Master Poker Readme File
© 2007 Computer Opponents Software. All rights reserved. Computer Opponents
Software and Master Poker are pending trademarks or registered trademarks of S. Eckert in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
For news and updates visit http://www.MasterPokerSoftware.com
CONTENTS
Gameplay Hints, Tips and other Information
Contact Information/Technical Support
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ)
FROM
THE DEVELOPER
First of all, thank you very much for purchasing Master Poker. This initial release is packed with powerful
features that should keep even hardcore players happy for a very long time.
For those who don't know, the
software was originally developed for me personally, to improve my own game, as
I couldn't find adequate commercial software for advanced No-limit play. Over
the course of two years it has become a major project for the benefit of not
just myself, but all of my poker brethren. The simple Graphical User Interface
is designed not to be flashy or cutting edge in appearance, but to be pleasant
and agreeable while spending hours on end attached to a computer screen. The AI
players are not designed to be the most skilled individual players possible,
but rather to create ideal real-world AI players who will challenge you just as
any table full of humans in the real world. Here, in MP, you will run into
tough players, tight players, aggressive players, rocks, maniacs and dead money
tourists. The idea is too present as realistic a combat atmosphere as possible,
forcing you to make good reads, to ‘dodge bullets’, to recognize traps, and to
survive the antics of not just tough, but inexperienced, crazy, and gambling
opponents. If I succeed in most of those areas you will become a better poker
player, and we will both feel a little better about ourselves and our game.
Please do not make illegal copies of my software. Master Poker was in development for over two years to bring you the most realistic and educational No-limit Hold’em simulation currently possible. I have refrained from implementing sophisticated copy protection schemes to make installation and continued operation as easy for you as possible. If you believe your purchase to be one of value, recommend your friends and extended family purchase their own copy. With determination and practice, Master Poker will help all of you gain back your money, hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of times over.
I hope you find Master Poker as user-friendly, educational, and enjoyable as I do. If you happen to find yourself dedicating untold hours to the application in the endless pursuit of poker excellence then I will have accomplished the first of two primary goals. If this dedication makes you a confident and successful poker player then my work here will be done. Please enjoy.
-Scott
INSTALLATION
How to Install
Start your computer with a clean boot (turn it off, then back on). Restart it if
is has been on for any reason prior to you sitting down, or has been in
hibernation mode at any point since your last clean boot.
After a fresh reboot turn off all Virus and Anti-Spyware software before attempting to install the application. In fact, it's important to turn off all running applications. Your Internet firewall might be the exception.
Place the Master Poker disc into your CD-ROM drive. The
Installer will typically take approximately 10-15 seconds to automatically begin
running, be patient. If the Installer does not
automatically run within one minute or so, click your ‘My Computer’ icon, then
right-click the CD Player icon and select ‘Explore’ to manually explore
the disc. Now double-click the file entitled "Setup.exe" to launch
the MP Installer.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
CPU:
Master Poker requires a Pentium®-compatible 233 MHz processor or better.
Operating
System: Master Poker is a Windows 98/ME/2000/NT/XP/Vista application.
Hard Drive Space: Installation of Master Poker occupies approximately 60 meg of
hard disk space.
Video: Master Poker requires an SVGA video card and a monitor capable of
displaying 800 x 600 pixels at a color depth of at least 256
colors. Master Poker may be viewed at higher resolutions, but is only capable
of being played full screen at 800x600 resolution (due to multiple cardroom
background options).
Sound: Master Poker requires a DirectX-compatible sound card.
CD-ROM:
The application comes on a CD and must be installed from a CD player.
The first screen you will see when starting the MP Application is a ‘Splash Screen’, which displays hints and tips regarding the software as you wait for the program to load. If you wish to freeze the loading process so you can finish reading a helpful hint, just click the 'Helpful Hint' label above the text (or you can click to either side of the tip text). The label will turn yellow to indicate the loading process has been paused (it will also say so at the bottom of the screen). If you wish to view another tip, click on the text body of the tip you're currently viewing. You may do this as many times as you wish, whether the loading process is paused or not. When you've finished reading, click the 'Helpful Hint' label again to resume loading Master Poker.
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Master
Poker was designed to be played full-screen at 800x600 resolution. Many
computers today come with a higher default resolution (particularly notebook
computers), and rather than run the program at a higher resolution (where the
table will appear much smaller), you can simply turn your resolution down to
display it as it should be (and turn it back up when finished). To easily
change your screen resolution just right-click on an open area of your Windows
desktop, then click on the menu option 'Properties'. You will then see a
window with several tabs across the top. Choose 'Settings'. Around the
bottom left of the Settings window is a slider that allows you to adjust your
screen resolution. Slide it to 800x600, and click 'Apply' (or 'Okay'
if the Apply button is dark). To return it back to where you originally had it,
just reverse the process.
SETTING UP YOUR NEW SOFTWARE
Master
Poker allows you to create player profiles for each member of your household,
so each can have their own stored personal preferences, history archives, etc..
Once the application has
finished loading the Splash Screen will be replaced by the ‘Main Sign-up’
Screen. In the upper left-hand corner of this screen is the active player
profile box. The default player profile is ‘Hero’. If you wish to input a new
player profile using your actual name or a screen nickname simply click the ‘Add’
button. You will receive an additional box where you may input a new player
name and player skill level, then click ‘okay’ to make that name a
permanent profile in your list of player profiles. This is the name that will
appear in your chair during any event or gaming session, and the name under
which the results of all events/sessions will be archived.
The player list displays the currently active profile, and may be accessed by clicking the down arrow at the right side of the list box. To change active players, simply click the arrow and choose a new active player from the drop-down list. To delete a name from the list make that player the active name then click the red ‘X’ to permanently remove that name from your stored profiles. Note: Deleted profiles and all of their archived history will be permanently lost.
Once
you have established a new player profile you will want to make adjustments to
the way the software functions from game to game to suit your specific needs or
personality. For example, let’s say you create a new profile named ‘Maverick’,
and another family member wishes to create their own profile, naming it
‘Drifter’. While playing under the Maverick profile you may direct the software
to deal the cards at a faster speed, to eliminate the dealing animation, or to
use specific buy-ins, chip levels and blind structures when playing different
events. These types of adjustments are your personal preferences, and will be
saved from session to session so you don’t have to constantly remind the application
how you like to play. When your other family member logs on and changes the
active player back to ‘Drifter’ he/she will not be straddled with your latest
preferences, but rather those preferences they last used. This allows all
players in your household to maintain their own personal preferences, each in
their own personal profiles.
Master
Poker uses a construct called ‘Dead Money Players’ to set the difficulty of a
given event or session. In the poker world Dead Money players indicate amateur
or novice players who represent easy marks for tough or professional players.
Dead Money players know how to play poker, and they are not stone beginners,
but they do not possess the advanced skills of tough players. In setting up each
type of event you will be presented with a slider to set the DM% of the event
between 0-100%. The percentage of DM players in your event determines how tough
a game will actually be. For example, if you set the DM% to 50% in a Cash Game,
as players come and go each chair has a 50% chance of being filled with a DM
player. If it does not hold a DM player it will hold either a ‘Tough’ or
‘Aggressive’ player. These are known as AI player personalities. They are Dead
Money, Tough, and Aggressive; and each have their own unique playing style. If
you were playing in a large tournament, then approximately 50% of all
players in the tournament will be DM players.
So once
again, the higher the number of DM players, the easier the game (in general).
