Tournament Shark Interview with PokerSoftware.com

Poker Pro Labs is one of the top development companies in the poker software industry. Its suite of programs is headlined by Tournament Shark, which automatically displays stats of your opponents, including their win rates, average finish positions, and the number of games you've logged on them, and then assigns each player a card to show you what you're up against. Recently, PokerSoftware.com spoke with Poker Pro Labs about what separates Tournament Shark from the pack.

PokerSoftware.com: Why did you decide to create Tournament Shark?

Poker Pro Labs: After launching Top Shark, our free online tournament reporting system, we thought it would be great to have key statistics and rankings of your opponents provided next to your table in real time as you play. As a result, Tournament Shark was born out of the idea to enhance the playing experience of tournament players. Tournament Shark has eliminated the tedious process of looking up every opponent's stats by automatically displaying the information in an easy to read format right next to your table. Regardless of the tournament you play, from the moment you sit down, you'll have vital parameters on every opponent right at your fingertips.

PokerSoftware.com: What difficulties did you encounter in its creation along the way?

Poker Pro Labs: The main challenge was in processing all of the necessary information as well as determining what data the customer would find useful during the decision making process. We wanted information to be meaningful, yet not overwhelming. We concentrated on key parameters such as the overall ranking, average finishes, profitability, and the overall number of games played. We have enhanced Tournament Shark further by adding filters and, therefore, enabling players to weed out data based on tournament type, game structure, and number of players, thus providing a deeper insight into each opponent.

PokerSoftware.com: What feedback have you received from customers so far?

Poker Pro Labs: The response from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. We frequently get emails from users telling us how much they've been able to improve their games thanks to Tournament Shark. There was a void in the market for a product like this for quite some time and Tournament Shark was able to fill it rather easily, becoming one of the top-selling products for us.

PokerSoftware.com: What future product improvements for Tournament Shark are planned?

Poker Pro Labs: We currently support PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and PokerRoom (the Ongame Network) and are in the process of adding support for other sites such as PartyPoker, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker, Cryptologic, and iPoker (just to name a few). We will also be adding a fully-customizable table overlay (HUD), which will have additional game-specific parameters.

PokerSoftware.com: How has the poker software industry evolved since you first became involved in it?

Poker Pro Labs: I think your average player has become more aware of the available poker tools and how indispensable they can be in gaining an edge over your opponents.

PokerSoftware.com: When did Poker Pro Labs start building poker software and what caused you to begin doing so?

Poker Pro Labs: In 2004, we saw a huge opportunity to offer online poker players advanced software so that they could systematically improve their games and become better players. We have been continuously building on our early success by designing and creating new poker tools and services.

PokerSoftware.com: What separates Tournament Shark from other products like it?

Poker Pro Labs: Tournament Shark is light and easy to navigate. Because of its built-in simplicity, you'll know how to use Tournament Shark from the first time you launch it. It's tightly integrated with Top Shark, allowing users to be taken to any player's profile with the click of a mouse for a more in-depth look.

PokerSoftware.com: Talk more about Poker Pro Labs in general.

Poker Pro Labs: We are an innovative company that offers poker players a wide variety of tools and services including the free tournament reporting system Top Shark, a free online table finder, a free web-based calculator, and downloadable products such as Tournament Shark, Smart Buddy, Table Shark, Tournament Updater, and Poker Calculator Pro.

Poker Pro Labs constantly strives to create new tools and provide information to you as a poker player in order to enhance your overall playing experience. We try to take some of the unnecessary complexity out of the game, simplify the learning process for new players, and assist more experienced players in mastering and optimizing their game further.

Read our review of Tournament Shark right here on PokerSoftware.com.

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