The serious online poker player’s best kept secret is a software program known as Poker Edge. A while back, when I was just experiencing how to play online poker for the first time I decided to purchase this neat little program. After searching and researching many other Windows and Mac compatible poker software programs, I was amazed at the features of the Poker Edge software.
Poker Edge was successfully developed by two young computer science entrepreneurs from Carnegie Mellon, which is arguably one of the top computer science universities in the United States. What the software does is track every single player from major online poker rooms and resolves their statistics into an organized database for clients to view.
Is that an attractive poker software program or what? I certainly thought so.
Get it NowPoker Edge Review
To begin, lets sum up exactly what Poker-Edge is by paraphrasing the information on their website.
PokerEdge is a program with a Windows download and no download software for Mac and Linux. An incredible amount of statistics are available to you and there are over 600,000 players that have been tracked! With Poker Edge, you get a license to access all of this data and the best part is that all of the information is updated automatically! What this means for you is that the database keeps on growing and more players are being tracked every second.
Thats something else. Their website shows that they are tracking over 600,000 players, which certainly is not a simple task. I wonder how they created a poker software algorithm capable of such a feat, I can’t even imagine.
Unlike most other sites, the Poker Edge site is designed for use by everybody, which tells me something. It tells me that Poker-Edge isn’t concerned with polishing up their site to make sales, they actually care about their users. A simple, bland, white design is a plus in my book.
The customer testimonials are also a big plus for any new visitor. The fact that so many people are satisfied with the software, and are willing to testify to it, is a great thing to see. I really like to see how other people feel about a product before I buy it and Poker Edge feeds my needs perfectly.
Why Use Poker Edge?
So what’s the selling point for Poker Edge? The advantages listed on the homepage and the Why You Need It page are quite impressing.
- Know your opponents better than they know themselves.
- Play at the easiest and most profitable tables
- Instantly identify the fish and sharks.
- Maximize profits and minimize losing sessions
- Gain an EDGE over every other player
These are all wonderful reasons to use Poker Edge. What online poker player wouldn’t want to know how to read their opponents better than they even know themselves. And who wouldn’t want to know the tendencies of the table before sitting down? However, you can’t really instantly identify every player because some of them don’t have stats, it is fairly easy to take the advice that the Poker Edge software gives.
One thing that I noticed was missing from PokerEdge was the ability to find and add the fish to your buddy list automatically. But after reading thoughts from some of the players and getting the opinion of the author, it’s not such a bad thing that this feature isn’t there. The author actually left the feature out for the reason of possible over-abuse. The ability to automatically hunt down and add the worst players to your buddy list would make the online poker rooms more like a killing field than a fun poker game.
So How Does Poker Edge Work?
Main PokerEdge Screen
Quite simply actually. As you can see in the graphic, all that you have to do to look up the statistics on another player is enter their screen name into the text field and click search or press enter. Of course, the no download Mac / Linux compatible version is web based, and has a slightly different appearance. Take a minute and see the Poker Edge software in action.
In just as little time as it takes to say “Poker Edge” you have already downloaded the statistic on the player that you have requested. As you can see, you can filter the player by the game type, stakes, and game size. I really liked this feature because I usually play $200 NL and I notice that some players have a drastically different playing style when playing in a higher stakes game than their usual game. I can also see the games and stakes that they normally play at and I can see whether or not they are outside of their comfort zone.
Key stats such as hands played, pre flop raise percentage, and other stats are extremely useful in quickly determining how loose, tight, passive, or aggressive a player is.
There are also other tabs that can help you with your decision making process during certain betting rounds of the hand including preflop, flop, turn, river, and showdown. Useful preflop statistics include preflop raise percentage. If a player has a percentage lower than 4% you can usually bet that they are a tight player and that any preflop raise from them is genuine.
The flop statistics that are best used to see how often they go on to see the turn when faced with a bet, possibly making your decision to bet with a weak hand a profitable one. Useful statistics on the turn and river include the percentage of hands that they win if they bet or make a raise on the turn or river.
Unfortunately, Poker Edge lacks tournament tracking support so sit and go tournament and multi table tournament poker players don’t get as much value from the Poker Edge software as the typical ring game player does.
How Do I Track Other Players at Poker Edge?
This is the part of Poker Edge that makes it so popular and effective. You don’t have to do anything at all to track other poker players. Poker Edge automatically keeps track of the opponents plays and cards shown and then sends them to their server of over 600,000 already tracked players, adding even more information to the constantly rising heep of information.
You can see who is already tracked and who isn’t already tracked from the table selection screen of PokerEdge. If a player is grayed out and italicized, they have either not been tracked, or there is not enough information about them to determine their tendencies. If a player’s screen name is colored in any way, then they are tracked.
Screen Shot of Recent Showdowns
What do the Player Colors Mean at Poker Edge?
The colors signify the type of player that a player is, ranging from extremely loose to extremely tight. These players are given colors ranging from bolded green to regular black font to bolded red font.
A bolded green player means that the player is loose and passive, which is the worst type of poker player. If the player’s screen name is green, but not bolded then the player is a loose player, but calls a little less frequently than a bolded green player. Average players are signified by regular black font. You will never see a bolded average player.
