Poker Copilot 2.55 Now Available

Poker Copilot 2.55 is now available to download.

I've spent considerable time this week at the kitchen table playing multi-way hands of poker with myself with piles of 1-cent coins for stacks. This helped me create various split pot scenarios and contemplate how best to handle calculating all-in equity value. Sometimes the best way to solve a programming problem is to get away from the computer and instead deal with something quite concrete.

What's changed:

• Added support for new PokerStars 20-100bb tables
• Improvements to All-in EV Calculator - works much better with split pots
• Added odds of winning a hand to the hand history replayer

What's fixed:

• Fix for Winamax hand histories - small blind amount was being recorded as being big blind amount
• Winamax Tournament hand histories are now recognised and imported
• Fixed bug where Poker Copilot was sometimes swapping the button and big-blind in Cereus Network rooms heads-up hands
• Changed bankroll chart to use longs instead of ints to avoid overflow problem for people who win lots in play money rooms

Update Instructions:

1. Download the latest version here.
2. Open the downloaded file.
3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.

 

Help Me, Poker/Maths Experts

Do you grok equity value and how to calculate it in complicated situations? If so, can you take a look at this discussion topic?

Sentence of the Day

A fellow Java developer is working out what version of Java to use for his new project:

The main problem with Java 7 is that it doesn’t exist yet

I've been waiting YEARS for Java 7. It keeps getting pushed back. Nobody seems to be able to decide what features it should have and shouldn't have. Occasionally there is a radical change in direction that pushes back the proposed delivery date even more.

Sun makes Java. Oracle recently purchased Sun. So now Oracle makes Java. To my surprise, under Oracle things for Java 7 seem to be improving.

 

Can I Steal Your Email Address?

If you are running Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard, the answer is almost certainly yes. Software that you download from the Internet and run on your computer can almost certainly obtain your email address without you knowing. And send it anywhere to the Internet. Again without you knowing.

Does Poker Copilot do this? No. But it could. Is your main email address a Gmail address? Do you use Poker Copilot's feature to scan your Gmail account for PokerStars tournament results? Then you may have noticed that the first time you used this feature, Poker Copilot automatically determined your Gmail address.

It would be a trivial task to send this email address to a website that is waiting to gather email addresses.

When you get started with a new Mac, part of the setup process involves you specifying your email address. Your Mac then stores this in your Address Book. Leopard introduced a new feature in Cocoa's ABAddressBook API that allows applications to access this info.

If this worries you, then you should install Little Snitch or similar software. This informs you of all communication a specific program has with the Internet. Or you could go into your Mac's Address Book and remove your own email records.

I don't want you to think I am paranoid. I'm not, I think. I simply find this situation interesting. The first time that software (Transmit 4) I downloaded told me my own email address I was somewhat surprised. And being a curious type I just had to know how it was done.

Finally, for for the techies, here's how to do it: Use ABAddressBook's sharedAddressBook method, then the me method, then valueForProperty:@"Email", then valueForIdentifier: primaryIdentifier

 

Coming in the next Poker Copilot update

The next update of Poker Copilot shows the probability of a hand winning in the replayer. It updates as the hand continues. You can see how your odds improve when a player folds or you hit a favourable flop.

Here's a demo. Note the "Probability of winning" displayed in the lower right-hand corner:



Although the check box for this feature is labelled "Odds", it is actually not odds but a probability in percentage format. I'm sure my mathematically inclined users will tolerate the misuse of the word "odds". Then again, maybe I'll show the odds as well as the probability: 50% (1:1) or 93% (13.3:1)

The probability is calculated using a "Monte Carlo" simulation. That is, rather than exhaustively count all the possible outcomes and calculate which ones would lead to victory, a random sample of possibilities are used. This leads to "close enough" results in a tiny fraction of the time otherwise needed to test all the millions, billions, or hundreds of trillions of possibilities. I use a fixed random number seed to ensure that playing the same hand twice gives the same probabilities. Otherwise the probabilities might fluctuate within a tight range.

Cheating at Poker

Some people claim that using poker tracking software like Poker Copilot is cheating. Clearly I don't think that at all. Nor do the major online poker rooms, who have explicitly granted permission for players to use Poker Copilot. This is because Poker Copilot only uses information gathered from your own playing history.

Here's what cheating really looks like in live poker.

 

Essential Poker Copilot Update for Winamax Players

Poker Copilot 2.54 is now ready to download. There was a fatal flaw for Winamax players in yesterday's update that caused Poker Copilot to crash.

It's been a turbulent week here at Poker Copilot headquarters, with five updates, all dealing with changes to the formats of hand history files. "Fire-fighting mode" is how they call it.

Now the week is almost over I'm looking forward to spending this weekend in Paris, where I'll watch the final stage of the Tour de France. Paris is slightly more than 3 hours away by high-speed train from my home in Cologne, making it a perfect weekend trip.

Update Instructions:

1. Download the latest version here: http://pokercopilot.com/download.html

2. Open the downloaded file.

3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.

