Poker App Review: Insta Poker Coach 2.2

Available for:  iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices (reviewed on iPad)

Cost: Free of Charge (In-app Hand Packs however require payment)

Developer: Gamoz Inc.

Overview

Insta Poker Coach 2.2 is a poker app with a difference. Instead of allowing you to play the game, the app aims to teach players a little about how to play like a true poker professional.

It achieves this by offering the player a selection of Hand Packs (the first one is free and is included in the initial app download). These hand packs are themed on various poker situations or issues (the free pack, for example details No-Limit Hold’em Strategies).

Each pack and the hands within it has been developed with the guidance of several top poker professionals including Dan O’Brien, Jonathan Little, Matt Berkey and Antonio Esfandiari.

Once a player has selected a pack he is then presented with a poker scenario, which lists the playing tendencies of your opponents (passive/aggressive, maniac etc) and shows you how a round of betting has proceeded up to the point where you are required to make a decision based on the cards in your hand and what has happened.

The options available to you appear at the bottom of the screen and you need to select one of these options to allow the tutorial to progress.

When you select an option, the app will then reveal what the poker professional feels about your selection. There are four ratings available, you will receive three coins for the best move possible, two for a good move, one for a fair move and no coins for a bad move.

There is also a detailed explanation about why the app feels the selection you made was rated as such.

The app continues by assuming that you pick the best selection (if you do not pick the best selection, the app will explain why it is the best choice and will preselect that for you before you continue).

You then complete the rest of the hand in the same way and try to build up as high a number of coins as possible.

These coins can be redeemed within the app for a number of Pro Hand Packs, based on real life poker tournaments that the Insta Poker professionals have participated in. The coins also serve as your score, which you can attempt to beat when you replay the hands.

There are a large number of Hand Packs available for purchase ranging in price from around £1.49 up to £5.99 and they cover many detailed poker situations suited to the beginner player through to advanced ability poker players.

Positive Points

There is lots to like about the Insta Poker Coach app. First, it is quick and easy to download, the game is presented neatly and the way they use coins as a reward system is a nice touch.

The fact the initial app is free is a good thing, however that is somewhat misleading as we shall explore in the negative points.

The app is easy to navigate and use and there are a fantastic choice of Hand Packs available to cover a vast range of poker situations. If you are serious about learning poker via your mobile device, then Insta Poker Coach is a very good choice.

Negative Points

Despite the positive outlook of the app there are some negative points.

First up, it is fair to say that the app is not really suited to the beginner player or even perhaps an intermediate player.

The free Hand Pack, which one assumes is at the most basic level, tends to assume players already have a very solid knowledge of some of the more complex aspects of the game – this is just not the case with beginner players.

As such, I would seriously recommend that any novice players seeking to use the app to improve their poker skills would need to brush up on some of the key strategic elements of the game and the terminology used, in order to gain anything from the app.

The other main negative issue is the cost of the app if you do want to use it properly. The fact that only one Hand Pack is included in the app is a disappointment as a player can play through this in just a few minutes.

This means that they are then forced to shell out anywhere between £1.49 or £5.99 for additional hand packs each time they want to learn about a different aspect of the game.

Given there are many hand packs available, to use the app fully, would cost the user a great deal of money.

Of course, if you can turn this into positive results on the poker table, then this would be a sound investment, but there is no guarantee that is the case.

It would have been nice to see some beginner Hand Packs included with the app at a much reduced cost, as well as a glossary explaining some of the more complex terms.

That way the app would certainly have been usable by a greater number of poker players, not just those with an already excellent understanding of the game.

Conclusion

Despite these niggles, Insta Poker Coach 2.2 really does have a lot going for it. The explanations provided by the poker professionals, if you can understand the terminology used, are clear and logical and certainly can help sharpen up the skills of a poker player seeking to take their game onto the next level.

There are lots of nice touches here and the information it provides is certainly valuable, but given the cost of purchasing all the Hand Packs, I am just not sure if it provides value for money for anyone but the most serious of poker players.

That, and the lack of a real introductory level for beginner players, means that while this is a very good app, it does lack the universal appeal needed to make it a great one.

Score: 82% – A good app, clearly aimed at the more able poker player who may not need it. Not ideal for beginners – who clearly do.

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