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Overview
Poker DealMaker ICM (PDM) is a simple iPhone application that acts as a calculator which allows you to work out chops at the final table of a tournament. Chops are fairly common events in live poker, especially at smaller casinos or home games where the structures result in very high blind levels relative to stacks at the final table. Rather than gamble, players often agree to flatten out the prize money. However, one of the problems is that it can be difficult to get several people to agree on how the money should be distributed. That’s where PDM comes in.

Look
Simple and to the point – not unattractive, but the focus isn’t on the design as much as it’s on entering and manipulating data and displaying the results.

Unique pros / cons
Easy to use, and flexible, which are the two things you want out of a tool like this. You can adjust player payouts individually if someone wants to shift the deal a bit one way or the other; you can save proposed deals and return to them after reviewing other options, and entering all of the data is a snap.

The calculator relies on an ICM model, which assigns a value to each stack based on the projected value of that stack from an EV perspective, as opposed to a straight chip-chop model that generally undervalues shorter stacks. It should be noted that some players criticize ICM for giving a little too much weight to short stacks. However, it’s generally accepted that ICM is a reasonable model for composing a deal, small flaws aside.

Bottom Line
If you play live tournaments regularly, this is a handy tool – and, at $1.99, it really doesn’t have to be used too often to pay for itself. Don’t expect to bust it out every day, but be prepared to be thankful when you find yourself discussing a chop and you have the tool to know whether or not you’re being offered a fair deal.

Learn more about PDM ICM

If you’re a multi-table tournament player, there’s some good news for you: with just a few clicks of your mouse you can gain access to a ton of tools, mostly free, that can help transform your tournament game with just a little bit of time and effort on your part. There’s some bad news as well: there’s a good chance someone at your table is using these tools, and if you’re not, that’s an expensive edge you’re giving up. Here’s a quick rundown, with links (where applicable), to some great MTT tools for online and offline players.

The 2+2 tournament forums (FREE) . With dedicated forums for Small Stakes MTT and High Stakes MTT, you’re going to find a discussion that can help your game. And while you may have to navigate through some nonsense to find the quality, you’ll also be sharing threads with some of the top online tournament minds. The MTT community is more of a social forum, but still worth checking out from time to time.

The PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Reply (FREE). Every Sunday Stars replays the final table from the millions tournament the week before. What’s more, players often give Stars the right to show their hole cards, so you will frequently end up being able to sweat a couple of players during the largest tournament regularly offered online. That’s a pretty unique opportunity and a great learning tool. Just go to the Stars tournament lobby, click on Special and make sure you have your preferences set to show all tournaments, not just upcoming ones.

PokerXFactor (COST). It’s arguably the premier online training program, and the combination of things it provides – access to great tournament minds along with tools for posting and sharing your own tournament efforts (and a community to discuss them with) – makes it worth the money for anyone serious about improving their tournament game. Learn more about PXF here.

The Universal Hand Replayer (FREE). If you don’t want to pay the fee for PXF’s hand replayer, this is probably your second-best bet. It’s a pretty functional hand replayer that allows you to sort hands, take notes, and share the annotated histories with others. Plus, there’s just something more satisfying and educational about watching a tournament replay visually than sorting through hand histories. Download the replayer here.

Sit and Go Analyzer (COST). While it is a tool designed for sit and gos, the lessons you learn from it transfer easily to shorthanded MTT play, bubble play and final table play. It’s not a cheap program at $79, but if you’re not confident about your play in certain spots, for example 3 or 4 handed when blinds are significant, this will be an eye opener. Check out the free download here. SNG Wiz is a similar tool, also with a free trial.

Daily Hand Quiz (FREE). Sure, it’s a bit of a shameless plug, and the quizzes are split fairly evenly between cash and tournament, but any site that gives you scenarios to consider on a daily basis has got to be good for exercising your poker muscles. New quizzes every day and a healthy discussion on most hands result in a quick poker training session that won’t cost you much effort or time. Check out DHQ.

Poker Stove (FREE). If you’re still getting the hang of of hand ranging and how shifts in ranges can impact your equity in a given spot, or if you’re unfamiliar with the math involved in preflop all in calls, this is an essential learning tool. It’s free, simple to use, and will teach you a lot of neat things about equity that you might not have known / thought to know of before. Get Poker Stove here.

Look for more articles in this series in the weeks to come – but until then, you should be able to keep plenty busy with the tools provided above.

Winning at online poker is all about staying focused on profitable activity and avoiding unprofitable activity, just like in business. That really is the secret to success in either venture – staying focused and using your time wisely. Fortunately, online poker rooms provide you with all the tools you need to do just that.

Yes, I said that ALL the tools you need for success at online poker are provided by the poker room. You don’t need any extra, off-site tools or programs. I know that many players love these things, but I would strictly advise new students of the game to stay away from them. The most popular of these is Poker Tracker. It’s one heck of a program. Don’t use it. Why? Because it is a great distraction and can easily be the cause of losing your focus on what really matters.

In No Limit Hold’em, the game offering the best opportunity to make a living in by far, there are only two things that are really important. They are: 1. Playing against somebody who is willing to put all their chips in with only one pair after the flop, and 2. Not playing a losing game the rest of the time. This is of course assuming that you are a good player (and therefore would never put all your chips in with just one pair after the flop) – and it is further assuming that “all your chips’ constitutes a large stack, much bigger than the pot.

The number one tool to help stay focused on these two objectives is the buddy list. When you run across someone who is willing to put their large stack of chips in the pot with one pair after the flop you need to buddy-list that player immediately (before they vanish). Your primary objective in this game is to find these players and play against them. If you are in a game where nobody would do that, you are wasting your time because that is where the profits come from and there are always other tables going with an opponent or two who are willing to do that. So every single time you see someone put all their chips in the middle with one pair, buddy list them! Make it a habit so you don’t even have to remind yourself to do it.

Now, it does no good to compile a large buddy list if you are not going to use it! Every time you log in, go to your buddy list and try to get in a game with one of those players. This is the most important thing you can do to start your session.

Let’s talk about number two now, not playing a losing game the rest of the time. To help in this pursuit, you should use the other great tool provided by the poker room, player notes. Take good player notes that will actually help you make quality, information-based decisions later. Don’t waste your time making player notes that won’t help. ‘Fish” or “maniac” or “call this guy!” are not going to do much for you two weeks from now when that person may be in a different mood. Contrast that kind of note with “called a large preflop raise with AJ” or “called a large all-in bet on the turn with a flush draw.” Do you see how those types of notes are much more likely to help you in a future situation? You need to be specific, because with a general note you probably won’t be able to recall the context in which you were making it.

All Poker Tracker really does is help you categorize types of opponents and give you good data to study your own game by. Now those can be good things. But if you get caught up in that instead of taking actual useful notes and concentrating on building a list of easy-to-find customers, your efforts will likely become derailed and your results will suffer accordingly.

Andrew Kasch is the author of the popular ebook “How to Shake the Online Poker Money Tree.” Get 5 free hot online poker tips at his website www.onlinepokerincome.com right now!