Review of Poker Manager 2 from CocoaTree Applications

Having a home game is something that people worldwide do on a regular basis.  In my neighborhood, we have a weekly game that a group of eight to 10 regulars show up for.  Everyone buys in for a small amount of money and the game is played tournament style until there are two or three left who take a share of first and second place.  During this game, our host prints out two pieces of paper and tapes them to his walls so everyone can remember what chips are worth (cheap chipsets with no denominations are used), hands out a stack of chips that barely makes any sense, and uses his oven to time the blinds.

Does this make any sense for a regular game?  What about bigger situations like a fraternity event where there are multiple tables?  What if you wanted to keep track of winnings that are given to players and export it to a PDF to e-mail it out to everyone?  In the past, there have been some pretty lame solutions for the PC, but home game warriors with a Mac don’t need to worry anymore with the introduction of a program called Poker Manager 2 from CocoaTree Applications.

Poker Manager 2 is a low-cost software application that takes care of all the things you need to do in order to run an efficient home game or special event right from your computer.  The bad news is that this program only works with Macs, so PC users are out of luck.  Let’s take a look at some of the features:

- Apple Remote Support.  If you have your Apple Remote, you can pause, change, or start the time and even eliminate a player, removing the need to get up from the table to manage your tournament.

- The Timer.  Beyond the simple blinds timer, there is “The Timer,” which is a 60 second countdown clock used if you think someone is taking way too much time to think.

- Tables Preview.  A feature that shows how players are seated in a graphically rich environment.  The program will even balance players between tables when there are eliminations.

- Automatically Updates.  If there are any new editions of the program that are released, it will auto-update.

- Tournament Records.  Winnings are given to players and can even be printed out as a PDF file to hand out or e-mail.

- Other Features.  Custom backgrounds, full screen mode, chip calculation, automatic break system, and prize pool calculations.

The program costs a measly $16.99 and comes in both English and French.  Having tried out this program on my MacBook Pro laptop, Poker Manager 2 runs like a champ.  It produces as advertised and has a ton of features well-suited for any conceivable home tournament.

Installation is a no brainer for anyone that has a little experience installing software.  Getting up and running is not very difficult at all since the screens are graphically rich and every button and menu item is very straightforward and easy to access.  The program will not take its toll on your computer since the installation file is only 8 MB and the graphics will impress not only yourself, but also any guests in what will definitely be the most organized home tournament they have ever played in.

Having used the program successfully a few times, it really begs the question why some of the smaller card rooms that run tournaments don’t invest in this program themselves instead of using their outdated pen and paper methods or Windows 3.1 16-bit DOS tournament program (you know you’ve seen it).  The benefits of using Poker Manager 2 more than justify the small cost if you regularly run a home game or are in charge of a multi-table tournament for an event or charity cause.

With a free trial of 14 days, it is definitely worth checking out and running through just for fun and even giving it a whirl at your next home game. Poker Manager 2 can be found at http://www.cocoatreeapplications.com