THETA Poker User Guide
 |
| Main Poker Screen |
Introduction
THETA Poker is a native Texas Hold 'Em game for the iPhone and iPod touch that leverages many of the iPhone's strongest features to provide the smoothest possible user experience, while a strong artificial intelligence poker engine challenges the best Hold 'Em players and teaches new skills to all levels of players. THETA Poker is for entertainment purposes only. No real money is ever bet, won, or lost.
Table of Contents
THETA Poker mimics a real-world poker experience by implementing the following touch actions:
- To fold, push your cards to the center of the table (or tap the deck).
- To check or call, tap your cards.
- To bet or raise, tap your chips.
- To move all-in, push your chips to the center of the table.
- To quit the current game and start a new one, shake your device.
- To set preferences or view help tap the THETA Options button (tools). Note: to cancel a drag, move back to where you started; to cancel a tap, drag a little until chips or cards move. Impending actions are always indicated in the middle of the screen.
Status messages in the middle of the screen will keep you informed about blind increases, other players' bets, new players, and so on. The background color behind the white text indicates the general category of each message:
- Black: Status only. No action on your part is required as the message will disappear after the time specified in the Message Duration Play Preference.
- Dark Red: Your turn to act. If an amount is given, you can fold, call, or raise. If no amount is displayed, you can check or bet.
- Dark Blue: Tap to continue. See the Pause After Hand Play Preference.
Improve the soul of your No Limit Texas Hold 'Em game with THETA, the Texas Hold 'Em Turbo Action Poker game that will provide you countless hours of risk-free entertainment while preparing you for your next online game, home game, or trip to the casino. THETA Poker lets you play a quick hand or two whenever you have a free moment or an entire tournament in a single sitting or as many sessions as needed. Game play is highly customizable, from the size of the blinds and the strength of the computer opponents to the speed of play and design on the backs of the playing cards. The skills of the computer opponents start with just the basics and add position play, check-raises, slow-plays, continuation bets, bluffs, semi-bluffs, blind stealing, short-stack strategy, and adjustments for the relative sizes of the blinds, the number of players at the table, and the opponents' betting habits. Playing styles vary from very tight and passive to very loose and aggressive.
THETA Poker makes playing poker as efficient as possible so you can focus on the quality of your play. Most common actions (folding, checking, and calling) require only a single tap, while all other frequent actions (such as betting or raising to any of six standard relative amounts) require just two taps or a swipe (moving all-in).
You control THETA Poker's streamlined interface with the following simple actions:
 |
| Options Screen |
The THETA Poker options screen allows you to do the following:
- Settings: Configure a wide variety of settings for THETA Poker.
- Statistics: Display your THETA Poker results.
- Help: Display the Quick Start, Mini-Help, Full Help (Safari), Payout Schedule, Blind Schedule, Poker Glossary, or Hand Nicknames. In the Full Help, you can view the THETA Poker User Guide, Frequently Asked Questions, or E-mail Support. Return to the THETA Poker application from Safari by tapping any Return to THETA Poker link.
- About THETA Poker: Display version and other information about THETA Poker.
 |
| Settings |
From the main screen, swipe the table left to reach the Settings screen. Alternatively, from the Options screen, tap the Settings choice.
- Game Type: Select a type of game to play. The Practice games do not affect your career statistics and allow you to see the other players hole cards in the hand history at the end of each hand.
- Ring Game (or Practice Ring): Single-table game with fixed blinds and antes and neverending play until you bust out or quit. Players who bust out are replaced to keep the table full. Also known as a Cash Game, but no real money is involved here.
- Tournament (or Practice Tourney): Multi-table knockout tournament with escalating blinds and antes. Tables are consolidated as players bust out.
- Shootout (or Practice Shootout): Multi-table shootout with escalating blinds and antes. Each table plays down to a single winner who advances to the next round.
- Game Options: Specify various options that require ending the current game and starting a new one. When you quit a non-practice ring game or tournament, your statistics are automatically updated except if you leave before the flop on the first deal.
 |
| Game Options |
- Computer Skill: Set the skill level of the computer opponents to Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or Expert.