For new or novice players it's recommended to begin at 100% Dead Money (this
will still provide you a challenging game), and move down 10-20% at a time as
you find long term success. For advanced players, to come closest to reality,
it is recommended to use a DM% of around 25-35% in tournament play, and perhaps
10-20% in cash game play. The reason for this is that DM players offer a
different type of danger than tough players, but a very real danger
nevertheless (as any good tournament player knows well). For a purely entertaining
game, try around 60-70% DM, giving you a table that is loose enough to keep the
game from getting boring, while still providing tough players who must be taken
into consideration.
Each time
you play a Tournament event or Cash Game session the results of your session
are recorded to your own personal history archive so you can track your
progress over time. In order to view your personal history simply click the ‘View
History’ button on the Main Sign-up Screen.
Master
Poker contains the most recent blind structures for many of the most popular
online sites, as well as the primary World Series of Poker events, the WPT
Championship Tournament, and several structures unique to the Master Poker
Software. You should be able to find the actual structure you are accustomed to
during your live or online sessions, but if not, you have the ability to alter
existing structures or to input your own custom structure, setting all data, including
the number of starting chips, the number of blind levels, each blind level
increase amount, the number of hands that pass between levels, etc.. These
custom structures may then be added to your list of permanent structure
options. To create your own custom structure click the button ‘Create New
Structure’ on the Main Sign-up Screen.
The
current list of MP structures may also be modified/updated at any time,
allowing you to maintain the most up-to-date structure data relevant to your
favorite website or intended event.
Note: To keep players from being forced to use a structure’s default starting chipstacks and ‘hands-per-level’ values when using a structure, these variables may be adjusted independently on the event set-up screens. As a result, if you had been playing at certain levels when you loaded a new structure the starting chipstacks and ‘hands-per-level’ values may still hold the data you were using with the old structure. Pass your cursor over the starting chipstack and ‘hands-per-level’ value boxes themselves to see what levels of each the structure author recommends for the current structure.
Most
competing poker software places all players out of your view into a buffered
waiting list where the software simulates players being knocked out of
the tournament. For example, in a 100 table tournament where each table seats
10 players, of the 1000 players in the tournament you will see only the 9 AI
players at your table. The balance of competitors are not sitting at their own
tables playing their own hands, but have been relegated to a waiting list (an
array) to wait their turn to move to Table 1 (your table). The benefit of this
system is that is it much faster (computer speed), as no real hands are being
played behind the scenes. A simple mathematical algorithm determines whether
any given player has been knocked out by the last hand and if so, redistributes
his chips to the remaining players in that unseen list. The problem of course,
is that this is not realistic, and overall chip position for any given player
is completely artificial. Designing an algorithm that could accurately
calculate accurate chip position for hundreds or thousands of competing
players (of all different skill levels) might be possible, but would be extremely
difficult.
In Master
Poker all of those excess players outside of your view are actually playing
their own hands, just like you, each and every deal. Their chip positions will
be precisely what they would be in the real world. The number of players
knocked out, regardless of their skill levels, will be exactly as they would be
in the real world. The dynamics of each and every hand throughout the
tournament will be just as they would be in the real world, and the event will
unfold just as if each chair in the tournament had a real live player sitting
in it. The downside to this system is the affect it may have on an older
computer’s speed. In multi-table tournaments your hand may be finished, but all
other tables will still need to finish their hands before play may continue.
Playing a tournament at the maximum size (5k players) on a slower processor (by
today’s standards) might take a second or two. The delay on any computer
should not be discouraging, but it was worth mentioning. The remedy for older
computers of course is to shrink the size of your tournament fields. There are
few tournaments in the world where the field even approaches 2k players. The
field in typical online tournaments should range in size from 100-800 players,
assuming the event is not a Freeroll.
Use the in-game HELP system when confused about an option or the purpose of a command button. There is a 'Help' tip for nearly every aspect of Master Poker. Right-click most topics/options/buttons to bring up the blue underlying Help window for that object.
Multi-table Tournaments can be played with anywhere from 2 tables (simulating a large Sit & Go/Satellite) to a maximum of 500 tables (a massive tournament). Each table in your tournament can host from 2 players (pure heads-up format), to as many as 10 players (a typical big tourney format). Tournaments are played until you, the human player, have either won or are knocked out by another player. Large tournaments typically reward the top 10-12% of finishers with a share of the prize money. Your event finishes, as well as any resulting prize money, will be archived to your personal history.
Sit & Go's (also called Satellites, One-table Tournaments, etc.) are a single table tournament where you're objective is to be the last player standing. Your S&G table can be adjusted to begin with anywhere from 2-10 players, with a typical format hosting 6-9-10 players. Sit & Go's are played until you, the human player, have either won or are knocked out by another player.
Survivor is a Master Poker exclusive. It is the same game you play as with a S&G, but instead of trying to win first place, you're trying to 'survive' for as long as possible against relentlessly rising antes/blinds, and an infinite number of potential opponents (players are immediately replaced each time they are busted). It is meant as a device to help you develop patience, stamina and staying power under pressuring tournament conditions. Since you always play for as many hands as possible you will face more high-blind situations than you would expect to see in a normal S&G, forcing you to adjust your play to changing conditions. It is highly recommended you use the same blind structure you would be facing in your regular tournament play.
Cash Games are played at a single table, typically against familiar players, where you buy-in just as you would in the real world and cash out whenever you feel like quitting. You can set up your table with anywhere from 2-10 players (including yourself). Antes and blinds are always fixed (and can be set pre-game). As opponents go broke, they will be replaced by new players aimed at taking your money. The results of your cash game sessions will be tracked and archived into your personal history.
Basic Event Preferences
In all
types of events you may set preferences for entry fees, starting chipstack
sizes, players per table, blind settings, and the level of Dead Money players.
In Multi-table Tournaments you will also have the option of setting the number
of starting tables and implementing Rebuys and Add-ons. In Cash Games you will
also have the option of whether or not to put a ‘Rake’ on the game.
Since my
primary goal in development of this software was to coerce you into playing
hours and hours of poker, day after day, month after month, I felt it important
to give you a variety of cardroom locations around the world in which to do so.
Who wants to stare at the same screen all day long? Isn’t it much more
interesting to escape that dark back room now and then to travel the world and
play in exotic locations?
This option holds the name of the current cardroom. To change active cardrooms, simply click the arrow on the right side of the box and choose a new cardroom location from the drop-down list. Poker is played all over the world. Where are you in the mood to play today?
This option allows people of different personalities to
choose a color conducive to their own personality or to simply chose a color in
line with their current mood today. To change active table colors,
simply click the arrow on the right side of the box and choose a new table
color from the drop-down list. Being able to choose table color allows you to
mix and match your cardroom location and table color in creating the most
visually appealing environment possible.
The
drop-down box holds the name of the color/style of playing cards currently in
use. There are many decks from which to choose. Assorted card colors offer you
some flexibility if the current deck colors blend too closely with the table
color, making them difficult to see. Click the down-arrow for deck style
options.
Master
Poker possesses may specific personal preference options to give you the most
efficient and pleasant playing experience possible. These options are displayed
using checkboxes on the Main Sign-up Screen and may be changed from event to
event or kept for your lifetime:
GENERAL OPTIONS
This section provides miscellaneous options to make your
play more pleasant, more realistic, more convenient, and more efficient. On the
Main Sign-up Screen, right-click individual options for specific details.
Typically, when you conventionally fold your hand play
will continue between AI players until the hand has ended just as if you were
sitting at a real table. This allows you the option to watch a hand being
played out to the end. Enabling this option will auto-zip you to the end of the
hand the moment you fold your own hand (instead of manually clicking 'Zip').
