Poker Academy 2 questions...

[Benny One Six]

I'm a beginner who lives in Vegas. Never played for money or live. I've read Sklansky's Hold'em Poker and I bought Poker Academy 2 about 4 weeks ago. I play 2/4 limit Hold'em on it. I've seen about 10k hands in total, out of which I've personally played about 15% or 1.5k. I'm at the point where I win with regularity at the 2/4 level. The thing is, I'm not very good. I don't calculate pot odds or even count outs very often. Yet I still win. I was under the impression that the AI was top-notch but that can't be right, can it? I guess I just want some opinions on the difficulty and usefulness of Poker Academy 2 or any simulators for learning poker. I suppose I need to start playing for real money soon, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Sorry for the long first post, I'm new to this.

Thanks

[MiJ305]

i think the Full Ring sim is pretty weak .and you'll find tougher comp in a 2/4 online Lim game ...the heads up bot is a monster tho and is very tough...

[Chrysiptera]

10,000 hands in 4 weeks, and I assume single tabled.. that is impressive; does it speed up time? Like when you fold, does the hand go into warp speed? If it does, this is going to affect your play as you will get much more bored.. I average seeing about 20% of flops and I get bored out of my mind. This will affect your play.

I have *no* clue how good the AI to that game is, but after 10,000 hands I'm pretty sure you can think about the nano-limit tables online. Just make sure you use good bankroll management (300 Big Bets for a winning player), but expect to lose 50 or 100BB before you start winning..

If you want to jump straight into live play, well, that is up to you; I'd advise against it at 2/4 as you are probably going to be a -EV player at this point..

-Chry

[phydaux]

Hey Benny!

I bought Poker Academy and played about 20k hands of limit total before I ever played for real money. Let me ask you a few questions on how you're using PA:

First, it doesn't matter what stakes you play for. 1/2 or 100/200, the bots play the same way. Pick a dollar amount your comfortable with, set the buy-in around 25bb and ignore the stakes after that.

Second, did you create just one profile and play all your hands under that same profile? The bots in PA are adaptive, and for the first 100 or so hands of a new profile they are fairly dumb. And for every new profile they start over from zero. After 200 hands or so, they tend to "have your number." If you created a new profile every time you played, they you didn't get to experience PA's best play. Don't go by that.

What level of "difficulty" did you try? Beginner, Low Limit, or Standard?

The Low Limit bots play the softest game. They are adaptive, but for the most part play in a loose, passive way. Any reasonably tight, reasonably aggressive player will crush the Low Limit bots. Don't guage your level of play based on results verses these bots.

The Standard bots play a good game. 10k hands, all under the same profile, played verses the Standard bots will give you some idea how you'd fair at a table of beginner Hold'em players who all have some idea how to play well, and are all trying to play well.

***NOTE*** The above doesn't describe ANY on-line poker table I have EVER played at. The mix of rocks, LAG-tards, raisemonkeys and 16-tabling semi-pros you encounter at a typicle internet poker table makes every session an adventure in itself.

Oddly, I had my hardest time playing the Beginner bots. These are not adaptive, but rather play a simple, rules-based ABC game of Hold'em. This leads to you facing a table full of "Any two will do, call all the way to the River" suckout artists.

Anyway, buy Small Stakes Hold'em, Weighing the Odds and Hold'em on the Come. Count your outs, discount when nessasary, calculate your pot odds, and have fun! Limit Hold'em is a great way for a smart, disiplined guy to make money and have fun doing it!

Welcome to 2+2!

[Benny One Six]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I've played about the last 6k hands with the same profile. I play Full-Ring Standard exclusively. I think I'll stick with it for at least 20k more hands and make sure to do it right and count outs, calculate the pot odds etc. I want to play live and I live in Vegas so that isn't a problem. I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing before then.

[Benny One Six]

Phydaux, how do you think the software prepared you for live play? Are 20k hands enough? At what level did you start playing?

[phydaux]

[ QUOTE ]
how do you think the software prepared you

[/ QUOTE ]

It gets you in the habit of playing tight-aggressive, counting outs, calculating pot odds, not chasing in marginal situations and pushing hard when the odds are in your favor. And in 10k+ hands, you'll encounter at least one major downswing where the cards just run dead for 2-4k hands. That should get you ready for 2/4 live play.

Just study your Limit Hold'em cannon while you play:

Small Stakes Hold'em
Weighing the Odds
Hold'em on the Come
Real Poker II: The Play of Hands
Theory of Poker
Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players
How Good is Your Limit Hold'em?