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by theshirin 1851 days ago
Thanks for this feedback! We initially thought that experts would be our primary/target audience, but given the reception we're getting from novices, there's clearly value in providing better onboarding for them so that the initial view isn't so overwhelming (although luckily we've seen that even newbies can pick up the charts quickly with a little bit of explanation).

Just to share a little background: our initial designs were of a round poker table but ultimately ditched it for a couple key reasons. We ran into usability issues (eg, the re-raising scenarios were difficult to display clearly, and it took too long for users to read/absorb the summary of action), and the action input wasn't as streamlined (namely, it required far more mouse and eye movement darting around the circle).

It took many iterations to land on what we currently have — the vertical list from early position to late position that eliminates positions in the re-raise rounds — and it proved to be the most efficient for inputting, absorbing, and clearing table action. Ultimately we made this tradeoff to value power usage over first time usage, but we hope to continue improving it and making it easier for first time users as well.

2 comments

I think the interface is appropriate as a learning tool for intermediate+ players, who will know right away exactly what they are looking at. Anyone who has used poker educational software should be right at home with your interface. Don't change it!

I expect a round poker table if the software actually plays poker or if it's some kind of hand-commentary replayer. Not for things like this.

Oh, it's you and a team? Awesome, sounds like a fun project to work on. If you've examined it and saw it not working well, that's totally fair. I thought you were doing this solo, but given the level of polish I probably should have known better. :)

Good luck!