Gut shot pick-up

How do you increase your poker win rate from good to great? It's all about picking up the small pots, and of course, playing the big pots well. It's the small pots that a lot of players over look far too often though. All of these pots (and we'll define small as 10 big blinds or less), add up over the course of a session, and turn already winning players, into players that crush their stakes.

I can't over emphasize how important it is to think of creative ways to scoop more than your share of the small pots. I'm going to focus on one specific hand situation that occurs quite often. Something that I see students miss over and over again in my 6 years as a poker coach.

Someone raises the minimum in middle position in a 6-max cash game.  Player on the button calls, and you call in the big blind with Ah2h. The flop comes: 3c 5s Qh. I'll often watch a student check/fold here. Some of the more aggressive students will go ahead and lead at this pot, at least figuring no one hit it often enough, which of course they'd be correct. There's an even better play though.

Check the flop, with the intention of making a smallish check-raise. With a gut-shot, back door nut flush and an over card that is likely good, we have a lot of nice semi-bluff outs, and the gut shot and nut flush carry nice implied odds if we hit. The most ideal situation being that the middle position open raiser checks, and the person last to act is somewhat aggressive, and bets the flop. You're going to have a lot of players at micro/small stakes that have "bet when passed to disease", so take advantage of it.

Check raising is going to net more on average in this spot, even though you risk more, simply because you're going to get a lot of air to bet, and a lot of mid pairs as well that will very likely fold a good percentage of the time. It's quite reasonable that if someone has 66-JJ, 3x or 5x on this board that they're going to bet the flop. Most of those same hands are going to fold to a check raise, and a lot of them are going to call a lead on the flop. So we make the most money on average by adhering to the basic theorem of poker, which is allow your opponent to make the biggest mistake possible.

There are some of your better opponents who will understand that this is a pretty dry board, and there's not much of a reason to check-raise, but they will be in the minority at these stake levels. Most opponents will fold and move on to the next hand. If you are called, then give up unless you hit a card to improve your hand, such as another heart, an Ace, or a King as an additional scare card.

Now, let's take almost the exact same situation as above, but look at a slightly different flop texture that's not suitable to execute this play. Flop comes: 4c 5h 8c. We still have a gut shot and back door nut flush, but we don't want to look to check-raise this board multi-way. Heads up, we might look to lead. Against some more passive opponents, we might also lead 3 handed. On average though, it's better to check/fold. Why? Out of position multi-way on a board that is more coordinated towards the middle, which will hit more small sized open raises, you're going to get a lot more calls, and a lot less folds. Especially in micro stake games where you're going to have a lot of opponents call with all sorts of gut shots, Ax and even Kx hands.

So board texture is key in making plays when you have gutshots. The most ideal situation is always that you have a really strong back door flush, and at least one high over card that is likely good. In spots like these, because they happen quite often, make sure you're attacking and looking to scoop these small pots.

Head over to the Leak Buster Product Page to learn more about Leak Buster and why seasoned poker professionals use it to increase their win rates. 

Below are the build notes for 2.0.0.6805

Hud
HM-4075 – Live play – Marking a hand using a custom made tag marks them only as "For Review" instead of the custom tag
HM-4727 – Hands marked with checkbox in hand viewer at live tables dont get saved through restart
HM-3076 – Add option to disable drop shadow in HUD options
HM-4184 – HUD Panel position not saved after restart
HM-4340 – net $ won in HUD uses decimals if you choose 0 decimals
HM-4396 – Forum Feature Request: Minimize Space Between Popup and HUD Stats
HM-4418 – HUD: missing NC.OrderdBadge let other stats slide to other panel
HM-4470 – Ipoker 9max detected as 10max in Purge and Export dialogs
HM-4503 – Zoom HUD wrong when hero name has non-english chars
HM-4626 – Zoom HUD walks around the table when player has bad chars in name
HM-4686 – Live Tracking – Unmarked folder selection dialog under Site Options
HM-4721 – Feature Request: Option To Have Mucked Cards Show Over The HUD Stats
HM-3291 – HUD Options Select a Color menu shakes.