Note: In multi-table tournaments all other tables will still need to finish
their hands before play may continue.
This option provides you a warning box when 'zipping'
through starting hands to prevent you from accidentally folding a big starting
hand such as AK or a large pair.
Instructs the dealer to let you know when empty seats at
your table are being filled by new AI players.
Instructs the dealer to let you know when the blinds go up
in any format with constantly rising blinds.
Turbo blinds (rise 50% faster)
Allows you to play a 'Turbo' version of your current blind structure, meaning the blinds will rise 50% faster than normal. Many online cardrooms have this option in play for players who get bored quickly or are short on time. It forces the action and brings a quick conclusion to most game structures. If the option is in play you will see the word ‘Turbo’ beneath the ‘Next Blind Level’ label at the bottom of the table screen’s playing data window.
Advise on AI chip purchases
In cash games, instructs the dealer to let you know when an NPC player has purchased more chips.
Hint: In No-limit Hold'em it is always advantageous for good players to be in possession of as many chips as possible, since you never know when that big opportunity will come along. Likewise, it is good practice to always be aware of the general number of chips possessed by each of your opponents at any given time.
Show cards being dealt
This option allows you to turn on/off the animation displaying flying cards as they are being dealt to all active players. If turned off, freshly dealt cards will just instantly appear in front of active players at the start of each new hand (allowing more hands to be played in the same amount of time).
Show all sidepot action
The dealer must often make pot refunds to players, divide split-pots, and track side-pots. This option instructs the dealer to let you observe each one of these transactions as they occur. If cleared, you will only be bothered with the outcome of the main pot.
Activate Office Magician
Provides an easy-access button near your cards that can be used to make the MP table quickly disappear from your screen (poof!), revealing the Window's Desktop (leaving no trace of MP on the Windows task bar). When the coast is clear, a small button in the lower right corner of your screen can be used to return to your game. Not that I condone playing poker at your workplace or without the permission of a controlling spouse, but ... it's here for you if you need it.
Disable history tracking
This option allows you to disable your history tracking. This means no entry will be made into your personal history archives at the conclusion of each game. Any current history entries will remain unaffected, and history tracking may be toggled back on at any time.
GAME STUDY OPTIONS
This section of options provides you with tools to enhance
further study of the game. You may right-click individual options (on the Main
Sign-up Screen) for specific details.
This option allows you to left-click your cards for tips
on how to play a PREFLOP hand under very specific conditions. It is a GUIDE to
preflop play of the hand, but not the only way to play a particular hand. The
main hurdle most novice players encounter is in playing far too many hands. The
Starting Hand Guide can not only help you decide which hands to play and which
to toss, but will often give you the precise reason's as to why, pointing out
attributes of the unfolding hand you may not have immediately noticed. This
guide is HIGHLY recommended for new, unsure, novice, rusty, and/or
inexperienced players (and a few who believe they already know what they're
doing)."
Shorthanded play (2-5 seated players): The SHG is not available in shorthanded games due to the need to substantially loosen your starting hand requirements. Similar conditions exist as the blinds grow larger in Tournament style events. During Tournaments, the Guide will no longer attempt to analyze table conditions once the Big Blind reaches approximately 10x's it's initial size.
The SHG is ideally suited for use at full tables during
the early stages of Tournament events, but it is also closely applicable to
Cash Games (perhaps a little more loose than it should be). Novices will gain
the most educational benefit by using it under Tournament conditions in tandem
with the ‘Never Raise Blinds’ preference (as a study environment). In
Cash Games you may ignore comments regarding such concerns as stack size,
rising blinds, having your opponent covered, etc., which were obviously
designed to be applicable only to Tournament conditions.
When a hand is over, this option allows you to go back and view the starting hands of all players (typically, to see where you went wrong). It is incorporated into the same button you use to read a running text review of the hand. When activated, click once to see all starting hands, click again to read the running text review of the hand (which is excellent for cutting and pasting hands to be discussed in Internet forums).
Deal my cards face down
Deals your cards face down. You must right-click them to get a peek and releasing the mouse button hides them from view again. This option can be used to practice for brick and mortar play, where your cards are face down on the table and recall plays a role.
Activate Board Observer
The Board Observer keeps an eye on the board during the Flop, Turn, and River, and warns you of dangerous conditions by wrapping colored frames around the board cards. It shouldn't take you long to memorize the different colored frame meanings, but you may click the colored question mark Help box just to the right of the displayed frames if you need help. The colored frame warnings are as follows:
Dotted purple: The board is paired at a rank of 9 or lower (not as dangerous as a higher pair, unless an unraised pot, or you hold Two-Pair without Top Pair).
Solid purple: The board is paired at a rank of 10 or higher (this is very dangerous since most players tend to play high cards).
Dotted blue: Two flush cards on board. Any player could have a Flush DRAW (if they hold two matching suited cards).
Solid blue: Three flush cards on board. Another player could already have a MADE Flush.
Dotted yellow: There are two cards to a HIGH Straight on board (8 or higher). Any player could have a Straight DRAW. While lower Straight Draws are important to notice they are much less dangerous than high Straight Draws.
Broken yellow: There is a Gutshot on board, meaning any other player only needs 1 card to make a Straight. While lower Gutshots usually hold less danger than higher ones (unless the preflop pot was unraised), you must be aware of all present due to many player's tendency to play Ace-Small.
Solid yellow: There are at LEAST three cards to a HIGH Straight on board (8 or higher). Any player at the table could already have a Straight. While lower Straights are a definite concern, they are much less dangerous.
If the Amount-To-Call (ATC) is greater than zero when it is your turn to act, the total amount of money in the pot and the current pot odds will be displayed just to the right of your cards for easy reference. 'Pot odds' is a term used to describe the return you can expect on your chip investment. For example, if the amount to call is 100, and there are currently 300 chips in the pot, you are receiving pot odds of 3-1 on your money (if you win, you will receive 300 chips for the 100 you put at risk). Advanced players use pot odds to determine if a play is profitable or not over the long run. For example, when holding four hearts on the flop, there are nine remaining hearts in the deck. With 47 unseen cards you have about a 4-1 chance of catching a heart on the next card. Simply speaking, since you're only getting 3-1 odds on your money at risk, calling under these circumstances say one thousand times in a row would be viewed as unprofitable since in the long run you will lose more than you will win (without considering another advanced concept known as 'Implied odds'). Note: For those folks with vision issues (like myself), try right-clicking the tiny gray 'pot size' and 'pot odds' labels for a magnified view.
When the hand has ended, the winner's hand will be turned
face up even if the hand did not go to a showdown. This allows you to see a
victorious AI player's holding even if you didn't pay to do so.
This option activates the human decision timer. When it is
your turn to act the timer begins to count down. If you have not yet acted when
the timer expires, your hand will be folded. This can be used to simulate
online play, where timers are used to push play along. To customize the timer
to suit your personal needs simply input your desired time-limit in the 'Decision
Timer' box on the Main Sign-up Screen.
Turn off AI realism
Realism actions include such AI activity as pausing a moment to 'think' on tough decisions, slowing the game to a more relaxing pace as if you were playing in a real online game (but not that slow). Clearing this box eliminates such delays from the game.
Record every hand I play
Check this box if you would like Master Poker to record the running text summary of every hand in which you're involved during the next session or event. This hand data will then be saved in a numbered text file in your Master Poker directory which can be viewed and manipulated with any text editor or word processing program such as Windows Notepad, MS Word, or Wordperfect. This is much easier than trying to record every individual hand to your Hand Archive (for those hardcore players who wish to evaluate every move they make).
