Poker tools are a variety of

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

or web-based applications that allow the statistical analysis of

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

players, games or

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

Hand converters

Poker hand converters allow players to take text-based

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

hand history files from online

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s and convert them into formats friendly to the eye and suitable for posting on online message boards. Hand converters are often used to show played hands to other players for analysis and discussion. Depending on the converter used, the output may include the pot size per betting round, blind level, seating order, and stack sizes. Most online cardrooms store played hands on the computer of the player, allowing players to analyze and track their own performance or to discuss

poker strategy Poker is a popular card game that combines elements of chance and strategy. There are various styles of poker, all of which share an objective of presenting the least probable or highest-scoring hand. A poker hand is usually a configuration of fi ...

with other players. Statistics a player can track include showdown percentage, frequency of aggression, percentage of check/raise etc. Most major poker sites such as

Full Tilt Poker Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Am ...

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the l ...

and PartyPoker provide players with hand history files, while a few such as the

Playtech Playtech plc is a gambling software development company founded in 1999. The company provides software for online casinos, online poker rooms, online bingo games, online sports betting, scratch games, mobile gaming, live dealer games and fixed ...

network offer hand histories, but not in text file format. In addition to using hand history files to analyze and improve an individual's game, they can also be used to gather statistical data about opponents, both those a player has played against and even opponents never faced. Whether the latter constitutes cheating depends on the

Acceptable Use Policy An acceptable use policy (AUP), acceptable usage policy or fair use policy is a set of rules applied by the owner, creator or administrator of a computer network website, or service. That restricts the ways in which the network, website or system m ...

(AUP) of the cardroom. Sharing the raw hand history files is generally considered collusion and a violation of the AUP.PokerStars: Prohibited Online Poker Software FAQ
/ref> Even though some sites don't offer readily available hand history files, you can usually request a transcript by

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Heads-up display

Multiple third party applications exist for the purpose of displaying simple to complex stats on online poker tables. These stats display observed information to allow the user to play multiple tables without paying close attention to the individual action.

Odds calculators

Numerous programs allow people to run "hot and cold" simulations where two to ten hands are run against each other to show the approximate winning percentage for each. The first such simulator, Poker Probe, was developed by Mike Caro in 1990.

Solvers

Programs which produce Game Theory Optimal (GTO) solutions for some variants of poker. Most commercially available programs solve Heads-Up No Limit Texas Holdem with some predefined betting structure. Online poker sites often forbid use of solvers in-play, but allow them as a learning tool.

Tournament databases

Several commercial websites data mine the results of online poker cardroom tournaments and then offer rankings and return on investment statistics for players who have participated in these events.

Game software

Several commercial companies offer personal game software products where players can play against a table full of programmable robot opponents.

Bots

Pokerbots are computer programs that play online poker disguised as a human opponent. Online poker rooms normally prohibit their use.PartyPoker.com: PartyGaming's Unfair Advantage Policy

Datamining tools

Datamining tools, also known as hand grabbers, record the game play information of online poker games without requiring the user to play in the game. This data is usually stored as a text or XML file in a format which can be parsed by analysis tools. Note that in science and market research the term "datamining" is used for the act of extracting knowledge from data, not for collecting raw data. The use of these tools or using datamined hands in your Heads-up display is usually forbidden by most poker rooms .

Notes

External links

* {{Poker footer Gambling technology