Stats
HM-1689 – Stat suggestion – Total Aggression Ranking
HM-3383 – HUD-Stat wrong Fold and Raise CBet in 3betPot
HM-3473 – Donk ignored
HM-3485 – Stats not showing SingleRaisedPotsIP
HM-4220 – Stat Request: Hands/Hr
HM-4257 – Missing HM1 Feature: Premium Hand Percentage Stat
HM-4321 – HUD Stat request: c/c, c/f flop 3bet pot
HM-4329 – Stat Request: 'TOT 3Bet PF' stat
HM-4548 – Opponents tab: stats do not match in table and in Stars of interests
HM-4549 – donkbet stats not correct
HM-4677 – BB Cold Call Raiser (COBB) Stat error.
HM-4761 – Flop Bet – Call Report Stat Description Is Wrong
HM-4767 – Fold to 3bet Issues
HM-4785 – Duplicated HUD Stat – Flop Bet vs Missed CBet in 3Bet Pot (IP)
HM-4813 – Total Agression Ranking Mismatch
HM-4815 – Vs Skipped Bet Stats Issues
HM-4825 – Stat Issue: Flop Fold/Call/Raise IP for 3bet/singleraised pots do not add up to 100%
Various Misc Stat Fixes

Popups
HM-2729 – Popup runs away from mouse
HM-3344 – Feature: add search stat by name in popup designer
HM-3345 – Feature: add border line thikness in popup designer
HM-4073 – Excess space in popups
HM-4118 – Border in HU Popup don´t work on the left side of column
HM-4143 – highlight selected Stat in the Popup
HM-4278 – PopUp Background opacity has no effect
HM-4379 – Charts not shown in popups
HM-4622 – Popup designer: selected color not saved

Database (Purging)
HM-3412 – Tournament hands can´t deleted
HM-4334 – Purged all hands, DB empty, active player shows hands and so does opponents summary

Hand Viewer / Replayer / Notes
HM-1433 – Add pot odds as % as well as ratio in the replayer
HM-2923 – Add export option in Hand Viewer = Copy Option in reports.
HM-2973 – Heatmap Showing wrong hands going sessions to reports
HM-4075 – Live play – Marking a hand using a custom made tag marks them only as "For Review" instead of the custom tag
HM-4727 – Hands marked with checkbox in hand viewer at live tables dont get saved through restart

Line Analysis Tool
HM-3297 – Line Analysis missing some line options.

NoteCaddy
HM-3809 – Progress bar on Color Def fills up too fast

Parsing
HM-3538 – Freeroll Tournaments do not show Net Winnings in Reports

Opponents
HM-3167 – Game filters frozen in Opponents>Summaries in Cash TAB
HM-4324 – Opponents/Player Analysis – Hands View Columns In Wrong Order (Not Chronological)

Graphs / Reports
HM-3030 – Feature Request: Make the Graph Legends Smaller
HM-3089 – Add Overall Report under Tournaments [make sure it is NOT a Default report]
HM-3232 – More Filters -> Basic Filters applied filters buttons are swapped.
HM-3323 – Filter by BB (Big Bet) is actually using bb (big blind)
HM-3452 – Feature Request: More Tournament Filters Settings
HM-3543 – Tourney graph x-axis zero line
HM-3545 – Cash/Tournament mode switch does not update session graph (active sessions only)
HM-4078 – HM1 vs HM2 HU SNG EV Issue
HM-4206 – Cash Results Graph > Points of Interest > Don't line up properly and Indent graph
HM-4269 – (Flop Hand Value Filter of No Pairs) + (Advanced Filters of Flop CBet True) = Pairs or Better are Shown
HM-4370 – Player Analysis Report doesnt filter Omaha hands
HM-4517 – More Filters – Board Texture Bugs

