Software is one of the fastest-growing industries within the poker world. As is the case with poker training, it evolved from the desire of players to find every advantage possible over their opponents. However, some people have questioned whether poker software violates the one person, one hand rule; whether it inherently gives players with money to spend on such perks an unfair advantage; and whether players actually improve skill-wise under its use or if they more or less become robotic in their actions.

Violations of One Person, One Hand Rule

The one person, one hand rule is one of the most sacred statutes in poker. At any given moment, only one person may make decisions on what action to pursue. It means that a player’s skill is truly the only determining factor as to how well or poorly they will fair on the felts. The addition of poker software, some would argue, infringes on that rule because outside information that a player did not gather himself is being brought into the equation. Stats that are accumulated aren’t being kept track of in a person’s head; rather, they are being logged by a computer program and then displayed.

The proponents of software would argue that the information collected by these programs is available to anyone who pays attention to them. In essence, the information already exists, but it’s just being tracked and displayed in a different way. Moreover, just because stats and any recommendations for plays are given to a person does not mean that they will follow them. In total, it’s still up to individual players to decide what to do in a hand.

Gives Players with Money an Edge

As is the case with many things in life, having money can help you purchase some of the best products in the poker software world. PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager can be yours for nominal fees. However, in a down economy, for many people $100 is too much to spend. Therefore, opponents of poker software would argue that players with disposable income are given too much of an edge.

However, unlike other industries, the product lineup in poker software consists of many usable free programs. For example, Poker Stove is one of the premier odds calculators out there and can be yours for exactly zero dollars. Just because you can’t or don’t want to spend money doesn’t mean that you’ll be at any disadvantage whatsoever in this department. Poker Score is a solid free program for tracking sit and go tournaments. If you’re a sit and go grinder, then no money is needed in order to take advantage of this program and you’ll be at or near your competition.

Moreover, many of these software programs have free trials, allowing you to spend your money wisely. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting into before you drop your hard-earned cash on a product.

Robotic Players

It’s hard to improve as a poker player when all of the information is being given to you. Each user of statistical programs can gauge exactly how their competition will react to plays they make as well as determine exactly how “fishy” or rock-solid their opponents are. However, does having all of this information at your fingertips make you a better all-around poker player? Are your skills actually improved or is having information spoon-fed to you hurt your ability to grow in the industry in the long-run?

Many opponents of poker software argue that the only way to become a dominant poker player is to calculate odds, read opponents, and recognize players is to use your brain. However, this can be difficult online, when multi-tabling is very common.

If there’s one thing we’re certain of, it’s that the battle will rage on.

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