Note: To save individual hands hit the ESCAPE key at the conclusion of any hand and click Archive Hand to save a text summary of the last hand played into your Hand Archive (including session type, date, time, notes, and all player starting hands). These individual 'archived' hands may then be accessed from your personal History Screen at your convenience.
HANDICAPPING OPTIONS
This section of options allows you to gain special
advantages over AI players. You may right-click individual options for specific
details.
This option allows you to view an AI player's personality
type by moving your cursor over their name label. In time, by observing the
actions of players around you (both AI and human) their playing style will
become evident. You will learn to pick up small attributes such as how a player
likes to open with a big pair, how often they play garbage as though they were
holding a monster, or how he/she responds when the table is checked around on
the flop. These little types of attributes add up to become a player's 'style',
and this information can be critical when making a tough call.
Instead of giving yourself the ability to peek at an AI
player's personality type, this option allows you to display it on screen at
all times. This can be a valuable tool for novices when learning to evaluate
and recognize different playing styles.
This option gives you the ability to peek at your
opponent's cards by right-clicking on them. Used properly, it can be a valuable
learning tool to confirm your suspicions or to verify your reading of an
opponent's hand. To get the most long-term benefit discipline yourself to make
a decision on folding your own hand BEFORE exposing your opponent's hand.
Often-times when folding, players will ask the dealer to
see what the next card off the deck would have been. Among veteran players this
is known as 'Rabbit Hunting'. Checking this option gives you the ability to do
exactly that, peek at the next card to be dealt (the Turn or River card).
This option suppresses the blinds, keeping them at their
starting level for the duration of a Tournament or Sit & Go, regardless of
how long it lasts (not needed for Cash games, not allowed for Survivor games).
This feature can be useful for novices who are just learning the game by
setting the blinds to never rise in a multi-table Tournament where you are
making avid use of the Starting Hand Guide (which typically becomes less
effective as the blinds rise).
Enabling the Never-Go-Broke option means there are always
more chips waiting for you should you go broke at the table. If your current
chipstack is lost, you will be allowed to continue playing and instantly
receive another stack appropriate for the game type, the opposing table stacks,
and the current stage of the event.
Note: Can not be used in Survivor.
SOUND CONTROLS
This section provides miscellaneous sound options. The visual input alone from playing hundreds or even thousands of poker hands in a single session can be tedious on one's mind. Superfluous sound effects in this type of application will only add to that toll. While I have intentionally kept the bells and whistles to a minimum, even those present will grate on some player's minds more than others. To make your play more pleasant, feel free to extinguish any sound effects that interrupt your playing experience (by clearing the checkbox).
Old or incompatible sound cards are also responsible for many system crashes, especially on older Window’s systems. Though Master Poker uses very simple sound coding and has not yet experienced these types of crashes it is always a possibility. If you’re crashing often during game play (while seated at the table), it’s possible your sound card is to blame. Try removing the different sound options one at a time.
In all events, when seated at the table you will always have a command button option to ‘Zip’ to the end of a hand with the push of a single key. This will usually be used preflop after seeing your starting cards, and allows you to quickly skip over the rest of a hand you are not interested in playing. In multi-table tournaments all other tables will still need to finish their hands before play may continue. In very large tournaments on older computers this may take a second or two.
In all events, when seated at the table you will see several tracking stats at the bottom middle of the screen. These include the total percentage of hands you've played (of the total dealt), your aggression level, your limping percentage, and the number of times you've laid down the best hand. Put your cursor over the individual labels to see additional comments once an event has been underway for a while. Each of these user stats are pretty self explanatory, except perhaps the variable tracking your 'Aggression Level'. Basically, this important factor displays the frequency at which you have chosen to bet, raise, or reraise over passively checking or calling when facing certain key conditions in your session. The factor doesn't reflect every check, call, bet or raise you've made, just those under certain conditions. For example, a passive check will be registered if you see the flop, facing two or less opponents and you check when you hold nothing. This is too passive in NL Hold'em, and if you make a habit of it, it will affect your long term results. An example of a passive call might be if an opponent makes a stab at the pot and you have no pair, no draw and no pot odds to whatever few outs you have, but you still smooth call, perhaps trying to pair an overcard. This is chasing, and is a bad thing. It will be reflected in your aggression level. Examples of good moves are any initial bets made when not holding a monster, and of course any time you raise another player's bet. The idea is to increase the novice's awareness of the importance of not stringing too many passive plays together over a long session. Advanced players who play more than around 25% of the hands dealt can ignore this stat completely, as passive play usually becomes part of your game.
A note to novices: Short of setting occasional traps for your opponents your thought process should normally be to FOLD, or ATTACK, especially if you sense weakness. Your primary goal should always be to put your opponents to tough decisions with your aggressive play and NEVER be a 'Calling Station'. Novices should aim to keep their aggression factor at or above 65-70% over the long run.
Prize Money
In regards to poker, it’s
always more fun to play for money than to play for finishing position. It’s for
this reason that I included a basic prize money structure for all Tournaments
and Sit and Go events. If the event has a buy-in of at least $1 it will have a
cash prize pool. Once the event begins click the ‘Prize Pool’ label in
the lower right corner of the Table Screen to see a breakdown of the prize pool
payouts for the event. Cash prizes will be recorded to your personal history
archives so you can see if you are a winning player over the long term.
History Tracking
The Personal History
Screen keeps track of all of your event sessions and allows you to save and
delete records at your behest. The data collected varies for each event, but
includes such values as the date played, starting chipstacks, the number of
event entrants, the number of hands played, prize money won, etc.. Click the ‘View
History’ button on the Main Sign-up Screen to access the History Screen.
You may then click the drop-down arrow to see a list of all event types.
Highlighting the event for which you would like to view your archived sessions
will list all recorded sessions for that event.
Leaderboard
Once your session has
begun you will find an active ‘Leaderboard’ in the lower left corner of
the screen. In single table events, this board displays the current top three
players in chip position at the table. In multi-table events it displays the
current top three players in chip position from all tables in the Tournament.
Put your cursor over the chip leader’s name to see his/her personality type.
Important Note: Just as you right-click (and hold the button down)
to view the Help window for the Leaderboard, you may left-click (and
hold down the mouse button) to see additional event data such as the total
chips in play, the average stack size, the percentile of chips you hold
overall, the number of Big Blinds you have left in your stack, and your current
'M' factor (for those of you familiar with this Paul Magriel construct).
Hand Tracking Summary Box
Once your session has begun you will find an active ‘Hand
Tracking Summary’ box in the lower right corner of the screen. This window
displays a summary of
all past winning hands, including the hand number, the winner's name, the pot
size, and a summary description of the winning hand if the hand went to a showdown.
It tracks data for the duration of the current session only.
Poker Hand Rankings
When viewing the Table Screen double-click on ‘Hand
Rankings’ in the lower right corner of the screen to see a breakdown of all
poker hands by their rank (from top to bottom). This little feature should be helpful to folks who
are new to the game (or just could never seem to remember if a Flush beats
Three of a Kind).
To make
your playing experience as uncomplicated as possible Master Poker contains
nearly forty stored blind structures covering many of the most popular
online sites, as well as all of the World Series of Poker events, the WPT
Championship Tournament, and several structures unique to the Master Poker
Software. Be sure to check the structure drop down list for your favorite
website before bothering with creating a custom structure.
