Hey, I have the advanced iOS app and love the app. I just wanted to make a few suggestions after having used it for a few months now and find my self consistently wishing for...

1) adding a small text area in the heat map and range editor that shows the board texture of the current hand would be nice to be able to reference while in the different screens.

2) a numerical representation of the physical amount of hand combos that are being represented by the heat map. Suited hands carry less weight (4 combos each) than off suited hands (12 combos) but have the same visual representation when using the conventional way of displaying hand ranges. . It would be useful to have four different percentages (red, orange, yellow, green) that dynamically show the percentage, relative to the overall range, that make up each category (<- % below, below <-> break even, break even <-> above, % above ->). When you adjust the heat map slider, the percentage of your range, that falls into into each category is updated to reflect the changes seen in the map. So you have a mobile friendly way to determine the frequency along with equity you want in each step of the decision tree.

3) Adding a hand/combo selector to the heat map (like the one in the hand range editor) that allows you to highlight the hand range you want and export it. This way you can recursively back out, import filtered range onto a player, update the street, press calc and jump right back into the heat map where the data is best layed out for you to filter and sort on again. Allowing you to select the hand combos in the same place you are working with the data.

Hello,
Thanks for good and thoughtful feedback on the app.
I am planning on implementing some of your suggestions, but not all of them. My thinking is below.

Great suggestion, I will add this. Will avoid having to go back and forth between screens a lot. Actually now I wonder why I didn't add this a long time ago; a sign of a really good suggestion. Was because I didn't think there was enough space in the hand range screens, but as you suggest writing the board cards in just text-form is good enough and there's enough space for that.

This info. is currently there in the heat map screen; when you tap on a grid cell, the cell's info. is written at the bottom right part of the screen e.g. "AA: 85% (6 comb)". The total number of hand combos in the range is also shown, at the bottom of the screen. And the ViewDetails button gives more info. The Mac-Expert version of this app goes further, it can show each grid cell's number of combos directly in each grid cell, but there isn't enough space in the iOS versions to do this.

The Mac-Expert version of this app can do this. It shows a distribution graph of the combos and tells you "X% of combos have >= Y% equity", which is a generalization of your 4 colors approach. With work this would be doable in the iOS versions too, but I have to draw lines in some places on what I think I want to implement in the "Advanced" iOS versions, and what I want to have in just the Mac-Expert version. Currently I'm leaning towards this good feature being in only the Mac-Expert version.

I'm not in favor of doing this because then the heat map screen would duplicate a lot of the functionality of the range editor screen, e.g. selecting hands/combos, and selecting/saving subranges. I think having a clear separation of function between these two screens is better. O.w., why have two screens, we can just combine them into one screen (theoretically; I think in practice this would result in a screen that's way too complicated and too big for an iPhone).

It sounds like you're doing your range refining work (e.g. street to street) in the heat map screen. And also your subranges creation/saving work (use the 100 range slots to save subranges). Imho this may not be the best place to do this range work; I think the range editor screen would be a better place. The reason is that I think e.g. when narrowing opponent's range from the flop to the turn, it's best to do the narrowing based on *hand types*, not on hand/cell's equities (which is the what the heat map screen shows).

E.g. if I ask myself what hands Villain will continue with on the flop, or what hands he'd take a given action with, I might say to myself, I think he'll do this with TopPair or an overpair, or a flush draw, etc., and I'll narrow down his range (subtract off cells) based on this. I.e. we're thinking in terms of hand types, not each grid cell's (hand's) specific equity in this spot.

Here's an example of why doing this kind of work in the heat map screen would throw us off. Hero has 55; Villain has range Top10%OfHands; flop is QT5. We have Villain's range crushed, and all his TopPair and OverPair hands have very low equity against us. If we relied on just the heat map's equities to do our range narrowing work we wouldn't include his TopPair and OverPair hands in his continuing range, but they should be, because he doesn't know that we have him crushed (he's putting us on a range, not just a specific hand). Doing the narrowing work in the range editor screen based on hand types thinking leads us to better continuing ranges/subranges I think.

Again the Mac-Expert version of this app helps a lot with this. It has a "Filter Range" feature where you can filter based on hand types (each stat has a checkbox that you can turn on/off to filter on). And again I think the smaller iOS versions of this app aren't the place for this kind of complex filter range feature, so it'll be in just the Mac-Expert version.

What I'll add in the iPhone version though, is a "HMap" button in the range editor screen so we can quickly look at the heat map and go back to range editing.


In summary I think you gave some great suggestions, thanks, and I'll implement one or two small improvements as mentioned. But I think the bulk of the suggestions aren't a good fit for the iPhone version.

I just bought PokerCruncher for the mac expert, when I run it it does not respond, and the app icon says not responding! please help.