- Beginner: Understand basic preflop strategy and position play.
- Intermediate: Know how to check-raise, slow play, continuation bet, and some specialized heads-up strategy.
- Advanced: Adjust for opponents' styles, bet more aggressively when short-stacked, and implement a strong heads-up strategy.
- Expert: Use a unique set of hand group charts adjusted for the exact number of players, make more continuation bets and positional steal attempts, play more aggressively with good position, and call less often relative to folding and raising.
Note: playing styles are attached to player names only for the duration of each tournament or ring game to help you learn to read your opponents' playing styles.
- Tournament Size: Set the size of the tournament to 12, 36, 60, 120, or 300 Players or any Custom amount from 2 to 299 Players. For shootout tournaments, the number of players is rounded up to the next even power of the table size, so all tables start full (e.g., with 6-player tables, 200 becomes 216 [6x6x6], while 300 becomes 1,296 [6x6x6x6]). You will always start at a full table, but the number of players at your table will fluctuate during the tournament as players bust out at your table and other tables. See the Tournament Payout Schedule for the prize structure.
- Players Per Table: Set the maximum number of players at each table from 2 to 10. During Ring Games, the table will always have the maximum numbers of players. During knockout tournaments, the number may occasionally drop as players bust out and increase as players join the table.
- Starting Stack: Set the starting stack for each player to $1,000, $10,000, $100,000, or any Custom amount in between. If you want to emulate smaller amounts, you can treat each dollar as a penny (e.g., let $1,000 stand for $10.00).
- Ante Size: Set the ante size to None, one twentieth the big blind, or one tenth the big blind. The ante will never be less than $1 (no ante instead).
- Ante Start Level: Set the lowest blind level at which antes are used from 2 to 9 if Ante Size is not set to None. The first blind level will never include an ante.
- Blind Size: Set the starting blind size relative to the starting stack size. Smallest sets the starting big blind to 1/500th of the stack, Smaller 1/250th, Small 1/100th, Medium 1/50th, and Large 1/25th. The small blind is always half of the big blind.
- Blind Increases: Set the speed at which the blinds and antes will grow during Tournament or Shootout play. Options are Slow (blinds and antes increase every 18 hands), Moderate (12 hands), Fast (6 hands), Custom Hand Count (1 to 60 hands), 6 Minutes, 4 Minutes, 2 Minutes, or Custom Time Limit (1 to 60 minutes). The timer is paused whenever you exit THETA Poker, turn off your device, go to any Options screen, or pop up game or player information. The big blind will never exceed ten percent of the total amount of chips in play.
Note: as blinds increase, players will be chipped up occasionally. This is accomplished by a random weighted rounding of the smallest chips (e.g., if chipping up from $10 chips to $100 chips with a $2,340 stack, the player will have a 40% chance of ending up with $2,400 and a 60% chance of getting $2,300). A player will never be chipped out of a tournament.
- Maximum Reraises: Set the maximum of reraises allowed per betting round to 3, 4, 5, or Unlimited.
- Play Preferences: Set game-play preferences that can be changed at any time without ending the current game.
 |
| Play Preferences |
- Message Duration: Set the amount of time on-screen messages will be displayed in the middle of the screen from Very Short to Very Long.
- Message Transparency: Set the transparency of the message from 50% to 100% opaque. The highest value is usually the best except when playing in Portrait mode on a full table, when the message can obscure the middle players' cards.
- Animation Speed: Set the speed at which card animations will occur from Very Slow to Very Fast to Off or Instant Dealing. Both Off and Instant Dealing turn off all card animations; the latter deals all hole cards instantly instead of one at a time.
- Confirm All-In: Control if and when a confirmation dialog box should be displayed when you move all-in. Options are Never (never ask), More Than Call (don't ask if all-in is just a call), Over Min Raise (don't ask if all-in is a minimum raise or less), and Always (always confirm).
- Speed After Fold: Set the speed of play (actions and messages) in a hand after you have folded.
- Normal: Normal speed all the time as set in Message Duration and Animation Speed above. Best for studying your opponents' play.
- Faster to Showdown: Go faster until the showdown.
- Faster to End: Go faster until the payout at the end of the hand.