Your Hand Archive: Saving Individual Hands (for future
evaluation)
During the course of a hand you may bring up the Hand
Review box and see a running text account of the hand as it has unfolded to
that point. The text in this box may be ‘cut and pasted’ to any text utility,
allowing you a way to save the action in any hand you wish for future review.
This is great for posting hands on the internet, e-mailing to friends, etc.,
but interrupts your session play and requires the use of other software to
actually save the hand to a file. With this in mind, I’ve added a feature that
allows you to automatically save individual hands to your own ‘Hand Archive’
file (a database actually) without having to ‘cut and paste’ it, even allowing
you to add notes to it so you can remember why you wanted to save it in the
first place. These ‘archived’ hands can then be accessed from your Personal
History Screen, where they may be viewed (and ‘cut and pasted’) at your
leisure. All of your archived hands will remain intact until you personally
delete them from your computer. To permanently save a hand to your Hand Archive
simply hit the ESCAPE key at the conclusion of any hand and click the Archive
Hand button.
Note: For
those of you who would like to record every single hand played in an event or
session take a look at the ‘Record Every Hand I Play’ personal
preference on the Main Sign-up Screen. It is better suited for saving groups of
hands at one time.
Saving Your Session
From the Table Screen, hit the ESCAPE key (or click the asterisk button) to bring up the Options Menu and click 'Save Session'. This saves your current session to disk so you may finish it at a later date. If you have the preference 'Record Every Hand I Play' activated, your played hands to that point will also be preserved until you restart the session. There's no need to save them separately.
KEYBOARD/MOUSE
CONTROLS
Esc – Toggles the Options Menu on/off during an
event or session.
Left Mouse Button – Performs an action
depending on the situation:
Right Mouse Button – Right-click most objects and labels on the screen to display Help
for that object. You will typically receive a small blue window describing the object or
label.
A – To
make an All-in bet or All-in call.
C – To
Check or Call.
B – To
make the minimum initial Bet.
D – To
Deal.
F – To
Fold.
P – To
bet the Pot (if it meets the minimum bet qualification)
R – To
make the minimum Raise.
Z – To
Zip the hand to a conclusion.
* – To
bring up the Options Menu (you can also use the ESC key).
1-10 - Numeric Keys. Used for betting. Preflop this will raise a multiple of the Big Blind (BB) above the posted BB. Once someone else raises it will reraise a multiple of the last raise, above the ‘To Call’ amount. On the Flop/Turn/River, it will be a percentile of the pot, until an initial bet has been posted, at which time it become a multiple of the last bet/raise above the ‘To Call’ amount. For example, if the pot is 500 and you are the first to act after the flop pressing the ‘2’ numeric key will bet 20% of the pot, or 100 chips. Pressing ‘5’ would bet 50% of the pot, or 250 chips. If another player makes the initial bet, then your numeric keys become a multiple of their initial bet (instead of a percentile of the pot). For example, if an opponent bets 100 into a pot of 500 on the flop, it is 100 to you to call. If you press the 3 key, your bet will be his 100 plus a raise of 3x his bet (300 more), for a total wager of 400 chips. You have raised 3x (key ‘3’) his initial bet.
F3 Key – In any cash game, while between hands, use the F3 Key on your keyboard to instantly reload your stack (get more chips) to the max allowed under the rules for your current session.
F4 Key – At the end of any hand use the F4 key on your keyboard to automatically save the last hand played to your individual Hand Archive.
F6 Key – At the end of any hand use the F6 key on your keyboard to instantly save your game to your hard drive. This allows you to pick it up at that same spot at any time in the future (using the 'Resume Saved Session' button on the Main Sign-up Screen). It does not mean you must quit the current game.
PrintScr
– To take a Screenshot of anything displayed in Master Poker (perhaps to
discuss a hand with a friend through e-mail), click the keyboard key 'Printscr'
(print screen). This saves a copy of what is displayed on your screen to the
Windows Clipboard. Now start any paint program. Windows comes with a little
utility called 'PAINT' that will work fine. Start the paint program and click
the 'paste' button (or use a menu to find the 'paste' command). The graphic image you
captured should be displayed in the paint program. You can now save it, mark it
up with textual notes, send it to a friend, whatever.
Betting Slider (Mouse Passover) – The Betting Slider bar is used to make any bet or raise not covered by the one-touch keyboard options. Pass your mouse cursor over the area just above the gray button bar at the right edge of the screen to bring the Betting Slider bar into view (as needed). A yellow label highlights this area each time your new session begins. You do not need to click anything for this action to take affect.
Note: You may only access the Betting Slider when it is your turn to act, since it must first calculate the minimum amount you are allowed to bet/raise at the time of your turn.
GAMEPLAY
HINTS, TIPS, AND OTHER INFORMATION
General Help
Right-click any option or personal preference for information on that object. If
the object has associated 'Help' data it will be displayed in a small blue
window.
The Artificial Intelligence for most commercial poker applications has several major flaws, but two of these flaws stand out above all others:
1) They toss dice for important decisions. For example when an obvious action is not present the application will simulate a die roll, calling for a random number between 1 and 3. The results of that roll might be:
1) They fold.
2) They call.
3) They raise.
It’s as simple as that, with no regard for the type of event, blind levels, number of opponents, betting patterns, stack sizes, past action, player tendencies, current table conditions, board dangers, etc. (on and on). While random AI actions certainly have their place, this type of logic will be predictable and unrealistic.
2) They cheat. It 's just much easier to look at the human player’s cards than to write real-life logic for such a sophisticated game. Think about how easy it would be for even a non-poker player to write logic such as the following examples:
Look at the human's cards to see if he is bluffing. If he is, and I have him beat, then call 50% of the time.
If the human limps with any garbage hand, raise 50% of the time with any hand with which I would normally have just called.
If the human has made a bet on any board with less than top pair, raise 35% of the time, call 35% of the time, and fold 35% of the time (unless I have him beat).
AI opponents using this type of cookie-cutter logic are good for one thing; arcade games. This elementary logic doesn't take into account the various dynamic conditions occurring at the poker table on any given hand. This means their actions will always be plastic, and never be realistic. You can run the simplest bluff and you have a 50% chance of succeeding. You can run the most complicated bluff ever conceived, and you still have the same 50% success rate. Not only does this make the AI players unskilled and predictable, it also violates the cardinal rule for good poker software. It prevents your software from teaching you what will and will not work in the real world. This is why nearly all poker software is so easy to master after a few hours of play. It takes you a few hours to find the tendencies, the weak spots, the loopholes, the patterns, the bugs, and then suddenly you’re killing every cash game you play, or making the money in every other tournament and winning quite often. You're mastering the software, not the game. If you play for real money, this type of software will cost you a small fortune in the long run because it will only give you false hopes and false expectations. They are meant to play poker with you. That's all. They are not meant to play poker well.
Master Poker's AI player's make decisions based on a full range of dynamic table conditions, just as you would. They attack, steal and defend, just as you would. They bluff,
bully, intimidate, and occasionally run for cover, just like you would. And they do it all without looking at your cards. Read that last sentence again. While MP players will certainly track your tendencies and use that tracking data to their advantage (as if observing you at the table), they will never make any decision on the current hand by looking at your cards. Never. As I said, this software was originally intended for me personally, and one of the things I always wondered about in using any poker software is whether or not they're looking at my cards to make their decisions. If I thought they were the whole package would go straight in the garbage. In MP you never have to wonder. I'm making it very clear right
now--they are not.
