Review of Tournament Shark
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As online poker continues to develop into a fairly unique game apart from traditional live poker, one of the key points of divergence continues to be the collection and deployment of large-scale amounts of data. The ability to collect and analyze data about your online poker opponents has spawned a rapidly growing cottage industry of software and services all designed to (in theory) help you utilize said data to gain that elusive ‘edge’ over the other folks at your virtual table. Poker software developer Pro Poker Labs recently released a new entry into this arena that they call Tournament Shark.
Overview
Tournament Shark is a nifty bit of software that attaches to your tournament tables and gives you a quick statistical summary of your opponent’s performance in tournaments. The program draws on the tournament results database of Pro Poker Labs, which is a (relatively) new database, with results stretching back into 2007. TS appears as an addition to the table, on the bottom, as opposed to an overlay-style display such as Poker AceHUD.
The program provides what amounts to an overview of your opponent’s performance, with a statistical display for each player that includes the following information: Total games, Avg profit, Avg ROI (not on PokerStars), Avg Buyin, Recent ITM win rate, and a percentage breakdown of where the opponent tends to finish (early, middle, late and so on)
Pros
This is a nice bit of software, and the concept and execution is definitely its greatest pro. It’s very easy to install and to use, and very minimal in terms of options, preferences, and the like. Graphically it’s nice and understated.
The software works with multiple poker sites at once, and the window it opens attaches automatically to any tournament window you open (regardless of whether or not you’re playing in the tournament). The window resizes with the table if you shrink or expand the table. You can choose to have the program run for all of your open tournament tables or toggle it on and off for individual tables.
You have a good amount of options regarding what data you’d like to display; it’s filterable by the type of tournament and number of players.
Cons
I’m a fan of this software, so the cons are more minor flaws than any real reason to not use the software. The database it draws on is relatively young, so you don’t always get the best depth of results (a problem that will become less relevant as time passes). I also would prefer it if you were able to shrink the TS window vertically and also if you had the option to detach it from the table. The program is also a slight memory hog, but nothing all that critical.
I think the only major issue for most people will be the price. You can get a trial of the software free, or get a full version by signing up at a poker room through their affiliate links, but purchasing the software straight out costs ~$80 at the time of this review.
Overall
This is a piece of software I’d recommend if you play a lot of tournaments, especially if you’re a regular SNG player.
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