PokerStove

word type: noun

  1. A poker calculator for Texas Hold'em.

How Can PokerStove Help?

PokerStove can essentially do any Texas Hold'em calculation. Obviously, it functions as a simple card calculator which spits out winning percentages preflop, and on the flop, turn, and river for one hand vs. another, but the program can also do much more. The real draw of PokerStove is its ability to do combinatoric poker odds - that is, the enumerating and analyzing of one hand vs. a range of hands. Since poker is a game of incomplete information, narrowing your opponents holding down from all hands to a range of hands, and then calculating how your hand does against this range can be extremely helpful. In most cases, you aren't going to be able to do combinatorics at the table during a hand, but knowing the math behind certain common situations will definitely go a long way in improving your game.

A More Specific Example

Let's say you're sitting with 9K in chips and get dealt snowmen with blinds at 300/600. The action folds to you UTG + 2, and you decide raise to 1600. The player right beside you quickly moves all-in for 11K total. When the action folds back to you, you have a decision to make; so, how can PokerStove help?

First, you need to calculate the pot odds to determine how much equity you need to make a profitable call with the snowmen. The pot is at 900 (just blinds) + 3200 (your raise and his call) = 4100. You need to call 7400 (the rest of your stack) , and if you do, the pot will be 18.9K. This means that the equity you need to call is 7400/18900 = 39%.

Next, you need to assign your opponent a reasonable range of hands and run it against 88. Basically, if the range you assign is accurate, and your hand is better than 39% against that range, then calling will be profitable.

Your opponent's reasonable range: 77+, AJs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo, and the final calculation:

{88} - 43.18% vs. {77+, AJs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo} - 56.16%

Thus, using PokerStove you have determined that calling is the correct play in this situation.