There are several programs that will read the table and calculate odds for you. If you run these programs side by side, you'll get different odds from each program. Some take into account the number of players that started the hand and don't vary the odds when people fold. Others adjust the odds for every person that folds. For example say you flop top two pair on a nine handed table. Say there are 4 players seeing the flop. Some programs will base the odds on your two pair being the best hand against 4 players, others will base it against 9 players. Say you bet out and 2 players fold. The turn brings a 3 flush to the board. Some programs will now look at the chance of the other player having the flush based on being heads up, very small chance. Other programs will look at the chance of the other player having the flush based on 9 players, very high chance. None that I know of will take into account how the players bet. So you bet your two pair and get raised with the 3 flush, the odds calculator is still going to tell you that you have a great chance to win this hand.
So I don't think the odds calculators really give a player much of an edge. The programs that give you advice on what to do don't generally give very good advice.
I use Texas Calculatem and PokerSpy. I started using them to improve my game. And for beginning players they are helpful. I particularly like PokerSpy because it shows you the last 17 hands played including showdown cards that were mucked. When I'm playing and not running PokerSpy and someone calls me down to the river I almost always check the hand history to see what they mucked because I want to know what they were willing to call me down with. I also pay attention when I'm not in the hand and there is a lot of action and players muck on the river. With PokerSpy it will pop all the mucked hands up for me so I don't have to keep digging into the hand history. I can also see who is playing a lot of hands, who is raising a lot, who is winning a lot of hands, all at a glance. That's pretty handy. I don't really pay much attention to the odds anymore. I've got a pretty good feel for how strong my hand is now, so the odds really don't tell me much I don't know. The only time that helps is when I think I have the nuts but it shows me a small percentage that I might lose the hand. That makes me look at the board closer and sometimes I'll see that some kind of weird straight flush might be possible that I didn't realize at first.
__________________ Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn't play poker. -- Amarillo Slim You say how could I make that call? How could you make that bet? We're playing poker, not solitaire. -- Doyle Brunson | 
Check it out to see why.