- Skip to Showdown: Skip directly to the showdown.
- Skip to End: Skip directly to the payout at the end of the hand. Best for casual play or in conjunction with viewing the Hand History to see what you missed.
- Pause After Hand: Set whether action will be paused at the end of each hand. If set to Off, the next hand will automatically be dealt. If set to On, action continues only after you tap the screen, with the exceptions of the Blind Info (pops up game information), Pot Info (pops up the hand history), and Options button (goes to the Options screen). You can also pause the action at any time by tapping on the Dealer button (D).
- Announce Blinds: Sets whether or not blind bets are announced as they are put into the pot on each hand.
- Game Sounds: Sets whether sounds are played or not. To control the volume, use the dedicated volume buttons or double-tap the home button on older iPod touches. Note: any music you already have playing will continue to play in THETA Poker, so you can play with both game sounds and music, game sounds alone, or music alone.
- Customization: Set other THETA options.
 |
| Customization |
- Return Screen: Sets the screen that THETA Poker will return to after exiting and returning. The options are the Options Screen and the Main Screen (card table).
- Bet Window: Sets the location of the Bet and Raise popup windows to any combination of High/Low and Left/Middle/Right.
- Card Designs: Sets the design used for the backs of the playing cards. Nineteen different designs are currently available.
 |
| Card Designs |
- Hand History: Allows you to set the following options for the hand history that can be viewed by tapping on the "Pot" label above your hole cards.
- E-mail Address Default: Sets the default address for sending hand histories to. You can always add or delete addresses before sending any given hand recap. WARNING: prior to iPhone OS 3.0, some default addresses may not work properly, and you will either need to choose another address or leave the default empty.
- Rabbit Hunting: Sets whether undealt community cards are revealed in the hand history for hands ending on the flop or turn.
- Dismiss After Send: Sets whether the hand history screen automatically goes away after you mail a hand recap (useful if you primarily use the hand history screen for sending rather than viewing).
- Clear Hand Histories: Immediately free up space during a long ring game or tournament if your device is nearly full. Hand histories are always deleted when you start a new game.
- Large Numbers: Sets whether bigger text is used to display the pot amount and an estimate of each player's stack size on top of your opponents' cards and your chips. Stack sizes are rounded, with 'k' denoting thousands and 'm' denoting millions. The actual stack amount remains visible at all times in smaller text, while the estimates will be hidden when players fold and when opponents' hole cards are revealed.
- Show Rank: Sets whether your rank and the number of players left in the current game are displayed at the top left of the screen above the blind information.
- Drag Rectangle: Sets whether the target area for dragging your cards and chips is visible.
- Dim on Fold: Sets whether your hole cards are dimmed instead of hidden after you fold.
- Allow Table Swipes: Sets whether you can swipe across the poker table to jump directly to the Settings, Statistics, and Help screens.
- Confirm Tap to Call: Sets whether confirmation is requested when you tap your hole cards to call a bet as opposed to checking. To call, you can either tap your hole cards and then tap "OK", or you can tap your chips and then tap the "Call" button in the bottom left of the pop-up window.
- Table Background: Sets the background for the poker table. You can choose the default textured felt or any of ten solid colors.
From any Settings screen, tap the New Game button at the bottom left to start a new game.
The computer players in THETA Poker differ in looseness, aggressiveness, skill level, and other more subtle ways. To help you learn to read how opponents play, playing styles are assigned to players at the beginning of each new game. If you want to know an opponent's current playing style for sure, tap the player's name or cards to see it.
Looseness
| Looseness | Description |
| Tight | Preflop: plays fewer opening hands. Postflop: bets only the best hands |
| Average | Preflop: plays average number of opening hands. Postflop: bets only better hands |
| Loose | Preflop: plays more opening hands. Postflop: bets a wide range of hands |
Players range from Very Tight to Very Loose. All players above the Beginner level will get looser as the blinds increase relative to their chip stacks.
Aggressiveness
| Aggressiveness | Description |
| Passive | Calls more than raises |
| Neutral | Calls and raises a normal amount |
| Aggressive | Raises often |
Players range from Very Passive to Very Aggressive, with weaker players tending toward the passive side and stronger players toward the aggressive side.
