What are some good poker-related software programs?

Editor's note: Ken's Poker Page has a comprehensive listing of poker-related software. The Beginners' Guide to Online Poker has a special section on online tracking software for yourself and your opponents.

Commercial Programs

There are many poker programs available but the quality of them ranges from terrible to fairly good. The following are worth considering:

• Poki's Poker Academy This is the first commercially available computer program to incorporate both game theory and recent advancements in machine learning. Its use of game theory makes it a challenging heads-up opponent that is not afraid to bluff you with just the right frequency. The machine learning techniques include statistical opponent modeling that help it adapt to your game and exploit your weaknesses. This program is a strong learning tool, especially for heads-up play.
• Wilson Software Turbo Series Separate games are available for Texas Holdem, 7-card stud, Omaha-8 and Omaha High. There are both ring-game and tournament versions. Computer players are driven by large tables describing each decision point. These tables can be modified by the user to create new players. Play against the computer or let the computer players play each other in a fast mode. Check resulting statistics for the various strategies.
• Masque World Series of Poker Adventure Plays Texas Holdem, 7-card stud and Omaha. Also plays blackjack and other casino games. Runs under DOS. This is more of a fun simulation of playing in the World Series at Binions. Play ring games or other casino games to get enough money to enter a satellite. Win the satellite to get into the no-limit finals. Poker opponent play is pretty good, but not exactly World Champion level.
• iPoker Shareware for Macintosh, with nice graphics and GUI.
• Acespade.

Exact Enumeration Calculators

Several people have written software that computes exact showdown probabilities for poker matchups:

• Steve Brecher's Hold'Em Showdown.
• Andrew Prock's Pokerstove.
• Janne Raevaara's Poker Calculator.

Pokersource (Source Code)

If you want to write some of your own poker software, a fast poker hand evaluator is available as part of the Pokersource. package It is in C but uses some Gnu C extensions; it also has a Java interface. You can see it in action at Two Dimes Pokenum, which lets you enter multiple-hand matchups and computes exact win percentages for each hand.

Hotpoker (formerly Netpoker)

Hotpoker is a suite of programs for multi-player hold'em over the internet. C source for Netpoker used to be available; I'm not sure about Hotpoker.