Hello,

First note that this is the iOS version thread for PokerCruncher. The Mac-Expert version has its own thread on 2p2. Next time would be better to post on that thread. Not a big deal this time ...

Must be some kind of download/install glitch on your Mac.

Try this:
1) On your Mac go to your ~/Applications folder in Finder and delete/throw-away the PokerCruncher.app file.
2) Restart your Mac.
3) Make sure it has a good/working internet connection.
4) Go to Mac App Store. Make sure you're signed-in ("Store" menu).
5) Click the "Purchased" tab at the top of the window.
6) PokerCruncher-Expert should be there in the list, with a Download/Install button, click it to do another download/install from scratch.

Hopefully it'll go cleanly this time. Do let me know.

Note that the app purchase/download/install procedure is handled completely by the MacAppStore/Apple. We app devs don't have any control over this step (we just write the app; Apple sells/delivers it to you). Many people have downloaded this app successfully so it must be just a temp glitch that happened in your download procedure. Try again using the above steps and let me know, thanks.

Hi there, question for you.

I used to have a paid iPad version (could have been iPhone but I think iPad), but somehow lost it, and can't seem to re-download it without buying it again. If I PM you an email address is there a way for you to check that I purchased it? I think it was an earlier/cheaper version but know that it let you choose hand ranges.

Just saw the Expert version for desktop...cool hmm......

Hello,

Thanks for remembering the PokerCruncher app and for wanting to use it again.

>>> If I PM you an email address is there a way for you to check that I purchased it?

Unfortunately no, there's no way for me to do this. The reason is that we individual app devs get zero customer-specific info. on app purchases from the app store; we just get download counts. The entire app purchase/download process and keeping records of who's purchased what is completely handled by the AppStore/Apple. In terms of security this is good for customers, as customers' info. isn't floating around with many various 3rd party app devs.

So you'll need to go through / work with the AppStore/Apple on this, but I'm sure it'll be solvable and you won't have to pay for the app again. The App Store remembers your purchases forever; they don't get lost. Try this - on your iPad sign into iCloud using the same userid/password credentials you used when buying this app a while ago. Then go to the PokerCruncher app's page in the App Store. If your credentials match your original purchase then the "Purchase" button should be a "Download from iCloud" button (the icon is a cloud).

If you've changed to a different userid, then it's still possible I believe: the App Store has a way of transferring apps from one userid to another. I suggest doing a google search on this topic e.g. "iOS transfer apps to another user". Another google search worth doing would be "re-download iOS app". I'm sure people have posted online about doing things like this.

>>> I think it was an earlier/cheaper version but know that it let you choose hand ranges.

If you bought a paid iOS version then it's the "Advanced" version. The prices are higher now but you won't have to pay extra; it's "pay once and enjoy forever". You'll see the app is even better now as there have been many ongoing app updates over the years. An update to the iPhone version went live just yesterday actually.

>>> Just saw the Expert version for desktop...cool hmm......

Yes the Mac-Expert version is more powerful, has a bunch of extra features on top, listed on the tutorial & videos webpage.

If you still run into app re-download problems do let me know and let's try further, but we're really into the world of just the AppStore/Apple here.

Regards, -RJ

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried to find it through my history but I believe I used my wife's iTunes account as a work around back when I did it. There's an icon showing but the install button is ghosted so I think it's for an obsolete or unavailable version. (Note the icon is different, it says 'free' rather than 'pre'...though I'm 99% sure I had a paid version, it had ranges for sure.)

Anyways I think it was only six bucks or something back in the day. I got great value out of it so no worries. To anyone reading this - it's a great app, don't hesitate!

cheers

Looks like there are some twists here:

1) If you're looking at a PokerCruncher app version with "Free" or "Pre" (stands for "preflop-only") written on the app's icon, then these are free versions and are separate apps that have nothing to do with the "Advanced" versions of PokerCruncher (which are hand range enabled). The "Free" version is a very old version that isn't supported any more; it's been replaced with the "Pre" version which is also free but which supports the latest iOS's.

2) Re. your wife's iTunes account,
If you used her account when buying the Advanced version then that explains why you aren't seeing the Advanced version as purchased in your account. The app store has a mechanism called "family sharing", which the PokerCruncher apps support, that can avoid a separate app purchase for your account. Suggest google search this topic for instructions.

3) Just a note, you can see what apps you've purchased in the App Store by doing the following (iPhone instructions): In the app store app, go to the Updates tab at the bottom, tap the person icon at the top right of the screen, then tap the "Purchased" button on the screen. Can be done similarly on an iPad. This will show you definitively what you've purchased, and will give you download buttons.

Can't do any more than give info. and instructions, as the solution here lies on your side and in the management of apps and the App Store on your devices.