Skill Level
| Skill Level | Description |
| Beginner | Knows the basics of poker and no-limit Texas Hold 'Em, including starting hand groups and some position play |
| Intermediate | Knows how to check-raise, slow play, continuation bet, steal blinds, defend steal attempts, adjust for being short-stacked, react somewhat to opponents' playing styles, and implement some heads-up strategy |
| Advanced | Knows more advanced position play strategy, defends blinds more strongly, adjusts to opponents' playing styles, and implements special heads-up strategy including a different hand group chart |
| Expert | Knows how to rate starting hands based on the exact number of players at the table, make more continuation bets and positional steal attempts, play more aggressively with good position, and call less often relative to folding and raising |
Within each skill level, differences in playing style will also contribute to how difficult each opponent is to beat, depending on your own playing style.
THETA Poker uses the following prize structures for keeping score based on the size of the tournament. All entry fees are returned as prizes. Note: THETA Poker is for entertainment purposes only. No real money is ever bet, won, or lost.
12-Player Tournament Prizes (Top 3 Cash)
| Finish | $100,000 Buy-In | $10,000 Buy-In | $1,000 Buy-In |
| 1st place | $600,000 | $60,000 | $6,000 |
| 2nd place | $350,000 | $35,000 | $3,500 |
| 3rd place | $250,000 | $25,000 | $2,500 |
36-Player Tournament Prizes (Top 5 Cash)
| Finish | $100,000 Buy-In | $10,000 Buy-In | $1,000 Buy-In |
| 1st place | $1,500,000 | $150,000 | $15,000 |
| 2nd place | $900,000 | $90,000 | $9,000 |
| 3rd place | $600,000 | $60,000 | $6,000 |
| 4th place | $400,000 | $40,000 | $4,000 |
| 5th place | $200,000 | $20,000 | $2,000 |
60-Player Tournament Prizes (Top 6 Cash)
| Finish | $100,000 Buy-In | $10,000 Buy-In | $1,000 Buy-In |
| 1st place | $2,500,000 | $250,000 | $25,000 |
| 2nd place | $1,500,000 | $150,000 | $15,000 |
| 3rd place | $800,000 | $80,000 | $8,000 |
| 4th place | $600,000 | $60,000 | $6,000 |
| 5th place | $400,000 | $40,000 | $4,000 |
| 6th place | $200,000 | $20,000 | $2,000 |
120-Player Tournament Prizes (Top 12 Cash)
| Finish | $100,000 Buy-In | $10,000 Buy-In | $1,000 Buy-In |
| 1st place | $4,000,000 | $400,000 | $40,000 |
| 2nd place | $2,500,000 | $250,000 | $25,000 |
| 3rd place | $1,500,000 | $150,000 | $15,000 |
| 4th place | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $10,000 |
| 5th place | $800,000 | $80,000 | $8,000 |
| 6th place | $600,000 | $60,000 | $6,000 |
| 7th place | $500,000 | $50,000 | $5,000 |
| 8th place | $350,000 | $35,000 | $3,500 |
| 9th place | $250,000 | $25,000 | $2,500 |
| 10th place | $200,000 | $20,000 | $2,000 |
| 11th-12th place | $150,000 | $15,000 | $1,500 |
300-Player Tournament Prizes (Top 30 Cash)
| Finish | $100,000 Buy-In | $10,000 Buy-In | $1,000 Buy-In |
| 1st place | $9,000,000 | $900,000 | $90,000 |
| 2nd place | $6,000,000 | $600,000 | $60,000 |
| 3rd place | $3,600,000 | $360,000 | $36,000 |
| 4th place | $2,250,000 | $225,000 | $22,500 |
| 5th place | $1,800,000 | $180,000 | $18,000 |
| 6th place | $1,200,000 | $120,000 | $12,000 |
| 7th place | $900,000 | $90,000 | $9,000 |
| 8th place | $600,000 | $60,000 | $6,000 |
| 9th place | $500,000 | $50,000 | $5,000 |
| 10th place | $400,000 | $40,000 | $4,000 |
| 11th-15th place | $250,000 | $25,000 | $2,500 |
| 16th-20th place | $200,000 | $20,000 | $2,000 |
| 21st-30th place | $150,000 | $15,000 | $1,500 |
Custom Tournament Sizes and Starting Stacks
