Playing Texas Holdem online can be a very fast and a very slow paced game at the same time. It seems the pace jumps up to full speed only when you are trying to figure out whether or not to stay in, fold, bet a little, or bet a lot. That's where odds calculating software comes into play. Whether you are a beginner or a poker veteran, taking a look at the actual numbers can be nothing but beneficial.
Since the odds of getting a certain number of cards out of another certain number of cards left is a mathematical problem yielding an individual answer, all Hold'em odds calculators should give you the same numbers. Basically, what it comes down to when choosing your odds calculator is look & feel and automatic card capturing compatibility. One of the top picks for features and value is a program you have probably come across allready called Poker Roommate. It is free to download and use, and unlike most odds calculators, the free version will automatically read your cards. When it comes to look and feel, it's really something you should gauge on your own. Poker Roommate has three different interface options, ranging from large to small or not at all. Whether you have a big monitor with high resolution, and prefer bigger numbers for the quick glance, or a smaller interface, each is just a menu click away. And if you don't want to see it at all until you've been dealt a hand, it can hide in your task bar until a hand has been dealt to you.
The second significant factor mentioned is automatic card reading poker site compatibility. Some odds calculators may advertise that they are compatible with every poker site on the internet, but in the fine print you may notice this compatibility is because you are required to type in the cards you get manually. Since that gets bothersome very quickly, make sure you find the list of sites that the program can capture cards for, and that your favorite casino site is amongst them. Sometimes this list will be buried in the software publishers web site, but very typically you should be able to find it via a front page link. If you are downloading from a shareware site such as download.com, and the program summary doesn't list the sites it is compatible with, be sure to visit the actual publisher's web site as well so you don't end up wasting time on a program that won't even work with your casino.
Of course, if you play for real money - speaking from an entirely monetary point of view - it is in your best interest to try more than one poker site purely for the new member sign up bonuses internet casinos offer. Online casino's new customer acquisition bonuses are very typically much bigger than the bonuses they offer to keep those who already play there. As a matter of fact, you may want to think about switching casinos every time you deposit. If you don't, you could be missing out on hundreds of free dollars.
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It's time for some inside information. There are only so many people on the planet playing internet Texas Hold'em right at this moment. If you were to tally every individual poker web site's claimed number of current players you would probably find a number that is a lot larger than expected. This leads us to one of the not so well kept internet casino secrets; that is the existence of poker networks. Poker networks are different poker sites pooling their players to play against each other. So although you are playing on Party Poker, your opponent sitting at the table to your direct left may be playing on Empire Poker, and to your right may be on PokerNow. Typically each of these sites uses the exact same software - it only appears different because of "skins" they have inserted to give their tables a new look and feel. Sometimes it takes a little digging to find out which network your poker site is on, but typically you should be able to find a compatible site within that network. If you have scouraged the net and still come up empty handed, you can always suggest a site to the software publishers themselves, or try a site that is compatible.