Table Scanner
HM-2124 – Ladbrokes/Prima/Microgaming Scanner Lower Case "l" and "t" Issues
HM-2630 – Incorrect Icons Show In Scanner
HM-2632 – Table Scanner Filters Issues
HM-3349 – Ladbrokes/Prima/Microgaming Lobby Update – Scanner Reading Wrong Columns
HM-4149 – Table Scanner Has No Edit Player Alias Option As In HM1
HM-4304 – Scanner Filter for #Player dont work correct
HM-4792 – Turn Fold and Turn Raise IP differs in HUD and reports
HM-4801 – Table scanner – Score not displayed over the normal score-system
HM2 Scanner Fixes (Color Coding Stats)

Misc
remove chars > 128 from player names for HUD not showing for certain player issues
Changing log timestamp to absolute vs. relative value

This is the biggest HM2 poker software update to date.  Over 100 updates!  It doesn’t stop here because the Programming team isn’t taking a break.  The next HM2 build will have many more updates making HM2 the must have tool for online poker players.

Here are the build notes for build 2.0.0.6745: 

HM-4240 – Prima/Microgaming Hand Count In HUD Wrong When Multitabling

HM-1505 – Add players to fish list from HUD

HM-2416 – Live tracking extra options – odds as % and rake

HM-2695 – Added option to show HUD only on active table

HM-2821 – Popup designer fix: 3bet Stats Show Incorrect Abbreviation

HM-3008 – Popup designer fix: River Cbet Single Raised Pot Stat Showing Incorrectly As CBR

HM-3483 – Force minimum hover time for popup to 1ms

HM-4210 – Added tooltips to popup designer

HM-4398 – Allow resizing of HUD Options window

HM-4407 – Fixed Autochange switch popup

HM-4436 – Crash fix: when click on DEFAULT_main_popup in popup designer

HM-4512 – Added support for Ipoker 4max tables (seating preferences)

HM-4513 – HUD changing profile when quickfolding at Zoom tables

HM-4537 – Fix continuation bets display in hud

Stats

HM-2365 – Stat Request: VPIP/PFR Stat

HM-2752 – Stat request: Skipped Cbet River and CR OOP

HM-2800 – Added Flop IP/OOP stats in single raised and 3bet pots

HM-2839 – Stat Request: SB vs Resteal stats

HM-2857 – Stat Request: Turn cbet success – single raised pot

HM-2889 – Stat Fix: 4bet range

HM-2922 – Stat fix: vs Turn Donk Bet (Fold, Raise)

HM-2954 – Adding stats to CBet success report

HM-3221 – GUI change: Hud to HUD inside HUD Options

HM-3390 – Stat fix: River raise

HM-3398 – Fixed category for steal stats

HM-3404 – Stat Request: Skipped Cbet and x stats in 3bet pot

HM-3510 – Stat fix: River Fold Stats

HM-3511 – Stat request: Skip Flop Cbet stats

HM-4445 – Report stat fix: Cbet check/raise and check/call

HM-3551 – Stat request: Skipped Cbet stats turn and river, raised and 3bet pots

HM-4139 – Stat request: Turn and River Cbet in 3bet and 4bet pots

HM-4182 – Stat request: Add Turn Fold to Donk Bet 3Bet Pot and Turn Cbet – Fold 3Bet Pot

HM-4199 – Stat request: 5bet vs Hero

HM-4258 – Stat request: 5Bet Call Range

HM-4309 – Stat request: donkbet stats

HM-4321 – Stat Request: Check/call(fold) in 3bet pot

HM-4511 – Stat request: Bet vs Missed CBet in 3bet pots

HM-4624 – Stat request: Total Aggresion in Limped pots

HM-4661 – Fix Fold Turn stats

HM-2268 – Cold Call stats area show steal stats and not cold call

HM-3078 – Feature Request: Tot Bet vs Missed Cbet

Fix – popup designer crash with 5bet stat

Fixed description of four bet range

Stat precision change on aggression factor

Importing

HM-4372 – Fixed Merge tournament import

HM-2693 – Fix import from folder for tournaments with summaries

HM-4546 – Hand History being over-written – Merge

Tourneys

HM-2855 – Fixed default buy-in with comma as decimal applies incorrectly

HM-3086 – Stars rebuy tournaments recognition

HM-3203 – Report fix: Tournament Stats Graph view on non-US culture system

HM-3547 – Hide incomplete tourneys from graph

HM-4323 – Fixed tournament filter: Filter by Buyin Amount > Equal To Does Not Work