AND Things Are Back Where They Were 2 Days Ago!

Full Tilt Poker released another update today. This update undid the changes to the hand history file format from yesterday. So the slew of quick Poker Copilot updates were perhaps not necessary after all, except that you'd have a day or two of hands missing from your playing history.

I received an email from a Full Tilt Poker developer today. He apologised for the disruption caused by yesterday's update. He said that they would undo the change. It was nice to get the email. I assume the teams behind Poker Tracker and Hold'em Manager also got such an email. For me, getting the email show that Full Tilt Poker are aware of Poker Copilot and approve of it. They've also offered me a direct email contact into their development team. 'Tis grand.

 

Poker Copilot 2.53 Released

It's been a crazy couple of days for me. Yesterday, Full Tilt Poker AND Winamax both changed their hand history file formats. Full Tilt also changed their tournament summary format.

I thought I had fixed the Full Tilt problem quickly, but my first fix didn't work for people using their Macs in a language other than English. So out came fix #2. But this didn't work for tournament summaries.

Here's fix #3, which hopefully now works for everyone, including Winamax players.

Poker Copilot 2.53 fixes these issue and is now ready for download. 

How to Update:

1. Download the latest version here.

2. Open the downloaded file.

3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.

Note: There may still be an issue with play money hands on Full Tilt Poker not working with Poker Copilot. A couple of people have reported this but I've been unable to reproduce it here in the lab.

Full Tilt Update Breaks Poker Copilot; Fix Available Already

Full Tilt is keeping me on my toes.

A little over an hour ago, I started getting a steady stream of emails all saying the same thing: Poker Copilot is having problems with the latest Full Tilt Poker update. Full Tilt has changed the date format they use in their hand history files. Most notably, they've removed the seconds from the time. I'm not sure why they would do this but I'm sure they have a good reason.

Poker Copilot 2.52 fixes this issue and is now ready for download. Here's how to update:

1. Download the latest version here.

2. Open the downloaded file.

3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.

Poker Copilot 2.50 Now Available

Poker Copilot 2.50 is now available to download.

What's fixed:

• Better handling of Winamax Poker hand history files.

That's all for this update! There were some issues that made Poker Copilot stop working with Winamax altogether and I needed to get the fix out.

Update Instructions:

1. Download version 2.50 here.
2. Open the downloaded file.
3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon.
4. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.



Email of the Day

A new Poker Copilot customer writes:

Thanks heaps for the great software. I was using the trial and when you announced you were in a good mood, my credit card decided it was too! Its perfect for the mac enthusiast who desires a clean interface, uncomplicated features, and strong foundations. Keep developing!

 

Poker Copilot is Two Years Old; 50% Off

Just over a week ago, Poker Copilot turned two years old. And it's summer. And the World Cup is on. So I'm feeling good. And I'm going to celebrate. In style. By giving all Poker Copilot customers between now and July 16th 2010 50% off.

Buy Poker Copilot now and get 50% off.

 

Poker Copilot 2.49 Now Available

Poker Copilot 2.49 is now available to download.

What's changed:

• Support for PokerStarsFR (France-specific version of PokerStars)
• Experimental support for Winamax's new software, including HUD. The HUD is not yet working in tournaments, though.

What's fixed:

• PokerStars "ok" tables now show the HUD.
• The Hand Replayer HUD was showing the stats for the wrong player sometimes - especially for Rush Poker hands. Now this is fixed.
• PokerStars tournament summaries get corrupted if a player has Cyrillic characters in their place name. Poker Copilot now auto-corrects this problem.

Update Instructions:

1. Download version 2.49 here.
2. Open the downloaded file.
3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon.
4. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.

Full Winamax Poker Support Coming

Winamax Poker used to be part of the Ongame Network. They concentrate on the French online poker market. Now that the new French online poker laws have come into effect, they've left the Ongame Network and created their own software.

Poker Copilot will soon have support for Winamax Poker's new software. Here's a screenshot showing that it is already working, and includes the Poker Copilot Heads-up Display (HUD):

There are still a few minor issues. I hope to have these resolved in the next couple of days.

I need to state how nice it is working with the new Winamax Poker software and their development team. The software is many times better than the Ongame Network Mac OS X software. The team is highly responsive to any issues I detect in the hand history files. They have given me a direct email contact to their team. This is how things go: I find a problem. I let them know. The next day it is fixed. It benefits Poker Copilot. It also benefits Winamax because I am incidentally performing some thorough quality assurance.

 

 

 

Poker Copilot Update for PokerStars players

Since the last day or so, some PokerStars tables have the word "ok" in their description. I don't know what this indicates. Nor does Poker Copilot. This is causing the Poker Copilot HUD not to work on these tables.
Therefore I've made an update that copes with this. This is update 2.48.

Update Instructions:

1. Download the latest version here: http://pokercopilot.com/download.html
2. Open the downloaded file.
3. Drag the Poker Copilot icon to the Applications icon. If prompted to replace an existing version, confirm that you do want to replace.

Now you're done and ready to hit the tables.