Master
Poker is not meant to be a poker book, per se’, but there are two primary
locations in the application to find hints and tips on how to become a better
poker player. They are the ‘Hints and Tips’ displayed across the red Splash
Screen while the program is loading, and those contained within the Starting
Hand Guide. If you are a novice student interested in improving your game make
it a point to freeze the red starting screen (by clicking on ‘Helpful Hint’)
and flip through the various generalized playing tips (by clicking on the text
body of the hint itself). The Splash Screen hints are few and general in
nature. For more detailed study in the play of starting hands enable the
Starting Hand Guide in your personal preferences, then left-click your preflop
hand when it is your turn to act to see advice on the play of your starting
hand. While the Starting Hand Guide pertains only to the first time you act in
preflop action it is in the choice of starting hands where most novices get in
trouble while learning the game. A note to beginners/novices: The most
drastic improvement in your game will be achieved in learning when to play or
fold your starting hands. postflop play against solid players is already very
difficult without going into it with a weak or vulnerable holding.
On any
given hand this can be copied like any other Windows 'cut and paste' operation.
Click the 'Review' button at the end of a hand to bring up the text display
describing how the hand unfolded. Hold down your mouse cursor and drag it over
the text in the box to highlight what you wish to copy. Then right-click inside
the highlighted area and 'Copy'. Just like a screenshot, this will save a copy
of the text to the Windows clipboard. You can now 'paste' it into any word
processing program (such as MS Word) or text utility (such as Windows Notepad).
You can then save it, add your own notes, e-mail it to a friend, post it on a
website or forum for discussion, whatever.
Note: As stated earlier, you can instantly save a permanent copy of the hand to your own Hand Archive file by hitting the ESCAPE key at the end of the hand and clicking on Save Hand. These hands may then be reviewed at any time from your Personal History Screen.
To take a
Screenshot of anything displayed in Master Poker (perhaps to discuss a hand
with a friend through e-mail), click the keyboard key 'Printscr' (print
screen). This saves a copy of what is displayed on your screen to the Windows
Clipboard. Now start any paint program. Windows comes with a little utility
called 'PAINT' that will work fine. Start the paint program and click the
'paste' button (or use a menu to find the 'paste' command). The image you
captured should be displayed in the paint program. You can now save it, mark it
up with notes, send it to a friend, whatever.
Chatting with AI players
Don’t be silly, you can’t chat with the AI players (at least not yet).
I’d like
to take a moment to throw kudos at the increasing throng of talented and
charismatic poker television hosts (in the U.S. and abroad) who keep this game
interesting for the layman from week to week. In addition to genuinely
knowledgeable commentary, there have been many times where I nearly fell out of
my chair at the clever, intuitive and quick-witted comments made by analysts.
This includes the folks at the WSOP, the WPT, High Stakes, Poker Superstars,
the PPT, Fox Sports, Ultimate Challenge, the Heads-up Championship, Late Night
Poker, Poker After Dark, Poker Dome, the Aussie Millions, and anyone else I'm
callously forgetting. I'm not kidding when I say I have never met a television
poker host I did not like, and that's the truth. Coming from me, it might even
be a sign of the end times. Now, if we can find a way to remove some of the fluff and more
often impart less pressing blind structures into televised events I'd be a
truly contented viewer.
TROUBLESHOOTING
This is
the bar across the bottom of your Windows desktop. On some older versions of
Windows this bar will not drop out of site when you fire up Master Poker (as it
should), making it difficult to see items at the bottom of the screen. To
manually drop the taskbar out of view, first right-click the bar itself and
make sure to clear any checkmark from the menu option 'Lock the Taskbar'. Next,
align your cursor at the top edge of the taskbar. Your cursor should turn into
a two-headed arrow. Click and drag the taskbar down out of view. To get it
back, reverse the process.
Old or incompatible sound cards are responsible for many crashes in application software, especially on older Window’s systems. Though Master Poker uses very simple sound coding and has not experienced these types of crashes it is always a possibility. If you’re crashing often during game play (while seated at the table), it’s possible your sound card is to blame. Before turning off all sound, try removing the different sound options one at a time.
Background Applications and Performance
If you’re attempting to play very large tournaments on an older computer and
are experiencing unacceptable slowdowns to your computer speed it may be due to
applications running in the background on your Windows desktop, particularly if
you have an active connection to the Internet. Programs such as AOL, ICQ, web
browsers, net radio, net video, voice communication applications, etc. cut into
the processing speed of your computer. Try closing any offensive applications,
or better yet, close off all access to the internet while using the
application.
Many non-computer minded folks can also have a serious problem with the number of applications that have been auto installed on their computer for one reason or another and run silently in the background each time the computer is powered up. I have found more than 30 actual programs running in the background on the computers of several of my own family members. If you're not sure what I mean, from your Windows Desktop click the Start button, then click on 'Run'. In the little box that comes up type in 'msconfig' and hit 'okay'. When the large box opens up click on the tab labeled 'Startup'. You will be shown a list of all applications that are set to start up on their own when you power up your computer. Any box with a check in it is currently active and running in the background at this very moment. Many you will recognize. Many you will not. Each one of these running programs places a tax on your system. If there are numerous entries take some time to investigate each one by Googling their names on the Internet for more information, and don't be afraid to turn off things (by unchecking the box) that you obviously don't need. Aside from firewall and anti-virus software, there are few other applications that need to run in the background at all times.
System RAM and Performance
Another method of increasing performance in Master Poker on older systems might
be to add RAM to your computer. If you are playing on a system with only 32 Meg
of RAM, you should be aware that Windows 95/98 systems use about 5 MB of that
total memory, and during a long session this may cause Master Poker to rely on
virtual memory. Using virtual memory is slower than using RAM directly, and
while the speed of your processor is a factor in the performance of the game,
additional memory can greatly enhance your game speed on older systems.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Master Poker Website
You can find the Master Poker website at the following
Internet address:
Mailing Address
MP Software
P.O. Box 5982
Kingsport, TN, 37663 USA
Technical Support
I will attempt to help you resolve any technical problems that you may
experience with Master Poker. Please begin with an e-mail describing the
problem, along with your phone number, e-mail and postal address, model of
computer, name of operating system, and whether or not you took a screenshot at
the time of the error, or cut and pasted the current hand summary information
when the error occurred.
Address
it to : support@masterpokersoftware.com
Please do not contact me with questions pertaining to game playing hints, future release dates, or other non-technical issues. Without a technical support staff it will be nearly impossible to address all non-technical issues. If you have a suggestion on how to improve the application by all means send me an e-mail, but please keep it short and don’t expect a timely response. I will of course eventually respond to anyone whose suggestion has been incorporated into future versions of the software.
Media Replacement
MP Software
P.O. Box 5982
Kingsport, TN, 37663 USA
If you’re experiencing physical problems with your application disc and have
had the software for less than 90 days, mail the CD to the MP Software address
above, along with the original CD case, your name and address, and a copy of
your original receipt for a free replacement.
UPDATES
AND PROGRAM PATCHES
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Can Master Poker teach me to play Texas Hold'em if I don't know anything about the game?
A: No. MP is not a poker Tutor per se'. You will want to learn the basic rules of Hold'em before purchasing the software. The Internet has a plethora of websites dedicated to exactly this, teaching you to play Texas Hold'em. Just make sure you pick a site that teaches No-limit. The basic game is actually very simple. As television commentators like to say, it takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.
Q: Can I also play Limit Hold'em with Master Poker?