HM-495 – Stars rebuy tournaments issues

Filters

HM-3006 – Filtering using comma as separator doesn't work

HM-3464 – Fixed Turn action filter in combination with other filters

HM-4130 – Added filter – Tourney bb filter in Basic Filters

HM-3541 – Filter by bet size not working

HM-4389 – Fixed Advanced Filter Hero Saw River

HM-4277 – Theme fix: Custom data range filter drop down menu

HM-4404 – Separate filter on player analysis for PokerStars Zoom

HM-4516 – Filter improvments: Basic Filters

HM-4525 – Opponents -> Player Summaries Stakes filter fixed

Misc

HM-3256 – Fixed GUI: Text inside Database Manager > Export

HM-3318 – Line Explorer opens behind HM2 and Tables

HM-4100 – Improved status bar display of import notifications

HM-4147 – Cash/Tournaments ribbon button must be selected

HM-4234 – Portuguese Regional Settings and decimal points

HM-4472 – Crash fix: Purging active DB while notes are generated

HM-4504 – Automatically detect culture setting from Windows

HM-4559 – Restore password from config file.

HM-4605 – Fix Restore defaults for hand import dialog

HM-4605 – Restore defaults properly resets hand import settings

Replayer

HM-3321 – Replayer closes when switching to Home tab

HM-4466 – Replayer: holecards dont show for Hero with Ante

Added: Live tracking in replayer

Opponents

HM-3387 – Fixed Stakes not Showing in Opponents/Summaries and Export/Purge

HM-3471 – Opponents Summary needs manual refresh after filter set

HM-4097 – Opponents/Player Analysis – Not All Hands Returned

Graphs

HM-4468 – Graph doesn't update after switching from Cash to Tourney and back

Reports

HM-4095 – Stars 4-Player HU wrong winnings for 2nd place – fixed

HM-4191 – Session by Day report does not work properly with Start of Day setting

HM-4693 – Fix preflop line display in reports

HM-4695 – Don't allow user to close all reports

Hand Viewer/Marked Hands/Notes

HM-4246 – Custom-Mark removed from hand upon Restart

HM-4248 – Marked Hands don't show as Ticked

HM-4310 – Copy hand with stats not working for some Ipoker hands

HM-4317 – Fixed exporting to clipboard from handviewer when hand is updated during play

HM-4344 – Live Hand Viewer not updating during play

HM-4400 – Player Note Not Saving In Hand Viewer

HM-4311 – Hand viewer shows wrong winner

HM Apps

HM-4493 – Table Scanner shows warning when scan profile is missing

HM-4514 – Crash fix: HM2 crash if HM App is uninstalled and set to autolaunch

Scanner: Added ability to modify buddy/friends/regulars list manually

HUD: Added abitlity to add/remove players to scanner Regulars list from HUD

Scanner: added new Stats to player filters (IsBuddy, IsRegular, IsFriend, Sitting at, Waiting For)

Scanner: Ongame scan fixed

NoteCaddy 2.3 Update

Zoom

HM-4495 – Fixed Zoom Hand History recognition

HM-4540 – Import emailed Zoom hands

Fixed Issues with illegal characters issue

Fixed Issue with stats rotating around the table

Fixed issues with zoom hands not being recognized correctly

Developers and testers are working overtime to get a new HM2 build released.  Currently in the forums, this build is a big update (110 updates) to the HM2 poker software.   With that many updates, more testing is required to make sure new bugs are not created.

You can find the internal version here in the forums.  Once it goes public, HM2’s Auto Update will take over to make sure you have the latest build.

It’s not over once this build is made into a public release.  Programming is always looking at what’s next and we never stop developing.  This was true for HM1 and it will also be true for HM2. 

