Poker software

I'v been taking my game seriuse for the past month and a half. I'v been working on my tourney skillsand can reguarly place in the top 200 out of 5000-6000. My problem being is that I lose my game consistantly at this point. I'm reading books and now I'm thinking of buying some poker tracking software. Any information i can get would be great GOOD CARDS

i dont really use any software but the the software most people seem to endorse and use from this site is poker tracker, other people would probably be able to give you more info about it, and i know there are some threads and such on this website that tell you how to use it and set it up and stuff like that.

Pokertracker is the way to go. Always tells you how aggressive an opponent is among other important things especially if you have more than one table open. Only bad thing is that it doesn't work for Bodog , which i am a regular player there. They have a 60 day trial right now if you want to try it out. Good luck.

I have PokerTracker 3 and Hold'em Manager. In my humble opinion, HEM beats PT3 pretty handily, especially now that tourney support is in beta (almost released) and Omaha support is coming shortly -- those two things were the primary advantage PT3 had over HEM. HEM also seems to get the nod nowadays in the Software forum over at Sklanksy's place. HEM support is awesome, they listen to their customers, updates are very frequent, constant improvements, etc. Many consider HEM's Player Analysis feature alone to be worth its price.

Either will help your game a lot if used properly however, so download the free demos of both and try them out yourself. PT3 has a 60-day demo, I think HEM's is 2 weeks.

How much is the actual price for the standard versions?

HEM comes in a low-stakes version (up to 50NL/100L and up to $22 buy-in tournaments) for $55. The Pro version (no stake limits) is $80. I believe you can start with the low-limit version and just pay the $25 difference in price later to upgrade, at least you could last year when I bought mine (but I just went ahead and bought the Pro version). They also offer a free Pro license if you signup and deposit at one of their sponsoring poker rooms, however I don't believe any of them accept US players.

PT3 sells for $90. Don't recall if they offer a free version via poker room signup.

Both HEM and PT3 support activation on two PC's, so you can install on both a desktop and laptop, for example, without purchasing an extra license.

Those two are what I would consider the current "gold standard" for next-gen poker tracking & analysis, however there are several up-and-coming alternatives, at least one of which is open-source and free. However don't expect to find any current free or cheaper alternatives with the power or support of either PT3 or HEM. The price of either is minor compared to the money they could save/make you over the long run, if you use them properly to study your game.

thanks for the advice the advice i think ill check out the trial on HEM first and go from there.

If your playing big MTT's i dont think buying software will help you much... since you will be moving tables and playing with different players you wont log enough hands on them to actually make a good read. Players use them in cash games mainly and say it takes a couple hundred hands on a particular person to get solid info on them. I use software for 9 man sng's as well b/c they can get up over 100 hands playing against the same people but even then i could go without it.

This is just my opinion obviously and if you have the extra cash for it then why not. Also, i have PT3 and would recommend it but have also heard good things about HEM and seems like more people are starting to use that.

Agreed, many of us have moved over to HEM now.

Another option, possibly more suited to beginners, is Holdem Indicator. This is noticeably less sophisticated as a tracker but it incorporates an odds calculator, which HEM and PT do not. An odds calculator is a good training aid for new players.

I don't use software so I can't address that -- the info sure seems good in the responses so I'll keep this in mind if I decide to bite the bullet and buy some.

But the quote by DKnight and the one right after seem to hit the mark for the OP's situation.

I found myself in the same boat (and still sometimes do)... do well early and mid-tourney, start losing later on. Others have commented on this phenomenon in other posts, but the general idea is that we tend to get more conservative the closer we get to ITM and to the final table. I've been making it to the money and final tables more recently because I've been forcing myself to stay conscious of my play. Remember position and be aggressive when you think the table is weak (just like you might have early in the tourney when you still see 3000 folks to get through and had less to lose).
The most critical error is to allow yourself to get blinded down waiting for the premium hands and then find yourself getting frustrated enough to start calling min-raises or even making min-raises with 8-9 off in mid-position. You have to be on your game the whole time... but our natural tendency is to get a decent stack and coast, just playing the cards we get rather than the table where we're sitting.

Dunno if this helps -- I'm still working through the same problem, but I will say that constantly reminding myself to remain aware has helped in the last couple of months.

GL!

And that is by nearly all accounts the wrong approach. You've got to loosen up and widen your range as you get nearer the end. As a natural TAG it was (and still can be) a hard lesson for me to apply. Being close to the bubble your natural instinct is to coast, but the blinds are typically much too high (especially in a large MTT) to wait for monster hands. I see a lot of pushes late in tourneys with suited connectors in ANY position, when the stacks are getting short.

If you're deep-stacked near the bubble and can afford the blinds, then you can better afford to remain conservative. But get below 15-20bb near the bubble and you're usually better off pushing chips around with more marginal hands, otherwise you're in great danger of blinding out. If you wait to get below 5-10bb to start pushing, then it becomes cheap enough for the deep stacks to call you down, and even if you double/triple up you're probably still too short to get much farther.

And regarding the comment about analysis software not being worthwhile for MTT's, I would disagree. While you may not gather enough useful stats on the other MTT players to build good reads on them, you DO gather an enormous amount of info on your play, which can be analyzed later to spot leaks or reinforce good decisions. That's the real beauty of this type of software -- not just to analyze others.

I haven't really used any software yet, but just so you know, The new issue or Poker Pro Magazine ( the one with the scandanavians/dobermans on the cover)has a great article about the HUD stats, what they mean and how to use them.