What you don’t want to see at a table is a lot of red players. Red players are those who have tight starting hands. But it gets worse, if you find a bolded red player than you are more than likely playing against a rock. I would honestly rather play against a bolded red player than a regular red player because I know that I can pick up blinds more often from the rock than the regular red player.
Updates to Poker Edge
Players who decide to purchase Poker Edge get free updates for as long as they are customers. The most recent version has a huge amount of advanced data and even puts the key statistics right by the players while they are at the table.
How Much Does it Cost For Poker Edge?
Poker Edge has two types of plans, Plan A and Plan B. Both Plans have a 5 Day trial period where new users can test the software and cancel without being charged if they don’t like it.
Plan A: Designed for low and mid stakes players and covers all fixed limit tables up to $3/$6 and all no limit and pot limit tables up to $0.50/$1.00. Plan A is a great option for most players and is a cheap way to try out the Poker Edge software. The cost for Plan A is $9.99 a month. Of course there is a 3 Day trial period where new users can test the software and cancel without being charged if they don’t like it.
Plan B: Designed for all players, but especially has high stakes players in mind. All statistics are available for every stake of game in both fixed limit, no limit, and pot limit poker games. Plan B is the best option for players who wager large sums of money playing poker on the internet. The cost for Plan B is $19.99 a month. Of course there is a 3 Day trial period where new users can test the software and cancel without being charged if they don’t like it.
I can already see your mouth wide open wondering why the hell anybody would pay such a premium price for a simple poker software program. But that’s just it, how many people are even willing to shell out $20 for a poker strategy book? Or $50 for another software program that lacks many of the useful features, such as Poker Tracker? Poker Edge might have a premium price tag, but I guarantee you that you are getting a premium poker software program for the price, and you can stop using it at any time.
With prices like these, Poker Edge has positioned itself as an elite poker software program for serious poker players and players who want to win.
Get it NowHow Practical is Poker Edge?
Poker Edge couldn’t be a better fit for the serious poker player. There is nothing like the ability to break your opponent down by using the quantitative analysis that PokerEdge allows you to use. The proof is in the pudding, and in the following examples.
Example 1: Player XYZ raised 3x the blind preflop and you decided to call with KcQd. The flop comes down KdJd6c and the player checks to you, allowing you to bet the same amount as his preflop raise. He calls your bet and the turn card comes 3c, making a flush possible and giving you the King high flush draw. Your opponent checks to you and you make a half pot sized bet. Your opponent thinks for a second and raises your the size of the pot, putting you in a very tough spot. You take a moment to check his stats in Poker Edge and find that he raises the turn card only 5 percent of the time and wins 98% of the time that he does. After seeing this information you determine that he either already has the flush or at least three of a kind so you muck your cards, saving you from calling a large bet on the turn and river.
Example 2: You are new to the table and player XYZ reraises you before the flop when you hold 1010 in your hand. This is normally a marginal hand to a reraiser, but you check Poker Edge to see the typical tendencies of this player. You see that he is a fish and that he reraises preflop more than he makes the initial raise, about 18% of the time. You determine that you more than likely have the best hand and you want to win the pot now. You decide to push your remaining chips in the pot and he folds faster than a lawn chair, winning you a very nice pot without sweating it out.
Those are some examples of situations where you might not make the correct decision if you hadn’t had the help of the Poker Edge software. Obviously, there are many more that will probably save and make you plenty more money. So the question now is, if you are wagering so much money playing poker online, why don’t you pay for the program with the winnings you get from using Poker Edge?
Poker Edge for Advanced Players
Even advanced players who multi-table with several tables can utilize Poker Edge’s software. Poker Edge has added a unique feature where the player’s key stats, color code, and symbol are located right next to the player at the table. You couldn’t ask for a quicker or easier to use feature!
You can also quickly add notes in the text field that the main window of Poker Edge has. This is much easier than having to right click each player to add notes on them.
Problem Areas
The notes you enter can’t be transferred to the Poker Edge database for everybody to see. I don’t really see this as a bad thing though because I would expect bored players to start spamming the players notes.
For you Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Pineapple, and 5 Card players, I’m sorry. Poker Edge currently only supports Texas Holdem.
Conclusion
So is Poker Edge worth the investment? That seems to be the million dollar question and the answer is that it really depends on one thing, YOU.
The ease of use gets more and more difficult as you play more tables. Playing one or two tables is a breeze, but when you start playing three, four, or more tables, it begins to get difficult to multitask. It is helpful, however, that Poker Edge has the stats for each player listed directly next to their screen name.
Its a great thing knowing that your data is hidden if you are a Poker Edge software user. What a thought it is that you may be sitting at a table while other players are dumping your data into a huge database somewhere in order to scrutinize your play sometime during the game.
If you still aren’t sure, you should try Poker Edge free for 5 days.
Get it NowMore Screen Shots
If you are still considering becoming a user of Poker Edge, you should check out the following screen shots.
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Screen Shot of Poker Edge for PokerStars
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 Graphic of Hand Distribution by Poker Edge |