A: No. MP is dedicated solely to No-limit Texas Hold'em. I have nothing against Limit Hold'em, but feel No-limit is Hold'em in it's purest form. In addition to this, I believe developers of serious poker software have an obligation to their users to thoroughly understand the game before they design an artificial intelligence to play it. Just as I would not be qualified to write high-level logic for Limit software, a pure Limit player would not be properly qualified to write No-limit logic. The AI players in any poker simulation can only be as skilled as the author writing the logic.
Q: Do Master Poker's AI players use a different style when playing in Cash Games as opposed to Tournaments?
A: Of course. While a good Hold'em player can probably survive in either environment there are definite differences between cash games and tournaments. MP's AI players know how to adjust their playing style to suit the current event.
Q: Does Master Poker have a Heads-up play option?
A: Yes, and a pretty good one. The primary AI is geared toward a full table of players (9/10). While it is still strong as the number of players at a table are reduced, it reaches a point of critical mass at less than 6 seated players. Strategy and tactics for the game change dramatically from this point on down to Heads-up play as each subsequent player leaves the table. It didn't take long to realize I would need to write an AI addendum for
shorthanded play (3-5 players) and a fully dedicated AI for Heads-up play. I did exactly that. After working rather extensively with the Heads-up AI I feel pretty confident that it will give most players a solid run for their money. A good Heads-up opponent was one of the original demands I placed on myself way back when the software was still intended only for me. To play heads-up simply adjust the appropriate slider on the
event Setup Screen (2-10 seated players, including yourself).
Q: I can find and exploit patterns in any poker software I've ever played. Are you saying there are no exploitable patterns in Master Poker?
A: No. I can 't make that guarantee. This game is so incredibly sophisticated and I can only play so many test hands myself. The truth is, I would be stunned if my AI did not display some unexpected weaknesses or possess some discernible patterns that could be exploited by an observant human player, but ...
being an admitted perfectionist, this is a rather large pet peeve of mine, to eliminate all discernible patterns from the AI. If any type of 'flaw' is found in my AI and brought to my attention I will make every effort to fix it in future versions of the software. If the number, severity or types of these fixes ever threatens the integrity of the AI (in my mind) I will immediately release a patch to repair them all, without my users having to wait for a future version.
Q: Sometimes I click to 'Zip' my hand and nothing happens?
A: You're probably trying to fold bad cards from the Big Blind when no one has yet raised you off the hand (there has been no opening raise). MP is ignoring you because you still have a chance to check your BB and take a free flop.
Q: I like to play fast, one hand after another. I don't have time for watching the cards being dealt out, or waiting around for the AI players to 'think' about what to do. How can I tune my MP to zip through hands as fast as possible?
A: On the Main Sign-up Screen check the preference boxes 'Zip when my hand folded' and 'Turn off AI Realism delays'. Clear the checkboxes for 'Show cards being dealt', and 'Show all sidepot action'. In the lower left corner where you can enter a value for 'AI Action Delay' use the value .2 or even .1 if you really want to fly. Now buckle your seatbelt.
Q: The Starting Hand Guide's comments seem to be aimed at a tight/aggressive style?
A: Yes they are. The SHG is meant primarily for those players who are not yet comfortable with their playing style, their starting hand choices, or their actual level of expertise. I believe the priority of new or novice players should be to become comfortable in their starting hand decisions under dynamically changing table conditions, while developing a tight/solid style that provides protection against aggressive players. The SHG is structured toward furthering these goals.
Q: The Dead Money players in MP don't seem to be so weak as their name might imply. It's tough to win a tournament even with 100% Dead Money. How bad are they, really, compared to real world players?
A: The truth is, MP's Dead Money players are actually pretty good when compared to the multitude of really bad players out in the real world, both online and in the brick and mortar cardrooms. The poker community has coined the term 'Donkey' to describe a truly BAD player. With hindsight, I probably should have included another level of player personality below my Dead Money known as Donkeys. The problem is, the intention behind Master Poker is to make you a high quality poker player by putting you into real-world confrontations with decent opponents, not opponents who literally throw their money at you. In the end your MP successes will be measured by the level of competition you've faced. Most players will gain far more confidence and satisfaction if they win a tournament with 50% Dead Money players (meaning the other 50% is Tough), than if they were to win a tournament that possessed 100% Donkeys. While it 's true you do need to learn to play against Dead Money players (it's much different than facing skilled players), you do not necessarily need to learn to play against Donkeys. The talent level of MP's Dead Money players can best be described by one well known celebrity example, but I'm hesitant to put his name in public (because I like him). Let's just say they are aimed at simulating the vast number of players who know enough to get themselves into trouble, but don't know enough to get themselves out of trouble. Dead Money. A Donkey is another beast entirely.
Q: What 's the smallest game I can play as far as MP's chip denominations?
A: The smallest chip denomination in MP is 1 chip (or $1 in Cash Games), which means the smallest game possible will have blinds of 1/2 (in chips or dollars). The largest single denomination chips allow games in the hundreds of millions of dollars, should you desire.
Q: I love the ability to change table backgrounds, is there anywhere we can download more?
A: Not currently. I am giving more thought to it and may opt to provide more choices in the future. If so, I will likely e-mail all of my users with a notice at that time.
Q: Why do AI player names get to use dollar signs, slashes, asterisks,
etc., in their names, but I'm not allowed to use them in my profile name?
A: Because AI players don't need 'Save' files like you do, and some
non-alpha characters can cause errors in file handling.
Q: Are you saying I can't learn to play good No-limit Hold'em with my X-Box or Playstation software?
A: I would agree with that, yes, and it's not just the gaming consoles. While many do produce excellent visual effects you can't learn to be a good player if you're playing against bad competition. This applies to the outside world, the Internet, or any poker software. Yes, you can learn the mechanics, and perhaps some basic strategy, but your skill will never reach the next level unless you're faced with the challenges provided by solid competition. As I've already said above, the AI can only be as good at poker as the folks who programmed it. When you stop to think about it, aren't you curious how many computer programmers at those companies actually play No-limit Hold'em?
Q: The blinds in my local tournaments go up in timed intervals, how is this handled by Master Poker when playing in a room by myself?
A: In a real-world or online tournament a clock typically determines when to implement ante/blind increases (for example, every 15 minutes), but in the real world you are expected to sit in your seat until you are knocked out. Since MP has no need to impose such strict time guidelines on you, we use a 'hands-per-level' clock to determine when blind increases should be implemented. Online poker deals approximately 60 hands per hour, therefore we can simulate time by saying 1 hand equals approximately 1 minute of real time. After playing approximately 60 hands you have been playing the equivalent of 1 hour's time. This means if you wish to have the blinds increase every 15 minutes, you would set the 'hands-per-level' slider to raise the blinds at the end of every 15 hands. This system allows you to answer the door, empty the trash, or get something to drink at any time during your tournament, while still maintaining an accurate real-life tournament time structure.
Q: The background on my Sign-up Screen is dark gray. Couldn't you have picked a more pleasant color for a screen at which I have to constantly look at?
A: Master Poker is designed to use your default Windows colors (the colors you have chosen for your desktop). This means if you haven't told Windows to use a specific color background then you're likely looking at Microsoft's default color choices. These default background colors can change from version to version. They are typically silver, light gray, dark gray, or vanilla, and most look pretty clean. If you find you don't like the background or menu bar colors inside MP try changing the color properties of your Windows desktop for those times when you're playing poker.
Q: The conditions of most software licensing says a buyer is not allowed to put the software on more than one computer. I don't believe this is realistic or fair in an age when a single person might own multiple computers. I would like to put it on both my home desktop and on my notebook computer without feeling guilty about it. How do you feel about it in regards to your software?
