A BJ Player Discovers Poker

Computer Simulation.

One of the most important developments in blackjack has been software game simulation
and analysis packages made available to the general pubic. A serious blackjack student can nearly perfect his game without ever risking a buck or walking into a casino. Until recently hold'em simulation software was severely limited in its ability to accurately mimic player
profiles, game flow, and structure.

Turbo Texas Hold'em, from Wilson Software comes closer to the real thing than any other software package that I've come across. Turbo accurately mimics player psychological and
play profiles. Turbo allows you to structure the game to resemble any game you wish to attack. Suppose you have a local card club with 6-12 betting limits with one large blind. Suppose the club makes you pay time ($3.00 per half hour). Suppose the game is frequented by the same faces who are mostly "loose passive" types, with one or two "tight" players and one mammy-ramming "jammer" (aggressive raiser/bettor). You can set-up Turbo to exactly mimic these
psy-profiles and structure with uncanny accuracy.

Turbo has pre-set profiles which are excellent-the program also allows you to design and
define your own custom player psychological and play profiles. You can now play your competition to warm up and sharpen your skills, before you even arrive at the club.

Card clubs are frequented by the same faces day after day, and it is easy to model your opponents' playing style with Turbo. I have several player profiles modeled for the clubs I frequent. Turbo allows you to rotate in new faces every half hour or so, to mix up the
competition. The above description is for 'The Player's Club' in Ventura, California-a great
low-limit club that frequently has "action games" (lots of money on the table to give you the
odds for draws, etc.) spread Thursday nights after the tournament.

Turbo allows you to track your play, giving bar charts and statistics on the frequency of every hand you play and per-hand expectation. This, I believe, is the most powerful of Turbo's
features, is highly relatable for the blackjack player who has used John Imming's
"Universal Blackjack Engine." Another great feature of Turbo is that it allows you to "fast
forward" to the next hand dealt when you fold. You can play extremely fast, and this allows
you to get hundreds of hours of practice "reading the board" without investing money in the
real thing. Reading the board is determining what are the best possible hands, with any
given cards out. It is part of the process of reading and deducing what your opponent
may be holding.

Fifty-thousand hands of hold'em, against average players, on Turbo, is the minimum number
of hands any hold'em trainee should endure before venturing into the real thing. You should have a proven positive win rate, which is easily illustrated in Turbo's bar-chart mode. Next
play another thirty-thousand hands with tougher players, before you move into 4-8, 6-12 or
5-10 games. You should be a winning player at whatever limit you play, before moving to a higher limit. This software gives you the training edge against low-limit competition,
who routinely have no grasp upon reality.