If you select a custom tournament size or custom starting stack, prizes are calculated dynamically as percentages of the total entry fees based on the number of players in the tournament using the following table:
| Finish/Players | 2-11 | 12-35 | 36-59 | 60-119 | 120-199 | 200-299 | 300 |
| 1st place | 100.00% | 50.00% | 41.67% | 41.67% | 33.33% | 30.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | | 29.17% | 25.00% | 25.00% | 20.83% | 20.00% | 20.00% |
| 3rd place | | 20.83% | 16.67% | 13.33% | 12.50% | 12.50% | 12.00% |
| 4th place | | | 11.11% | 10.00% | 8.33% | 7.50% | 7.50% |
| 5th place | | | 5.56% | 6.67% | 6.67% | 6.00% | 6.00% |
| 6th place | | | | 3.33% | 5.00% | 4.50% | 4.00% |
| 7th place | | | | | 4.17% | 3.75% | 3.00% |
| 8th place | | | | | 2.92% | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| 9th place | | | | | 2.08% | 2.25% | 1.67% |
| 10th place | | | | | 1.67% | 1.75% | 1.33% |
| 11th-12th place | | | | | 1.25% | 1.00% | 0.83% |
| 13th-15th place | | | | | | 1.00% | 0.83% |
| 16th-20th place | | | | | | 0.75% | 0.67% |
| 21st-30th place | | | | | | | 0.50% |
All prizes are rounded to the nearest dollar.
Note: when multiple players bust out on the same hand, the player who started the hand with the larger chip stack wins the bigger prize.
Shootout tournaments always begin with full tables so nobody has the advantage of having fewer opponents at their table or the disadvantage of beginning the following round with fewer chips. The number of players in a shootout is always rounded up to the next even power of the table size, so the maximum number of players in a shootout can exceed 300. Players busting out before the final table each receive the same prize based on the round they reached. Below are the shootout prize structures for larger shootouts, sorted by table size. Shootouts with fewer players pay 100% of the entry fees to first place.
Shootout: 10-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 100 | 1000 |
| 1st place | 35.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 20.00% | 17.50% |
| 3rd place | 12.00% | 10.00% |
| 4th place | 8.00% | 6.00% |
| 5th place | 7.00% | 4.00% |
| 6th place | 6.00% | 3.00% |
| 7th place | 4.50% | 2.50% |
| 8th place | 3.50% | 2.00% |
| 9th place | 2.50% | 1.50% |
| 10th place | 1.50% | 1.00% |
| 11th-100th place | | 0.25% |
Shootout: 9-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 81 | 729 |
| 1st place | 37.50% | 32.00% |
| 2nd place | 22.50% | 18.00% |
| 3rd place | 12.00% | 10.00% |
| 4th place | 8.00% | 7.00% |
| 5th place | 6.00% | 5.00% |
| 6th place | 5.00% | 4.00% |
| 7th place | 4.00% | 3.00% |
| 8th place | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| 9th place | 2.00% | 1.00% |
| 10th-81st place | | 0.25% |
Shootout: 8-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 64 | 512 |
| 1st place | 35.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 20.00% | 15.00% |
| 3rd place | 13.00% | 9.00% |
| 4th place | 10.00% | 7.00% |
| 5th place | 7.00% | 5.00% |
| 6th place | 6.00% | 3.00% |
| 7th place | 5.00% | 2.00% |
| 8th place | 4.00% | 1.00% |
| 9th-64th place | | 0.50% |
Shootout: 7-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 49 | 343 |
| 1st place | 40.00% | 35.00% |
| 2nd place | 24.00% | 20.00% |
| 3rd place | 12.50% | 12.00% |
| 4th place | 9.00% | 6.00% |
| 5th place | 6.00% | 3.00% |
| 6th place | 5.00% | 2.00% |
| 7th place | 3.50% | 1.00% |
| 8th-49th place | | 0.50% |
Shootout: 6-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 36 | 216 | 1296 |
| 1st place | 40.00% | 35.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 25.00% | 20.00% | 15.00% |
| 3rd place | 13.50% | 12.00% | 7.50% |
| 4th place | 10.00% | 6.00% | 4.00% |