A: I have intentionally designed MP to be used equally by the occupants of an entire household. Likewise, I am also a multi-computer owner, and if I were a buyer of this software would like to install it on both my laptop and desktop as well, so it would be hypocritical of me to suggest you do otherwise. That means it's okay. That said, I've put an unbelievable amount of work and effort into my software to make it what it is today. My concerns arise in this era of technology when one person buys MP and then begins burning copies for all his/her friends and extended family. This act costs me dearly, and with it I have a problem. I considered taking precautions to prevent this type of piracy, but decided against them all in the interest of making the lives of my faithful buyers much easier. I would ask that all purchasers of my software ask themselves if they believe they got good value for their money. If you believe your purchase to be one of value, recommend your friends and extended family purchase their own copy. With sufficient determination and practice, Master Poker will help all of you gain your money back hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of times over. Then we'll all be a little happier.
And thanks ...
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
YOU
SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE
INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM. BY INSTALLING, COPYING, OR OTHERWISE USING
THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF
YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, PROMPTLY RETURN THE UNUSED
SOFTWARE WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE.
This software program (the "Program"), any printed materials,
any online or electronic documentation, and any and all copies and derivative
works of such software program and materials are the copyrighted work of
Computer Opponents Software. All use of the Program is governed by the terms of
the End User License Agreement which is provided below ("License
Agreement"). The Program is solely for use by end users according to
the terms of the License Agreement. Any use, reproduction or redistribution of
the Program not in accordance with the terms of the License Agreement is
expressly prohibited.
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
1. Limited Use License. Computer Opponents
Software grants to you a non-exclusive right to use Master Poker in accordance
with the terms contained in this Agreement. You may use the Program on multiple
computers in a single family residence, and may also install it on a single
portable computer if that computer is owned and accessed only by the original
purchaser. You may not install it in any secondary residence, business or
employment location, or computer outside the immediate control of the original
purchaser. In no event may you rent or lease the Software to a third party.
2. Ownership. All title, ownership, and
intellectual property rights in and to the Program and any and all copies
thereof (including, but not limited to, any titles, computer code, themes,
objects, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions,
audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related
documentation) are owned by Computer Opponents Software or its licensors. The
Program is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international
copyright treaties and conventions, and other laws. All rights are reserved.
3. Responsibilities of End User.
A. Subject
to the Grant of License hereinabove, You may not, in whole or in part, copy,
photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code, modify,
disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on the Program, or remove
any proprietary notices or labels on the Program without the prior consent, in
writing, of Computer Opponents Software.
B. The Program is licensed to you as a single product. Its component parts may
not be separated for any purpose.
C. You are entitled to use the Program for your own use, but you are not
entitled to:
(i) Sell or grant a security interest in or
transfer reproductions of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent,
lease, or license the Program to others without the prior written consent of
Computer Opponents Software;
(ii) Exploit the Program or any of its parts for any commercial
purpose, including, but not limited to, use at any business, bar, cyber café, computer gaming
center, or any other location-based site. Computer Opponents Software may offer
a separate Site License Agreement to permit you to make the Program available
for commercial use--contact Computer Opponents Software for details.
4. Copies. You
may make one (1) copy of the Software solely for backup purposes. You must
reproduce and include the copyright notice on the backup copy. No other copying
is permitted. You may not under any conditions distribute copies of the Software or accompanying
written materials to others.
5. Program Transfer. You may transfer the
Software to another person provided that you notify Computer Opponents
Software of the transfer and the person to whom you transfer the Software
agrees to be bound by this Agreement. Upon a transfer to a third party you must
destroy all backups. In no event may you transfer, assign, rent, lease, sell or
otherwise dispose of the Software on a temporary basis.
6. Termination. This License Agreement is effective until terminated.
You may terminate the License Agreement at any time by destroying the Program.
Computer Opponents Software may, at its discretion, terminate this License
Agreement in the event that You fail to comply with the terms and conditions contained
herein. In such event, You agree to immediately destroy the Program.
7. Limited Warranty. Computer Opponents
Software warrants the media on which the Software is furnished to be free of
defects in material and workmanship, under normal use, for a period of ninety
(90) days following the date of delivery to you. In the event of defects,
Computer Opponents Software's sole liability shall be to (a) replace the
defective media or (b) refund the purchase price, at Computer Opponents
Software's discretion. You must return the Software to Computer Opponents
Software with your dated invoice during the 90-day warranty period in order to
receive a refund or replacement.
8. Limitation of Liability. COMPUTER OPPONENTS SOFTWARE SHALL NOT BE
LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE
PROGRAM, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE,
COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL OR FINANCIAL DAMAGES OR
LOSSES. IN NO EVENT WILL COMPUTER
OPPONENTS SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY AMOUNT GREATER THAN WHAT YOU ACTUALLY
PAID FOR THE SOFTWARE. Some
states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential
damages, or allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the
above limitations may not apply.
9. Export Laws. You agree that you will
not export the Software or documentation except in compliance within the laws
and regulations of the United States.
10. Equitable Remedies. You hereby agree that Computer Opponents
Software would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this License Agreement
were not specifically enforced, and therefore You agree that Computer Opponents
Software shall be entitled, without bond, other security, or proof of damages,
to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this License
Agreement, in addition to such other remedies as Computer Opponents Software
may otherwise have available to it under applicable laws. In the event that any
litigation is brought by either party in connection with this License
Agreement, the prevailing party in such litigation shall be entitled to recover
from the other party all the costs, attorneys' fees, and other expenses
incurred by such prevailing party in the litigation.
11. Opening of Software
Packaging. You hereby agree that once you have opened the
original Software packaging you may no longer return the software for a
cash refund under any conditions except those sited above (as defective
software). Unopened software may be returned for a full refund within 30
days of the original purchase date.
12. Miscellaneous. This License Agreement shall be deemed to have been
made and executed in the State of Tennessee and any dispute arising hereunder
shall be resolved in accordance with the law of Tennessee and the Federal Arbitration Act. You agree that any claim
asserted in any legal proceeding by one of the parties against the other shall
be commenced and maintained in any state or federal court located in the State
of Tennessee, County of Sullivan, having subject matter jurisdiction with
respect to the dispute between the parties. This License Agreement may be
amended, altered, or modified only by an instrument in writing, specifying such
amendment, alteration, or modification, executed by both parties. In the event
that any provision of this License Agreement shall be held by a court or other
tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provision will be
enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining portions of this
License Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. This License Agreement
constitutes and contains the entire agreement between the parties with respect
to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any prior oral or written
agreements.
This
is a legally binding agreement between you and Computer Opponents Software. By
installing and/or using this software, you are agreeing to become bound by the
terms of this agreement.
IF
YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE.
PROMPTLY RETURN THE ENTIRE UNOPENED PACKAGE TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT
FOR A FULL REFUND.
I hereby acknowledge that I have read and understand the foregoing License
Agreement and agree that the action of opening the original application
packaging is an acknowledgment of my agreement to be bound by the terms and
conditions of the License Agreement contained herein. I also
acknowledge and agree that this License Agreement is the complete and exclusive
statement of the agreement between Computer Opponents Software and me and that
the License Agreement supersedes any prior or contemporaneous agreement, either
oral or written, and any other communications between Computer Opponents
Software and myself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Microsoft,
Windows, and Windows NT are either trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
©2007 Computer Opponents Software. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.