Poker Software is very interesting when it comes to development.  Most software is developed and released and you’re lucky to get an update after launch.  Poker Software is more of a grass roots development effort striving to bring you the absolute latest and greatest technologies to further your game. 

Stay tuned, we’ll have more news as it develops.  

Once you've marked a hand, use the "Show only marked hands" check-box in the Report Tab to quickly view marked hands.  Now you can easily review hands of interest at the end of your session.

There's a new build planned in the next 5-7 days and we'll also have a major update at the end of the month.

Stay tuned!

• Zoom Support Added
• HM-4337 – Limit Zoom Hands Importing as wrong stake – Fixed
• HM-4430 – No Hero hands in replayer – Fixed
• HM-4440 – Selecting "No Hero HUD" still shows the hero hud on zoom tables – Fixed
• HM-4435 – Setting desired HUD for zoom sometimes not working – Fixed
• HM-2383 – Bet size filter 3bet < 5bb shows bets greater than 5bb
• HM-3541 – Filter by bet size not working
• HM-3330 – Filter doesn't work "Player Won or Lost BBs is Bigger/Less Than
• HM-4439 – Hero stats show as /-/-/-/- for Zoom tables
• HM-1845 – Player names with ? " / \ hud wasnt updating – fixed
• HM-4473 – Stars Zoom PLO Hud does not work
• HM-4435 – Fix for selected HUD not working on zoom tables
• HM-4490 – HUD for Stars Zoom FL (Limit) does not work
• HM-4496 – Hud stats always start with 0 for some people
• HM-4416 – Preflop 4bet to size filter broken
• HM-4097 – Opponents/Player Analysis – Not All Hands Returned
• HM-4495 – Zoom Hand Histories not recognizing all zoom hands
• HM-4394 – added new windows tray icon for TableScannerDllLoader.exe
• HM-4408 – added new popup(contextmenu) in HUD for marking hands
• Fix for people experiencing crashes after a failed update
• Fixed exception when clicking on HUD
• Set 99% cap for stats to non default to avoid confusion
• Added Dialog to tell users to add PokerStars exe as run as admin
• Opponents stakes not appearing on initial import – Fixed
• Entraction preferred seating added

Hold'em Manager 2 goes mobile

Get HM2 Now

Hold'em Manager 2

Download HM2 now

 

PokerStrategy.com: It seems that mobile poker is the next big thing, and Hold’em Manager 2 has a mobile app. Can you explain this app for our users, and how do you envision it developing further?

Jim Varnon: The free Hold’em Manager iPhone application is integrated into HM2. A single click uploads hands in your HM2 database to the Hold’em Manager iPhone application. Your ability to review, replay and study key hands is no longer tied to your computer.

Most importantly, through the Hold’em Manager iPhone application you can also share and comment on hands within a private group that you establish (or are invited into). Coaches and students have found this capability invaluable for feedback and others are creating private groups that include their close circle of poker buddies. 

You can also create your own Public Channel on the Hold’em Manager iPhone application which you can use to share, comment, and solicit feedback on any of your hands. Public Channel content can be viewed by anyone using the Hold’em Manager iPhone app. 
 

More good than harm – "tracking software has benefited online poker".

The PokerStrategy.com HM2 HUD.

PokerStrategy.com: Some have been concerned about the prevalence of tracking software, HUDs, third-party apps etc., believing they may harm the poker economy in the long term. Is this a concern of yours, or do you completely disagree with this view?

Jim Varnon: To properly answer that question, I think you have to separate databases of hands that you have actually played from databases of hands that are purchased from 3rd parties.

Tracking software and the use of HUDs, when used with databases of hands that users actually played, have benefited the online poker community in my opinion. They provide new and average players with tools to more quickly improve their results to a point where they can reduce their loss rate, or go from being a losing player to a break-even or winning player. These players stay “in action” longer.  

Obviously the sharks don’t like to see the new and average players improve. But that is a short-sighted perspective. And likewise, a fish would prefer that the sharks not eat them. I submit that the sharks are always eventually going to eat the fish. However, more public awareness of products such as HM2 has reduced player churn and extended the life expectancy of many fish and average players that utilize our software.

