So, you’re sitting on the dealer button and look down to see if any of the players at your table have made a raise. Sometimes you can just tell there’s a good hand and it can help you make better decisions. Using a poker calculator can be very handy, if used properly. There are a couple of ways you can use this.
You really can’t use a poker calculator to make exactly the same decisions as when you’re spinning the tables manually, but it helps to have some kind of ballpark figure out your chances of winning the hand as well. Because a lot of the time you don’t have to connect with your opponent to make these calculations, you can make these calculations in response to your opponents action.
So if you have a hand that you feel good about and you have the table minimum bet, you can use a poker calculator to compare your hand to the leading player at the table. This gives you a rough idea of your relative strength across the board. If you find that you have more than 2:1 odds on your hand, it’s time to fold.
In addition, if you’re in early position and any other player learns how to raise when you check, you can get out of that hand. With a poker calculator you can quickly see that your opponents have bet caps in the small blind and if there are multiple raises in front of you, you can fold again.
The problem with a poker calculator is that it doesn’t collect data immediately. Sure, you can hold tight to your hand and the calculator still gives you accurate odds, but there will be betting round that round and what if your hand is only maybe 2:1? You can get into a lot of trouble having to call multiple raises in a situation like this. Generally you can’t afford to make a mistake like this unless you want to lose chips.
The ease with which you can automate this using software tools is really going to surprise you. You can get Holdem Indicator which does this for you automatically. It also has a pretty massive database of hands and what hands others have played. This is extremely powerful for those tournaments or cash games where you’re fighting in a field of players where a lot of the players may know each other. It’s possible to win money in these situations, but you also can lose money if you’re not careful.
Finally, the most vulnerable situations with a poker calculator are when you’re up against an opponent that is better than you are currently. If you’re struggling with a couple of fish at your table and they’re making a lot of short calls then you’re probably in trouble. If you have a relatively strong hand against an opponent that you’re having trouble with, you’re probably in the money. You get the idea, you can’t rely on poker calculators to win every hand for you, but if you’re struggling in a game you need some help with, these tools can help you, big time.
So, yes, you can win money with a Panen138 calculator, but use these tools playfully, don’t depend on the poker calculator to win every hand for you, and you’ll be significantly increasing your odds of winning the cash and the tournament.