Poker Software Question/Re-Introduction

Hey everyone,

Below is some chatter that would maybe be of interest to those that remember me.. you can skip down to the actual question if you'd like...

This is spore.. some of you old timers may remember me. I've been away from the game for the most part for the past year or better for various reasons.. namely I had a lot of work projects going on last year and had to work alot what with the economy and all....

So, I decided to just play some play money games on pokerstars and realized I had some FPP points laying around and so I threw some at a satellite into the weekly $200k and ended up coming back from way behind heads up to win the ticket... so yesterday I played the $200k (which made it up to $300k) and made the money so now I have $30 sitting in my pokerstars account and I'm ready to get back to basics and start building up that bankroll.

Back to the topic at hand..
Anywho, I was snooping around Chuck_T's blog and he mentioned a couple different things that interested me.. that would be: telescope and stox.

1) ok, stox isn't software but a website with videos/lessons etc.. but seems ridiculously expensive ($25/month + $100 initial fee?).. is there anything else out there (in the way of video) that is free/less expensive (outside of their 3min demo videos).

2) telescope seems pretty sweet but I'm gonna need a good stats program to go with it.. So, here's the big question... what are the pros/cons of the following and what would you reccommend?

- PokerTracker2
- HoldemManager
- PokerStrategy Elephant
- PokerOffice

I've used pokeroffice before and loved it.. but that's been a couple years ago so I don't know what to go with these days.

Any help would be much appreciated, oh and if you have other reccommendations outside of what I listed that you like let me know about them too!

-spore

PT2 is easier to "buy for free" from your "favorite program downloading site", but that's really the only advantage it has.

PT3 & Hold'em Manager are well worth the money. Either one will work fine, and its mostly personal preference which one players use. I prefer hold'em manager myself, but rumor has it that its tournament support is poor compared to PT3.

I've never used the other two programs, and I've never heard anyone recommend them over HEM or PT3.

Use the trials of both HEM and PT3 and decide between the 2.

As far as SW..PT3 and HEM are both good and both have some strengths/weaknesses compared to the other. I own both and prefer HEM but you might be different. Go download the trials and see which you like better would be my advice.

As far as Stoxpoker... I am a member and I think it's been worth every penny. However it isn't for everyone. It depends on the stakes you play and what level you are at as a player. If you are trying to learn the game at $2 or $5 NL cash tables, it won't help you much at all and isn't worth the cost.

There is a fair amount of microstakes stuff at Stox but it mostly starts at $25 or $50 NL. I wouldn't bother with it till you get to those levels at a minimum.

Thanks for the advice guys!

Personally, I have used both PT and HEM, and have now settled on HEM.

There is a new version of Poker Office which was released very recently and which has good reviews, but I don`t know anyone here who has tried it yet.