There are many poker odds calculators around. Some of them provide real-time stats, others claim to make recommendations, and still others require that you manually enter in the information from the table to make the proper calculations.
MagicHoldem is an odds calculator that claims to automatically read from over 100 online poker rooms, give stats, and provide recommendations. At the cost of $89.90 a year (you can get this tool for free if you register a new account at one of their partner rooms such as FullTilt, Titan, Pacific, Winner and others), it would seem that this tool would be aimed at the professional player. While this is true, as will be seen, this tool is beneficial to almost anyone who has a passing interest in online poker.
After installing the odds calculator and launching your favorite poker room for the first time, it becomes clear that this tool was meant to help people of all skill levels. The interface is compact, but definitely easy on the eyes. There’s also a lot of information crammed in a small amount of space. However, it’s definitely quite readable and useful even considering the fast pace of internet Texas Holdem. Within one glance at the center of your table, you can see the probability that you have the highest hand, the recommendation of the software based upon a loose or tight strategy, whether or not there’s a potential for a flush, and your probability of hitting an out. This is a lot of info, but even novice players will note that all of it is useful.
One particular aspect of odds calculators that is often overlooked is the strategy recommendations. Poker calculators cannot take into account bluffing, check-bets, and other strategies in Texas Holdem that anyone with a decent knowledge of the game uses. As such, the recommendations tend to be, well, useless. MagicHoldem seems to be a little bit of an exception here. After playing quite a few rounds with it, it seemed as though the suggestions were pattern based, but that a lot of times, they also felt right. If the player were looking to play the hand optimally and maximize his/her odds, it felt that MagicHoldem’s recommendations were spot on. While this is good, it can also serve as a bit of a detriment to players’ abilities as they may begin to rely too heavily upon the software and not go with their gut. Still, it’s great to be able to see the statistically best recommendation before you bet.
So is MagicHoldem worth it for the casual player? The answer to that seems to be on the whole, yes, but probably not at $89.90 per year. Fortunately, there are ways to get a license without paying the full price. The developers of MagicHoldem have partnered with some poker rooms so that if you open an account and make a small deposit (under $25 usually), you can get a free one-year license. When you make the deposit, you don’t lose the money, so essentially you wind up getting the software for free.
In addition to that option, you can also try MagicHoldem for 100 hands. If you like it, you can buy it or make the deposit then. If you’re still on the fence after that, you can even contact support and have them give you a 200 hand trial on top of that. Casual players probably won’t find the full yearly price worth it, but certainly for such a small deposit in one of four poker rooms (that you might not even lose), getting this software is definitely a good move. There’s no doubt that, after having used it first hand, MagicHoldem will help you improve your poker game. Get your free trial of Magic Holdem now!
