If you are an aspiring online poker player, then you need to always be learning.  There are numerous online training resources, but sometimes the overload of information makes it hard to determine which ones you should try.  Below are three recommended options for poker training software.

Poker Zion

Poker Zion has one benefit over other online poker coaching programs.  It offers you a structured approach to becoming a better poker players.  Whether you’re a rank beginner or have some experience, this site will improve your game.

Training programs are split up by micro-stakes and small to mid-stake.  Players received emails each week in their inbox with that week’s material which is essentially a set of videos.  Videos cover a variety of topics ranging from the basics, to advanced gameplay, and even how health and nutrition help you become a better player.

Poker Leak Buster

Poker Leak Buster is more of a specialized training program that analyzes and fixes poker leaks.  How it works is that the program analyzes your Hold’em Manager or Poker Tracker 3 database and looks for leaks and potential leaks.  Once leaks are found, you are given videos to watch that will help you identify and correct the leak in your game.

This software is a great value for those that have a relatively solid game but want to find ways to either increase their profits, take their game to the next level, or determine whether their downswing is variance or a fixable issue.

Ace Poker Drills

Ace Poker Drills is a three component program that is great for learning the concepts of odds and outs, pre-flop play, and hand equity.  The odds and outs drill will train you how to quickly spot and count your outs and figure out odds.  The pre-flop trainer works similar, but actually gives you actual game play situations where you must choose whether or not to play the hand.  The last section, the equity trainer, will teach you how to figure out your equity in hands based on various situations.

This software is one that is best geared towards beginning and inexperienced players.  With constant drilling, figuring out odds and equity can become second nature.  However, one must work in order to master these concepts.  This is one of the better poker training software tools to help you improve your skills in these areas.

Despite the immense popularity of online poker most players will admit that it lacks the special feeling that you get when playing people face to face. However, this might be about to change with the release of Aces Hangout by developer Hettema & Bergsten. What makes Aces Hangout different from other online poker products is the additional of video chat via Google+’s Hangouts feature.

Being able to see your opponents should create a more organic experience that could potentially let you tell if their tired, overly confident, or buffing. However, some might not like this and prefer the colder traditional online poker systems, where you focus more on yourself and the cards on the table, and less on your opponents projected emotional state.

Aces Hangout is still in beta testing and will likely remain that way until Google completes the ‘Hangout’ feature of the Google+ social network. However, for those of you that can not wait you can request to try Aces Hangout here, but you should keep in mind that at this point Hettema & Bergsten are having to add users manually, so it might be some time before you are able to play.

Aces Hangout is just one example of what is called ‘social gaming’. The most popular product in this relatively new category is Zynga Poker, which is available through facebook. With the clarification of ‘wire act’ by the U.S. Department of Justice back in December social gaming companies will be able to monetise their products, and if the expansion of social networks is a useful indicator real money social gaming could be the next huge thing in online poker. However, this is still some way off as individual states will first have to pass laws and put regulations in place to allow for any kind of online gambling.

For more information about social gaming try chips88.com