When it comes to players purchasing public databases of hands that they did not actually play and using that data in a HUD, I think that has hurt the games. It gives players purchasing those hand histories an unfair advantage of information that they should not have about their opponents.  

In order to effectively put a stop to the practice, it requires some level of cooperation between the poker sites and tracking software companies such as Hold’em Manager that respect the terms and conditions of the sites. We have previously reached out to some of the largest poker rooms expressing our willingness to work with them in implementing systems to authenticate valid hand histories. Unfortunately, anything that we do unilaterally in this regard can easily be circumvented by the hand history vendors.  
 

Working with poker rooms

HM2 and OM2 are compatible with a wide variety of poker rooms.

PokerStrategy.com: Did you work closely with the poker rooms themselves in developing this software? If so, is the trend of poker rooms taking steps to prevent tracking/data mining (anonymous tables, certain sites not allowing HUDs, etc) making life difficult?

Jim Varnon: With many of the rooms, we do get advanced notice of certain changes that they are about to release in software updates, and we also send them preview versions of Hold’em Manager before new versions or features are released.

As for poker rooms' positions on data mining, I mentioned above that many of the measures that poker sites have taken against data mining of hands have not been successful because third party hand history vendors have circumvented them. We would be happy to work with rooms to cooperatively implement measures that prevent their use.

With respect to your question about poker rooms and HUDs, I personally believe that if a room does not allow HUDs it will discourage regulars that are critical revenue generators and game starters. Also, it hurts the fish and average players who are motivated to improve more than it diminishes a shark’s ability to do what sharks do.

Ultimately, that is a business decision of a poker site and we would respect their policies and not support a HUD for their site if they so requested.

With respect to anonymous tables, there is a percentage of online poker players that, for various reasons, are not comfortable playing at anonymous tables – and there are also some players that prefer them. Hold’em Manager’s position on anonymous tables is a non-issue because their fate is something that the market will decide.  
 

The reaction of the recreational player

HM2 can help fish become sharks.

PokerStrategy.com: Do you think your product is known to recreational players? If not, do you think they would react positively or negatively to learning it exists?

Jim Varnon: A much higher percentage of recreational players are familiar with products such as HM2 today than was the case 5 years ago. That is pretty easy to conclude based on comparing our sales growth vs. the industry growth as a whole.

There isn’t a single answer to whether they react positively or negatively. There are some recreational players that don’t care. There are others that seek out the use of products such as HM2 as a vehicle for improving their game (or reducing their losses). And then there are some recreational players that would rather such products did not exist once they become aware of them.

PokerStrategy.com: How many copies of Hold’em Manager have been sold? We ask because it would be interesting to estimate what percentage of online players use tracking software.

Jim Varnon: Our sales data is confidential and there is no definitive way to determine what percentage of poker players use Hold’em Manager vs. a competing product since we are not privy to competitors' sales. However, based on several metrics that we follow internally, we believe that Hold’em Manager has accounted for approximately 60% to 65% of tracking software sales over the last three years.
 

Plans outside of the poker world

PokerStrategy.com: Outside of HM2/OM2, are you working on any other poker-related products (or non-poker-related)?

Jim Varnon: Key members of the Hold’em Manager management team and investor group are online poker players that previously founded and developed the CardRunners.com training site before participating in the purchase of Hold’em Manager in October 2009.

In September of 2011, several common members of our management team and investor group launched DraftDay.com. DraftDay is a daily fantasy sports site that offers real money, one-day fantasy sports games.

My day-to-day responsibilities are 100% focused on Hold’em Manager but I obviously closely follow and am excited to see the amazing success DraftDay has had in just its first 6 months.

PokerStrategy.com: Thanks for your time, Jim, and good luck in the future.

On surviving Black Friday and HM2 critics

Jim Varnon

PokerStrategy.com: 2011 wasn’t an easy year for the online poker world. How was Hold’em Manager affected by Black Friday and the resulting fallout?

