British Bull Dog Takes a Close Look at Poker Tracker Software.
Poker Tracker is not only the program by which others are measured, it is also a program that other developers contribute to by way of add-on software.
There are many, many topics regarding online poker which divide opinion. However, one thing that nearly everybody agrees on is that the standard of play is higher and it has become harder to be a winning player than it was 2 years ago. It follows, therefore, that any edge you can get over the masses of players has to be worthwhile. Indeed, poker is a game of such small edges that a small improvement in decision making will result in a very meaningful increase in earn rate. One way you can get an edge is to employ good tracking and analysis software to help improve your game.
Poker Tracker is the original blueprint for in depth after play analysis and on the hoof help and statistics to lead you to make the correct decision. It is NOT something that will automate your play and make you into a poker master overnight. It will, however, present you with information on your own play and your opponents play to enable you to make the best decision in the prevailing circumstances. There are 2 main areas which Poker Tracker will address.
The First is Opponent Analysis.
How much better do you think you will play if you have a reasonable idea of your opponents hand ranges and traits. Knowing that a player will play 18% of his opening cards and will raise with 15% of these, will enable you to get an idea of the sort of pocket cards he feels are profitable for him to play.
On the other hand seeing that another guy plays 60% of hands and raises just 5% of these might well point you in the opposite direction in terms of classifying this player. As you play on your table or tables you will be gathering information hand by hand of every action your opponents make. Over the course of time you will eventually build a big database on the players who you find at your chosen limit. You can, however, greatly accelerate this process by using data mining. Poker Tracker and other similar programs have generated a network of software programmers who have developed tools to give added value. The two major programs for data mining are Idleminer and Spade Eye.
These will allow you to gather information from whichever tables you specify with a large degree of automation, allowing you to leave your PC to get on with job. Using these tools it does not take too long at all to generate a large database of players at your chosen site or sites. This gives you a big advantage when you sit down at a table where there are people you have never played against yourself, as you may well have a few hundred hands that you have data mined previously.
The majority of poker sites have no problem with this activity, though the largest one in the industry, Poker Stars does not allow this at all, and will shut down your account if you are caught. The information available to you during live play is extremely extensive. Such areas as attempts to steal blinds, c-betting frequency, reaction to your own c-betting, and cold calling raises are examples of this. This becomes available to you by using the add-on program Poker Ace Hud, which overlays statistics on the table. The actual display is completely user defined and can display as much or as little inform as the user requires.
The Second is Self Analysis
Using the power of Poker Tracker not only allows you to keep a running tally on your return from the games of poker you play, but also gives you the opportunity to go into in-depth analysis of your own play after your session. It can be very difficult to recognise mistakes made in the heat of the action, but by using the after game analysis available you can pinpoint exactly where you went wrong (or indeed you went right). By using the myriad of filters built into the software, you can evaluate play by, for example, starting hands (pairs, suited connectors, etc, etc), pre-flop action (call, raise, re-raise, etc) as well as situations generated post flop.
By intelligent use of post play analysis it is relatively easy to find where your major leaks are which allows you to take remedial action to eradicate these mistakes. Once again there is add-on software available to take this process further, one such being Poker EV which can show you how you are running compared with optimal play and allows you to see how your pot equity compares with your betting actions.
Anyone who is getting involved in poker for anything more than pure recreation will benefit from getting good tracking and analysis software like Poker Tracker. Currently the vast majority of online poker sites are covered by the software and hand importing is, in the main, done totally automatically. Players wishing to make a worthwhile return from their hours at the poker tables really are selling themselves short if they do not make what is really a small investment in this kind of software.
Having a database of players gives you a decent edge over the majority and will show in your win rate and ROI. Cash game players will particularly benefit, as the dynamics of the table remains constant throughout with blinds staying fixed. Tournament and Sit and Go players may also find the data useful, but you must bear in mind that decisions that are optimal holding 30 big blinds will not be so if you have only 5 big blinds. Using Tournament Indicator to that end is quite a bit more useful.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, the backup that the team at Poker Tracker offer is top rate.. You can have the best software ever written, but without backup it is next to useless. Poker Tracker have their own poker forum where you can discuss technical problems as well as strategy for using Poker Tracker. If you find no answer there, then just send an e-mail to Pat at the office will generally get a response in 2-3 hours. Often the users wonder how this guy ever gets time to play any poker because of the time he devotes to Poker Tracker.
The software gives you a free trial for your first 1000 hands, and I recommend you give it a try if you are looking to improve your game and earnings from it.