Hope you're able to download and use the PokerCruncher app again.

Thanks appreciate the advice, I'll check it out. But again it was only a few bucks a long time ago so in any case I'm happy to support your ongoing work with another purchase. I'm going to read up on the Expert version too, looks super fun to play with but I'm not sure I want to open the can of worms of the amount of time I'd spend on that, ha!

So I had forgotten about making this post until I went to update the app and saw you mentioned me in the release notes. I greatly appreciated that. So thank you.

While I was reading your reply everything you were saying was making so much sense that I was wondering where I was coming from at the time. Upon thinking back to what I was doing and why I made those suggestions I remembered what I was trying to do that lead me to think of these suggestions. I was trying to practice making decisions with my hand range against my opponents range. So that, when given a random flop, what hands am I C betting, check calling, bluffing and check folding. Then filtering on those and then analyzing how that will effect the range of possible hands I have to do this with again on future streets. My hope was to recognize how different textures and the way I choose to play my hand range might leave me unbalanced on future streets. So when I’m actually playing and I only have one hand, I can easily consider what other hands I would have in a given situation and know if, say a bluff, would have me bluffing too frequently and there for unprofitably(to give just one example). I found the heat map helpful because While there are hands inbetween that the equity alone isn’t what you make your decision on. I found that adjusting the slider exposed/brought attention to the areas of your range that are interesting, with respect to your opponents, and might be able to play differently than what ever “rules” you have in place to make quick decisions live. Since this is a more freestyle activity, meant to both train yourself and discover patterns that may or may not exist. I can see how this might be outside the current scope of this app. But I thought I would share my thoughts Incase they did make sense.

I understand the drawing the line between the advanced IOS version and the Mac-version. I just don’t own a Mac and therefor can’t use it. If you offered an Expert IOS then I would buy that too if it meant even more features.

Or maybe even a separate app for practicing how you would play your hand range against a given flop, so you can train putting theory into practice with statistics that can help guide your approach (another idea I just thought of).

I love the idea of adding a Hmap button to quickly look at and return to the hand range selector. This is a very clean way to make everything I was talking about more simple to do.

Thanks for your continued support and usage of this app over many years.

Re. the second purchase yeah an extra 5 or 10 bucks amortized over all our card playing years isn't a big factor. Just wanted to give some options on how to avoid the second purchase though.

Re. the Mac-Expert version if you buy that version someday definitely don't "lose" it as it's more expensive : ). But Apple/AppStore will remember all of your purchases forever.

You're welcome. Of course. Credit goes where credit is due. Your suggestion helped make this app a little better (writing the board cards in the hand range screens).

I think this is a good way of thinking about the game i.e. thinking about our range and opponent's range, building subranges, and balancing combos across the subranges. The only thing I (still) don't fully agree with is the part "I found the heat map helpful because ...". For the same reasons as I gave last time, I think this work is better done based on hand types not each cells'/hands' equities.

I see, but I won't be making an Expert version for iOS. The Expert version requires a big screen where you can see all the views at the same time, requires a mouse hover ability for the mousing over stats, and space for some more buttons and e.g. for all the stats' checkboxes. It also requires a faster processor. And it would be a ton of work. The Expert version will remain just for Mac.

I think you can somewhat do this in the current app versions by using the "Rnd" button to generate random flops and test/practice on different random situations. Not as full a solution as a full "quizzer" or "tester" built right into the app, but I think that would be taking the current app versions out of their bounds a bit. I'd like to keep them as being just pure calculators.

I started to implement this in the last update, but backed it out!
The reason is that the heat map requires calculation results to be there of course. But the usage path is, we look at the heat map, come back to the range editor and make some edits on our range (or say we're building several subranges). Then go back to the heat map to take another look, then come back and make more edits. The problem is that once you make an edit to the range, that resets/invalidates the calc results so the heat map can't be looked at again. We'd need two versions of a range e.g. original range and current edited range or similarly more complex editing.

If we want to consult the heat map while we're doing a bunch of range editing work, a workaround is to just take a screenshot of the heat map and use the iPhone's system app switcher to go back and forth between the screenshot and PokerCruncher.


Lastly I'd like to say that I think your ideas are good, and I was glad I could implement one of them, but some of them e.g. making an iOS Expert version, heat map switching/looking, would be hard to do, and I'm only human and there's just one of me so I'm going to need to be selective on what I do. Thanks.

Just purchased pokercruncher bundle. Having a lot of problem using the app. Try to set range then I save the range with name. Every time I try to load it, it is empty. Try to go to the website, it can’t load. What’s am I doing wrong?

Most probably you're saving an empty range, hence it's loading back as empty. After using the slider to select top x% of hands, you need to tap the "Add" button to actually add the selected cells/hands to the range. O.w. the range is still empty.