Jim Varnon: There was an initial drop in our volume for 3-4 months. It was primarily because there was so much uncertainty about the future of online poker and whether or not Full Tilt and PokerStars players would get their funds back. Within a couple of months players started to understand that the rumours of online poker's death were greatly exaggerated, and our business rebounded very well.

PokerStrategy.com: When HM2 was first released many complained that it had numerous bugs, and some people still prefer the functionality of HM1. What are your thoughts about that?

Jim Varnon: There were initially issues that we addressed in the first few weeks after HM2 was released. We continue to send out regular updates to address remaining issues, prioritizing based on how many users are affected. Over the next couple of months, we expect that list to be substantially completed – even for issues that affect a small percentage of users or are seldom encountered.
 

Get HM2 Now!

Hold'em Manager 2
 

 

The official update for Zoom Poker was just released and the next update will address a fundamental issue that some users have with RAM usage. The new version will strike a much greater balance for customers with low RAM or large amounts of hands.

HM2's capabilities and exclusive new features make it the most powerful software of its kind for online poker players. HM1 is still an outstanding piece of software, and some users have a bias to continue using it either because they are more familiar with it or because they may be inclined to wait until the HM2 software matures further.

We respect that and remain committed to our mission to proactively improve and innovate the HM2 software in order to ensure that it is the single best investment that any online poker player can make for their game.
 

The future of tracking software

The Hold'em Manager 2 HUD menu. Click image for larger version.

PokerStrategy.com: With the wide range of filters, statistics and reports in Hold’em Manager 2, how much more detail is there to potentially explore? What new ways can edges be gained via tracking software in the future of poker?

Jim Varnon: The framework of the HM2 database and the methodology that we use for filtering and reporting gives us some incredible opportunities to build on what is already in place. In addition to the street-by-street HUD that is an exclusive innovation of HM2, we have the ability to further expand on this type of thinking in the future and to even make the HUD line-specific.

As an example, there are certain stats that are relevant when you get check-raised by a villain on the turn and many other stats that you might normally have in your HUD that don't apply to that scenario. We have the ability in HM2 to identify such situations and to allow you to tailor your HUD for narrow situational lines such as that.

That is something that we will do in the future. For now the focus is on supporting the roll out of the new HM2 platform and on managing the technical support and updates that are necessary with a new piece of software like HM2.

PokerStrategy.com: There are certainly an impressive number of applications for Hold’em Manager’s software. Are there any plans to add more in the future?

Jim Varnon: We are very selective about the applications that become a part of the HM App family, and there are three criteria that we consider:

1. The application must add significant incremental value to HM2 customers in either in-game or post-session analysis.

2. The application must meet a standard for the niche functionality and features that it offers.

3. The application developer must be willing to integrate the functionality into the core user experience for HM2 customers.
 

NoteCaddy is a new application with HM2, and it is an incredible tool to help improve your in-game decisions. The developer's execution of the integration and presentation for HM2 users is brilliant. HM2 comes with four of the most common NoteCaddy notes as standard and NoteCaddy Premium offers over 150 additional pre-defined notes, plus tools to create an unlimited number of personalized notes.

The newest HM App is Tilt Breaker. We were struck by how Tilt Breaker addressed a significant need that many players have by coming up with a creative and effective solution. Tilt Breaker will monitor for several indicators that you might be tilting and, when they are identified, it will lock down your poker clients for a pre-defined period of time. You can adjust the tilt definitions and the amount of time to lock down your poker clients. 

For Sit-N-Go and Tournament players, Sit-N-Go-Wizard (SnGWiz) will soon be releasing SnGWiz2. SnGWiz is the most popular software used by SnG and tournament players, and the new version is integrated into the core user experience for HM2 customers and has several new and exclusive features. Existing SnGWiz users can upgrade for free.

Check back on Wednesday, April 4th to see Part 2 of this interview. Jim discusses mobile poker and how poker software affects the poker economy.

HM2 poker software now supports Zoom poker. 

Zoom is PokerStars latest game variation where players are dealt into a new hand as soon as they fold. You can play an incredible amount of hands in a short period of time playing Zoom poker.

