Q1. What does PokerStove calculate?
The values generated are all-in equity values. This is not the chance that a
hand will win the pot. Rather it is the fraction of the pot that a hand will
win on average over many repeated trials, including split pots. The equity
for a hand is calculated by dividing the number of "pots" that the hand won
by the number outcomes considered. Because two players can split a pot, a
player can win fractional pots. Thus, it is possible for a hand to have non-zero
equity despite the fact that it cannot win.
equity (%) win (%) / tie (%)
Hand 1: 50.3340 % [ 49.39 00.95 ] { 2s2h }
Hand 2: 49.6660 % [ 48.72 00.95 ] { random }
In the above example the pair of twos has 50.334% equity. That equity is made
up of 49.39% win equity, and .95% tie equity. The tie equity is not the percentage
of time that a hand will tie, rather it is the equity attributed to ties. Tie equity
is reported instead of % tie because the amount of equity that a tie generates depends
on how many players shared the pot. If two players share a pot, half the equity for
that pot will given to each player. If three players share a pot, one third of the
equity for that pot will be allocated.
Q2. What do the equity colors mean?
The colors are calculated according to the following rules. If a hand is exactly worth it's
fair share - that is 1/N where there are N opponents - then it is colored a mix of
all RED and all GREEN, which turns out to be yellow. If it is worth more than it's
fair share, then the RED value is linearly reduced based on it's distance from the
fair share equity. Thus if a hand has 100% equity, it will be colored all GREEN.
Likewise, as a losing hands ranges in value from 1/N to 0, the GREEN component will
be reduced until the color is pure RED when the equity is 0.
Q3. My simulation is taking forever, what can I do?
There are a couple options. For most cases, doing a Monte Carlo simulation is
probably your best choice. There is one "trick" you can do when you are evaluating a
generic hand like "AKo" versus several generic distributions. By replacing "AKo"
with a specific example like "AcKs", your simulation will compute the correct results
12 times faster. This is because there are 12 different AKo hands, and versus
generic ranges, you only need one canonical example to arrive at the correct equity.
This will NOT work if the other hands have specific suits specified.
Q4. Why does PokerStove display different percentages for the identical hands when enumerating?
Enumberation All iterativly considers every possible outcome for the situation.
The order that these cases are considered is very non-uniform. One random hand
may be varying with every new case, while another random hand may be "frozen" with
the hand AcAh for hundreds of thousands of cases. If it appears that the full enumeration
will not finish in a timely manner, you should restart the simulation with Monte Carlo
selected rather than using the aborted results.
Q5. How can I use the equities that PokerStove generates?
This a very difficult question to answer completely.
The idea that you can take a pure equity number and use it to directly generate a
strategy is certainly incorrect. When it comes to strategy, PokerStove is much better
suited to dealing with all-in decisions. When there is significant play left in the
hand, there are two scalar values which should drive your decision making
process. First, what is the chance that you have the best hand. Second, what is the
chance that a winning draw will give you the best hand. Beyond that, the playing
characteristics of your opponents should greatly inform how you play.
PokerStove does none of that. This is bad and good. It is bad because it is very
difficult to use it to generate strategies - should you raise for a free card? It is
good because what you are getting is very clear and easily understandable. There is
no real uncertainty in the meaning of the equities generated, only what to do with them.
Understanding how to use those equities is the one small part of the art of poker.
One practical application is to use them to estimate your EV in the late stages
of a tournament. The ICM Calculator
can use the equities generated by PokerStove to generate an estimate of that EV.
Q6. Why can't I get PokerStove to recognize the hands I enter?
You must use the Hand Distribution dialog. You can access this dialog by pressing
the button to the left of hand display. For example, if you want to select the
possible hands for the third player, click on the "Player 3" button.
Q7. What about Omaha high-low, or Stud?
At some point these games will be added, along with other party favorites like
lowball, draw, and razz. Unfortunately, there is no specific date for these games to
be added.
Q8. Is there a command line version of PokerStove?
Yes there is, but it is not currently available for general distribution. If you
are interested in purchasing it, send me email and I'll consider your situation.
The price for the command line version is $300.
Q9. I think I've found a bug, what should I do?
You can email the details of the bug to feedback@pokerstove.com. There are several
known bugs. The changelog.txt file which is included with PokerStove details some of them.
Q10. Is source code for PokerStove available?
No. If you are looking for source code, I would recommend going to the pokersource project at sourceforge.net. It is excellent code and runs
the back end of the Twodimes.net poker
page. The code is available under the GNU General Public Licensee (GPL).
I have made a version of my old Java
Poker Library available. It is fairly stale code, but you are free to use it
with no restrictions.
Q11. Do I need to register PokerStove?
Registration is provided only for communication purposes. If you are interested in
receiving news of new releases and bug-fixes, you may subscribe to the
pokerstove-announce mailing list by registering your email address.. There are no
features which can currently be unlocked by using a magical registration code.
Q12. How does the PokerStove slider rank preflop hands?
The slider interface for setting the top N% of hands orders the hands according
to their preflop all-in equity versus three random hands. This rather arbitrary
selection was picked because it balances the value of high cards with
the value of drawing cards. It is not an absolute ordering, and depending on
the specific situation you may want to edit that range of hands when doing equity
calculations.
Q13. PokerStove is a hot and cold simulator, what does that mean?
It means that all hands are simulated through showdown. No one is allowed to bet, raise
or fold. Because of this, there are a lot of unrealistic situations that might get included
in the equity calculation if you are using PokerStove to evaluate scenarious where there is
still betting to occur. If you have a good understanding of implied odds, effective odds, and
reverse implied odds, you should be able to benefit from the equity calculations. But any time
you use PokerStove in this manner, you should be careful about drawing strong conclusions about
how you should play the hand.
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