| 5th place | 7.00% | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| 6th place | 4.50% | 1.50% | 1.00% |
| 7th-36th place | | 0.75% | 0.45% |
| 37th-216th place | | | 0.15% |
Shootout: 5-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 25 | 125 | 625 |
| 1st place | 40.00% | 32.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 25.00% | 18.00% | 15.00% |
| 3rd place | 16.00% | 10.00% | 8.00% |
| 4th place | 11.50% | 6.50% | 4.50% |
| 5th place | 7.50% | 3.50% | 2.50% |
| 6th-25th place | | 1.50% | 0.75% |
| 26th-125th place | | | 0.25% |
Shootout: 4-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 64 | 256 | 1024 |
| 1st place | 45.00% | 35.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 27.50% | 20.00% | 17.50% |
| 3rd place | 17.50% | 12.50% | 10.00% |
| 4th place | 10.00% | 8.50% | 6.50% |
| 5th-16th place | | 2.00% | 2.00% |
| 17th-64th place | | | 0.25% |
Shootout: 3-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 27 | 81 | 243 | 729 |
| 1st place | 50.00% | 35.00% | 32.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 29.17% | 20.00% | 16.00% | 15.50% |
| 3rd place | 20.83% | 12.00% | 10.00% | 8.00% |
| 4th-9th place | | 5.50% | 4.00% | 4.00% |
| 10th-27th place | | | 1.00% | 0.50% |
| 28th-81st place | | | | 0.25% |
Shootout: 2-Player Tables
| Finish/Players | 16 | 32 | 64 | 128 | 256 | 512 |
| 1st place | 66.67% | 45.00% | 40.00% | 32.00% | 32.00% | 30.00% |
| 2nd place | 33.33% | 25.00% | 20.00% | 16.00% | 16.00% | 15.00% |
| 3rd-4th place | | 15.00% | 10.00% | 8.00% | 8.00% | 7.50% |
| 5th-8th place | | | 5.00% | 4.00% | 4.00% | 4.00% |
| 9th-16th place | | | | 2.50% | 1.50% | 1.00% |
| 17th-32nd place | | | | | 0.50% | 0.50% |
| 33rd-64th place | | | | | | 0.25% |
The Statistics screen displays your results in all Ring Games and Tournaments, not including the current game and practice games. The Skill Level displayed can be Current matching the current game you are playing, or can be specifically set to Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.
For Ring Games, the following information is shown:
| Sessions Played | Number of times played |
| Winning Sessions | Number and percentage of sessions showing a profit |
| Net Earnings | Total amount of money won or lost |
| Net Per Session | Average amount of money won or lost per session |
For Tournaments, the following information is shown:
| Events Played | Number of tournaments played |
| Cashes | Number and percentage of tournaments in the money |
| Wins | Number and percentage of tournaments won |
| Total Winnings | Total amount of money won in tournaments |
| Winnings Per Event | Average amount of money won per tournament |
| Net Earnings | Total amount of money won or lost after subtracting entry fees |
| Net Per Event | Average amount of money won or lost after subtracting entry fees |
Negative money values are displayed inside parentheses. Tapping on the Clear Statistics button will clear all of your statistics after confirming your selection.
THETA Poker can be purchased for $4.99 through the App Store in iTunes or directly on your iPhone or iPod touch. Just search for "theta" and click on THETA Poker in the Applications results section.
All upgrades are free and downloadable directly on your iPhone or iPod touch! You will automatically be notified of available updates through the Updates tab in the App Store.
THETA Poker Version 1.9.0, December 11, 2009
THETA Poker is Copyright (C)2008-2009 by Robert Jen (thetapoker.com).
THETA Poker is for entertainment purposes only. No real money is ever bet, won, or lost.
Bug reports, enhancement requests, and all comments and questions are always welcome via e-mail at support@thetapoker.com.