Since the HM2 update has been released for Zoom, we are now working on the integration of Zoom for HM1.   We anticipate that will take a few days but at this point we can't commit to a specific date.  We are extending an additional 30 day trial of HM2 for any HM1 users so that Zoom support is available to them immediately . . .  Just contact support@holdemmanager.com and request the new trial period.

Not massive by today’s big tournament standards, but when Chris chopped at the final table in the Tri-State Poker Championship Event 1 in Cincinnati OH, something extremely special happened for all of us here at Holdem Manager.

Chris is a HM Tech Support rep and when I got the text, “I just cashed for 26k”, words can’t describe how proud and happy I was for him.  Many of us on the team come from solid poker backgrounds and Chris’s cash for 26k shoots him to the top of our internal player of the year spot. 

Chris,

1.       How many people entered the tournament and what was the buyin – blind structure?

There were 1407 or so entries. This was a 2 day 1 multi-entry event. Buyin was $345 and had a really nice structure early and late. We started with 200bb and blind levels were 30 minutes long.

2.       What were some of the big hands you remember? 

There were a couple key hands. I came back from the dinner break on Day 1 with only 20bb or so. Early on, I open QhJh and flop 2 overs and a flush draw. I bet the flop, get called in one spot, guy shoves the turn and I call getting good odds and if I fold, I am super short. It was the one hand I didn’t like my play in, as I didn’t think it through and have a plan. I had 1.5x pot on the flop and it made for awkward sizing. It worked out; I hit my flush and pick up some much needed chips.

A couple hands later, guy 2 to my right shoves, I have AA and hold. Next big hand I hold QQ vs JJ against another guy and flop the nut flush, but can’t get the guy all in, but pick up another nice pot. I count my chips and have about 125bb. I end the day with roughly the same # of chips.

Most of day 2, I had 30+bb, picking up to about 40, but never running up a huge stack, or getting low. With 24 left, I’m down to about 10bb, the blinds and being card dead. The payouts at 18 start jumping and I have to admit, for the only time in the two days, I go into “move up the rung mode”. I’m not good with ICM, having played mostly cash in my career. A couple times, it seemed like pushing a marginal spot was less optimal than riding a few more hands and letting someone bust.

At 15 left, the next big jump was the final table. So I switched back to stack building mode. I won a couple flips, but with 12 left, and the blinds having gone up, I’m still at 5bb. The guy on my left wins a huge pot against another big stack and is the chip leader. I win a flip against him, win another flip and pick up a couple pots. I’m up to maybe 2.5million in chips, blinds are 200k. Folds to me on the button, I open with KK, big stack flats in the SB and we see a J84 flop. He leads out 500k, I do a check of my stack and I have 1.4million left and push. He thinks for a bit, gets an official count, thinks, and calls with 66 and I hold. So now I’m up to 5 million or so, call the shortstack’s shove and 55 hold vs AQ, 11^th place busts and I knock out 10^th and we go to the final table.

I really got lucky in that when I needed to pick up chips, my hands held. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever run as well as I did these two days.

3.       What was your final finish position?

At the final table everyone decided to chop because we were all pretty even.  We played one hand for the trophy and the seat to the main event.  My hand didn’t hold. I was roughly 4th in chips before we chopped.

4.       How did being involved with Holdem Manager help you out?

Like most people in the US, Black Friday hit me hard. I have always been thankful to have started at HM before that and really enjoy working here. Besides that, even though I’m not playing as much, it gives me a lot of opportunity to think about poker and interact with a lot of players. I guess I learned some rungood along the way! I think the biggest thing that’s helped is, after a while of playing for a living and having the pressure to pay bills with poker money, it’s been really nice to step away from it, leave all my poker money in the bankroll and play more relaxed, while still being involved in the community, learning different things and staying involved mentally most of the day with poker analysis.

5.       Any other thoughts?

It’s been a fun and crazy weekend. Deep runs in a tournament just feel incredible. The money’s good and I don’t think it even has set in yet, it still feels surreal.

Nice job Chris and I hope we see you at another final table soon!