Poker Academy Blog

Prospector’s first third party application has been made by a user. It is free to use (although he provides no support) and gives you the ability to add your Live Tournament winnings for your bankroll.

The app creates a Poker Stars summary that can be imported into Prospector. It is a really simple interface and requires no help. Best of all, it is open source and the source code is included should anyone want to add any features.

Once you create the Tournament summary, save it in the same directory as your PokerStars (or any other site you play on) hand history folder. Prospector will then import it automatically.

 

Sam :: Mar.05.2008 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »

We like to think that we are magicians when it comes to the tournament summaries, but sometimes even we can’t foresee everything.

Not every site provides a tournament summary for us to parse (Full Tilt for example), and Poker Stars ones need to be requested from their automated service. The tournament editor can help you make your tournament data a lot more accurate by having you fill your known fields.

The editor can be launched from the Database Tab by selecting the tournament with the incomplete information and selecting ‘Edit Tournament’.  Fill in how much you have invested, how much you were awarded to help you get on track quickly and easily.

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Sam :: Feb.08.2008 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »

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The more and more you play online, the more your Prospector database is going to grow. There maybe sessions that you do not want to include in your analysis because someone else played them, you’re trying a new strategy, or you were just playing "badly" for the fun of it.  Whatever the reasons may be, database management can be a very effective tool for maintaining an easy to work with environment.

Sam :: Oct.12.2007 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »

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By going to the reports section in Prospector and selecting the magnifying glass next to the suited connectors, the detailed player stats for those types of hands are loaded. Loading up the hand types tab, and customizing the graph to display Raised Percentage and Hands Played Percentage can you give you an insight into whether or not there is a tendency to play low or mid suited connectors much to often.

Guidelines for Playing Suited Low and Mid Suited Connectors

1. Suited low and mid connectors should be played only when it is cheap or free. Playing in the blinds (or the button if the blinds are known to not raise) with limpers is advised.
2. Raise with middle ones occasionally for deception. Keep everyone on your toes. The ability to read suited connectors is key to a good strategy.
3. On the other hand, do not raise every time. Remain unpredictable.
4. Suited connectors are best played while in position. Only raise when you are on the button.
5. Watch the flops for 2 or 3 way potential. The more outs, the bigger you can make the pot.
6. Be very wary of being out-kickered.
7. Know your enemy. Play the suited connectors sparingly against the better players. Read your opponents well.
8. Know when to Hold ‘Em. Don’t be afraid to be outdrawn.
9. Know when to Fold ‘Em. Know how to get out of your hand gracefully.
10. Know when to go All-In. Don’t be afraid to drive the action by betting the best hand.

Sam :: Oct.02.2007 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »

The MA% smoothes out the change in hand statistics to show the longer term trend. The moving average is calculated by averaging the current hand over the previous hands to provide a value that is less susceptible to variance.

In Poker Academy Prospector, the moving average is a little different than is used in other places. We do not use a moving average over a period of time (ie: days, years, minutes), we use it in relation to number of hands.

If you have 10000 hands, and select a MA% of 20% for the Played% statistic, the first data point of Played% will be 2000 hands in. Each subsequent point on the Played % graph will then be an average of the last 2000 hands.

By setting the MA% to 0%, Prospector will put the value of your average over the entire selected session or applied filter.

Moving Average Examples:

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The first image is of a moving average of 5%. You can see the data is much more susceptible to small fluctuations in the way a game is played, since only the previous 5% of the total hands is used to calculate the data point.

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The second image has a moving average of 20%. The data points are much smoother and show a better long term outlook of playing style.

These graphs show that as a player tightens up (played percentage decreases), the total winnings are actually on the rise. With Poker Academy Prospector, we suggest a hands played percentage of roughly 35%. These statistics are easily displayed in the detailed player statistics window under the Actions tab.

Sam :: Sep.24.2007 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »

Importing hands into Poker Academy Prospector is quick and painless. But as you start to approach millions of hands, the time needed to parse and import all the information keeps growing. It is a good idea to start backing up your hand history databases. This can save many headaches down the road.

Backing Up

Prospector Application Directory

All Prospector hand history databases can be accessed quickly by doing the following:

• Go To Start Menu
• Select Run
• Windows XP Type:%AppDir%\PA-Prospector and hit enter.
• Windows Vista Type:%AppData%\PA-Prospector and hit enter.
• This will launch windows explorer, and the Prospector data directory

Sam :: Sep.20.2007 :: Prospector Tips :: No Comments »