Description of Data Mining

Why dig?

Can’t we just use our experience and learn as we go when we play online poker? Of course, we can. But good poker tools can help us make a profit more quickly, perhaps even protecting us from losing our bankroll altogether. It might help to begin the rest of your poker playing life by thinking about poker as being equal to data or information.

Some of the most successful players in the world realize that success in poker comes from making good decisions, one at a time. If you know the correct information about your opponents’ playing style you chances are much better. If you understand how card odds and pot odds are related you will be able to make better decisions when it is time to call, raise or fold.

If you know that a small tournament has a bunch of sharks already signed up you know that you should probably look for a tournament or cash game populated by fishes.

All of these bits of precious knowledge can be yours with the right data mining software. Such programs provide guidelines and analysis in text form as well as with icons and color-coded graphics that help you make the correct decisions. You will have histories of hands played by opponents that can be compiled to give players ratings for your future use.

Find a good data mining program that will provide hand histories and other information from the most popular online poker rooms. You’ll be glad you did!

Successful poker players get to that point by having reliable information and using it correctly to make good decisions. While there are dozens of players from the “old school” who use the information gathered from years of play, many younger players are making a nice profit in online poker thanks to solid data mining tools.

In basic terms, data mining tools bring you hand histories that can be imported into tracking software. This information is used as you play, helping you with knowledge of your opponents (based on their actual play in the past).

Fill Your Head with Knowledge

One of the best pieces of advice ever given stated that young people should fill their heads with knowledge and they will be able to fill their pockets with gold. Of course, this knowledge has to be the right kind of information and it must be used correctly.

Think of hand histories dug up by data mining tools as a log of all the poker played in the past. If you could see cards, betting action and results from past play, wouldn’t that help you make decisions when you face those opponents across the table? Of course it would.

In most cases the information is provided in text format as separate files. When combined with a good, real-time tracking/analysis program you will be able to see advice and players ratings in color-coded graphics and icons. Information like this could well provide you with the “strength” you need to move to a whole other level of poker profit.

Most Popular Rooms

The top two or three data mining software programs have hand histories from the popular online rooms, such as Full Tilt, PartyPoker, Ultimate Bet, Poker Stars and others. Some of these data services let you choose information on a one-at-a-time basis or in “wholesale” form. For example, you might choose hand histories from one tournament or you might sign on for information from all tournaments with certain limits.

In most cases you will get updates (sometimes on a daily basis) so that you have the most accurate information available. Prices vary depending on how much data you want, which table limits you choose and so on. But many players have found that the investment has been recouped in a matter of weeks (or sooner).

Quality data mining might well be the difference between a successful player and a player who struggles in the online-poker world.