective and it also fits perfectly with the intention and audience of the app. Is the idea that based on the two cards you're putting in that it would simply evaluate which category it fits into and output "3BB" for example? Or were you thinking more of a straight reference list, like the Hand Rank page? If it's the former I assume it could simply be an additional piece of information displayed on the pre-flop profitability screen?

Do you have a link to the theory/rationale/data behind it I could refer to? What confuses me slightly (and this might be my own poker inexperience showing!) is that if a beginner always bet according to their hand strength they'd be dangerously easy to read. In that respect wouldn't it be better to recommend simply always raising 3x or something like that?

 

[martinmc78]

Ok this could get complicated thinking about it.

Yes im referring to a pre flop opening bet and if possible tie it to position on the table too - for instance if im holding pocket 10's and im in early position I would probably lead out with a 3xBB bet - however in a later position I may well push it up to 5xBB to try and clear the table.

You would probably have to put in some form of instruction saying that these bets only apply if there is no previous action on the table. If you were to take into account other bets then its gets a bit too complicated for an app I think. If im holding pocket 10's and there is a 3xbb bet 2 callers and a raise to 6xbb im more than likely to fold.

I will have a look through a couple of books I have (Doyle Brunsons Super System 1 & 2) to see if I can get some more details on cards and standard opening betting amounts.

I take your point about beginners being easy to read if they make the same bets based on hand strength. However they are still beginners and I think its more of a crime them not knowing to bet 5xbb when they are holding pocket aces and clearing the table and winning preflop than just calling a 3xbb bet from somewhere else and then getting sucked into a hand that could cost them a lot of money.

The way I see it if they can use your app to work out positional play and betting strength of hands they wont be beginners for long and will soon pick up more intermediate skills.

 

[Adam David Hill]

I think your second paragraph is spot on. I think I mention in the instructions somewhere that all this only ever applies if no-one's raised yet. Whilst it might be possible to include responding to raises in the app, it requires more input which slows it down and makes it more complicated. Ideally you'd not just be inputting the fact someone's raised, but their relative stack size and own position. Say you have a 50BB stack but a massive stack puts you all in and you have 22 - probably not worth your tournament life for a 50/50 at best double-up when you're in no immediate danger. It's hard for an app (i.e. algorithm) to recognize that situation and recommend the fold unless it knows more about the table. As far as fabrication goes what might be feasible, if you're willing, is I provide you with a hand list and you input the BB multiplier fill it in for say 2, 3, and 10 handed play. I'll then get the app to interpolate the values for in-between player counts.

I think this complication can be avoided by sticking to the get-out "this is only preflop, and only if no-one's raised". That way the information it provides is still useful/practical, and requires minimum input.

To actually implement the feature I'll need to either have some sort of formula, or some data. It might be that this is fabricated based on feel - not totally against that although ideally it'd be well tested, sourced from a large real life game database, or it might be mathematically-driven.

Pretty much any poker data table can be turned into an app. The trick is finding one which has practical value, and designing a means of interacting with it.

Let me know if you find anything (I don't remember opening bet sizes in SS 1 but haven't read SS 2).

Thanks again.

 

[martinmc78]

Happy to help.

Will probably have a look for opening bet info over the weekend.

Something else I have just thought of which could be beneficial from a beginners perspective is player style information. Giving a brief description on the differences between tight aggressive, loose aggressive, tight, loose etc. may also be beneficial so that beginners learn to pick out and recognise styles and also find a playing style to suit them so that they don't stay with the beginners mindset for too long.