Note that at the top of the range editor screen, the range's text is written, along with the range %age. This shows you exactly what you've set the range to. It prob. reads "<Empty>" and 0% for you currently i.e. you're saving an empty range.

Re. the website, sorry about that; I just noticed that too this morning. It was online yesterday. The entire website was migrated to another hosting company under the covers on me recently, looks like there are some glitches in the migration, I'm guessing with the DNS server setting. I'm investigating; I hope to have it back online within a day. -RJ

^
The www.pokercruncher.com website is back up now.
I needed to update the DNS server settings (again).
This change can take up to 24 hours to take effect fully, but the website looks back up to me even now.

I'm confused by a very basic calculation. I entered a situation into PokerTrackr (iphone) and it gave one answer and I did the calculation by hand and I get another answer. Here is the situation:

player1: Q T
player2: 2 2

board: T 6 2

OK, with this board player1 needs runner runner for either a Q/T high boat or quad 10s.

1. 5 outs is (5 chose 2) ways to make a winner for 10 ways.
2. 45 cards are hidden so we are (45 chose 2) for 990 different cards for the turn+river (poker cruncher seems to agree -- complete enumeration 990 of 990 cases)
3. 10/990 = 0.0101 or 1.01%

PokerCrunchr says player1 has 1.92% equity, not 1.01%. What am I doing wrong when I calculate this by hand?

Hello funkyj, long time, thanks for continuing to use this app.

Player1 has some additional outs: runner runner 6 6 (a sick way for bottom set to get counterfeited but I'm sure it has happened to all of us). If you include this in your math I think your hand calculation will agree with the app's.

The beauty of the app's calculation method (Monte Carlo simulation, or complete enumeration if the scenario is simple enough) is that it will never miss any cases (if it's coded correctly). Regards, -RJ

^ continued ^
And there's even another way Player1 can win: runner runner 6 T.
I think most times it's hard to include all the cases correctly in a hand-math calculation.

Thanks, I knew poker cruncher had to be right I just couldn't see these additional ways to counterfeit player2's hand.

I have been away from poker for a while and my fundamentals are weaker again.

I no longer have PokerTracker or StoxEV (now CardRunnerEV) installed on my current computer but my iphone apps migrate without any effort on my part, to each new upgraded phone. Thanks to this the most excellent PokerCrunchr (and odds quizzer) were at my fingertips when I started dabbling again.

Thanks again,
--fj

Welcome back to poker and to the PokerCruncher apps. I had remembered that you gave a few suggestions that improved this app many years ago in the app's early years.

Re. the counterfeit cases and the math, I think math works well say half the time, when the outs cases are pretty clean and easy to see. But if not, or when the different cases overlap as in your scenario, I think the math can get intractable or at least not worth the effort and we might as well just use unthinking (but always accurate) software. But doing the math in addition to running software does help us understand the odds and situations better. I think that's partly how people came up with the Rule of 4 and 2 etc. in the past. Regards, -RJ

Hey , I love the app and I work as a new iOS developer too
. So you can make a few suggestions the technology is stack behind? How do you layout a UI fly card animation between section, add/remove players ... Thank you so much

Thanks for good words on this app.
Re. your UI layout, animation, etc. questions I can't really answer here because this is a support thread for app usage questions and feature suggestions, not a technical coding/programming thread. And anyway I don't think I'd want to just tell how I programmed the more delicate features of this app.

I will give some info. this one time: it's all done using the mainline features of the iOS SDK. E.g. to do the card animation I do "[UIView beginAnimations ...]", set up the card animation, then do "[UIView commitAnimations]". You can look up how to do stuff like this with a google search on this topic or search the stackoverflow.com site.

Hi, i've been using the mac expert version for a while and this is extremely handy!! One question I have is that do you have any plan developing a PC version as well, even though i use mac but due to current community situation (most poker platforms are supporting PC only), i really want to have one on my PC as well!!

Great to hear you like the Mac-Expert version.

Re. a Windows-PC version, quite a few people have asked about this over the years, but I don't have plans to make this version. Maybe someday in the future. The main reason is that it would be a ton of work to make a Windows-PC version that's on the same level as the current Mac-Expert version, and I'm not sure if I have the time/effort for it yet. And the current versions (iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac-Expert) are still keeping me busy enough with app updates. But of course I'd love to have a Windows-PC version someday (but not sure if I'll ever do it).

Also it was just a matter of timing: the first platform/device I targeted for this app was the iPhone, so gravitated more towards the Apple and Google OS's, versus Windows.

Thanks for letting me know, I totally understand. But I have to say that poker cruncher has almost everything you need as equity calculator and its function is the combination of multiple PC similar softwares, it would be great to have it some day and I'm pretty sure it's gonna rock the community then