Opinions of PokerStove

[d0nkeylipz]

Hello, everyone.

Currently building my bankroll playing $10NL.

Over the last year or so I've been struggling to find more time to play online. I've played just under 51,000 hands in ring games, mostly 6max but a lot of FR too, and about 800 various sngs, DONs, MTTs, etc. I have lurked around here, read a lot of your threads and ops, and am blown away by the volume some of you put in. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posts and shares.

How vital do you guys consider PokerStove in the learning process as you move up the stakes? I understand the significance of putting your opponents on goddamn ranges (as spoon puts it?), and have a DECENT idea of which hands match up with VPIP/PFR%. I certainly understand my own range, BUT I haven't EVER calculated one range against another, or even had the chance to play around with PokerStove.

I look at charts, watch videos, read a lot of posts, but haven't used PokerStove. I spend a lot of time reading and working on my game, but PokerStove is something I've gone without.

Do any of you non PC users know where I'm coming from? I know there is a some sort of windows platform you can download or purchase so you can run it on a mac, but are there any other alternatives? A website that can do the calculations and charts? A free way to do it without totally mindfucking my computer?

In your opinions, is it even that necessary? How many of you live by Pokerstove? How many of you have never used it? And how many have it and don't bother using it? Or don't use it enough?

Is there a period of time or a level that it becomes increasingly important to use?

Appreciate the feedback from you guys.

[!Luck]

I am currently playing 10nl FR on stars, so with that aside. I think one way or another you have to figure out ranges. For example, you have a short stacker to your left. You raise with AK for 5BB and then the short stacker goes all in for 15BB. Based on hud you know he is only doing this with AK,KK,AA. Before i looked at stove i would dump my hand because i will be behind many times. But now, I calculate my equity. which is 37%, while the pot is laying me (3BB (small blind and big blind) + 5bb my original raise + 15bb from the all in for a total of 23bb, thus the pot is laying me 2.3:1 odds. while my equity of 37% translates into pot odds of 1.7, thus this is an easy call. Before poker stove and ranges I would have folded and patted myself on the back.

or you can think of it this way, that after you call the pot will have 33bb and you have 37% of that, which is 12.2bb, meaning by spending 10 you get 12.2. FREE MONEY!. So poker stove allows you to make counter intuitive decisions.

Is it possible to beat 10nl not using it, my guess is yes, but do you just want to beat 10nl or do you want to go further. And as you move up, i assume more and more of your opponents will start to have a mathematical edge on you....and that's not a game most people want to play.

[XTR1000]

PokerStove is one of if not the most important tool if you want to study the game yourself. You can "look at charts and watch videos" all day, if you don´t start figuring shit out on your own you´ll never make it far.

Stove is so incredibly powerful because it gives you your equity and unlike the human mind it always gives correct numbers and doesn´t "feel" a situation. It´s also amazing b/c it let´s you visualize a range very well and understand the impact of blockers and dead cards on a given range.

[daviddem]

It's a pretty simple application, so I am sure it would not be difficult to make it run on a Mac. Definitely worth the effort as said above.

[Outlaw]

Its vital.

[d0nkeylipz]

Thanks for the responses guys. I expected a lot of answers like that.

After doing a little homework (googling "pokerstove for mac") I found this thread.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ac-t81419.html

Obviously.

I followed those directions and got it running this morning right before work, but didn't have time to play with it. Feels like I'm going to be coming home to a christmas present this afternoon!

One thing I did notice, there was version 1.21 and 1.23. I picked 1.23 and the hand chart looked a lot different that what I typically think of. It was just four columns, Ace through deuce. Probably a matter of adjusting preferences.

Anyways, I'm excited. Can't wait to get off work!

[Erpel]

The four rows of of ace through deuce are on the first tab (titled cards) - click on the second tab (titled preflop)

[sicKboy_KK]

hi,
new to the forum...tryin to download pokerstove, but one version is expired and the 123 version says: access denied.
anybody know what i can do?

[daviddem]

Download from here: http://www.pokerstove.com/download/

Just did it, no problem at all.

OP, there is a good "advanced pokerstoving" video by spoonitnow here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oycsi9jQEOA

[d0nkeylipz]

Thanks, David. That's awesome.