New Software: PokerEV (Tracker + Coming HUD)
12-28-2007
, 02:44 PM
Most of you are familiar with the old PokerEV, a free program that provided luck and EV stats and graphs, a good free replayer, and greatly extended the limited filtering options available in PokerTracker 2.
A few months ago, after running into many problems and limitations with extending support for the PokerTracker 2 and Hold'em Manager databases, and disappointments with their features and design, I decided to write my own tracking application and HUD that could have the features I wanted.
The tracking application is almost ready for release, and the HUD will follow around mid January. There are a few lingering bugs in the latest build which means I can't release it right away, but here's a preview of what's coming:
Native Imports, Unlimited Hands, Good Performance
My own database means the limitations of PokerTracker imports are gone. Everything is stored in a database and EV calcs run automatically during import. Imports are very fast (I get 170 hands/sec) - importing screenshots are further down in the post.
Graphing:
Graphs are highly configurable, and allow you to graphically display almost anything. I won't reveal the graph features just yet, but here's a screenshot of the familiar luck graphs:
And of course you can graph millions of hands. The FGators EV graph from a couple of months ago was done via PokerEV's own hand imports and database (and hra146's great patience with an early alpha version
)
Replaying:
The replayer is one of my favorite features of PokerEV, and I think the key to effective session review. It's significantly improved in the new version, with some really great features that are currently hidden. But here's what it has right now:
- Omaha & Omaha Hi/Lo support with equity display
- Attached datagrid, which is configurable with whatever stats or values you want.
(playernames, etc smudged out)
- Site skins. These will integrate with the HUD (which overlays stats) to give 100% realistic hand replay.
Party skin with filtering options:
- Customization of replay speed and individual timings (see below)
- Custom skins. You can mod any of the tables the same as you mod Full Tilt or Party tables. Just drop the images in the directory. For example, here's Greg777's Full Tilt skin dropped in the skins directory.
These will work best with a future HUD overlay to get an realistic replay experience.
Stats and Reports
There is just about every stat imaginable available in PokerEV, and reports are very flexible. In a few clicks you can choose up to two grouping stats and any number of return stats, add whatever filter you want, and save it as a report to use next time. For example, here is custom report created in a few clicks, grouped by month and then stakes with winnings and all-in luck.
To add a stat to report you just double click it. No mucking around with XML or SQL or waiting for the developer to write the report you want - everything is automatic and easy to use. This configurability is built into every datagrid in the application, and you can see exactly the stats and values you want to review with a click. All of your configurations are auto saved and displayed the next time.
If there's a specific stat or grouping you want that PokerEV doesn't have, you can create it using the stat creation wizard. I've hidden a few innovative features, but here's a very simple example of the wizard in use creating a $/hand stat:
(middle bit greyed out because it's very useful)
Again, no SQL or XML required, although you can do that too if you want.
Here's a screenshot of the sessions tab. It shows a few other features...click and drag aliases (you drag a player to the alias window to add it - good for quickly reviewing the stats of particular player classes), breakdown of aliases, and more. The players window is actually its own configurable datagrid, so if you want to add a hand count or VPIP or fish factor score to the player list for quick review, it's done in a few clicks. The sessions themselves are configurable in many ways...they're all reports so you can choose from any stats you want, and you can save your configuration with one click.
Also notice the net won adjusted stat - this adjusts your winnings for all-in luck to get a more accurate idea of how you're playing. There are other features related to this that I'm not showing yet.
Performance
Both imports and retrievals in PokerEV are fast and I believe better than the current competition, despite tracking a larger set of stats as well as EV. This is thanks to very fast hand parsers, and an importing routine that scales up performance relative to RAM and CPU. I currently get ~170 hands/sec, including EV calculations, as compared to the 50 that the best competitor does on my system. PokerEV scales well to multi million hand databases as well thanks to its efficient partitioning. Here's a screenshot of a 400,000 hand import in progress:
PokerEV handles large files properly as well - the above are 8 - 300MB files which are handled in place and resumed automatically if you cancel, as opposed to taking extra time and disk space to split them up and put them in a working folder.
Maintenance Tools & Configuration, Updates, Other Features
PokerEV was designed with ease of use in mind. Here's the database maintenance window - you can use it while the program is running, instead of having to shut down each time. And you can cluster and index from within the program too - no fiddling around with pgadmin. An extra 100 lines of code, and a few more minutes spent thinking about design add up to a better day to day experience. These quality differences are everywhere in the program and you'll see them in future updates too.
You probably won't ever need more than one database, but it's there if you want it.
Program updates come from an automated patching system, which can automatically check for, download, and install the latest patch ( and just the updates - not a full sized installer). Of course, you can still download it manually if you wish.
I've also done a few things to make life easier, that developers of other programs should have done. For example, there is a wizard to guide you through the first install and database creation. You can import automatically from your old PokerTracker databases. Features like that take a few hours to code, but make life a lot easier for thousands of users. I'm amazed that others haven't done it after many months.
And if you don't like shiny stuff (like me), there's an option to skin everything in your operating system's native style.
Filters
The old PokerEV kicked off a lot of the new advanced filtering capabilities you see.
The new filters in PokerEV give greater depth than anything available right now. For example, you can set AND and OR items on any available filters with a couple of clicks, to any nested depth, enabling you to filter situations that no other program can right now. You can save and retrieve filters with one click. And since PokerEV tracks items that others don't, it's possible to analyse your play to a greater depth.
Other Features
There's a lot I haven't shown here, and some I won't release until the program is ready for sale. A few others:
- Superior game analysis tools. A good portion of my time developing PokerEV has been spent on some advanced tools (currently hidden). These will be released next month, along with the for-sale version.
- Full Omaha & Omaha Hi/Lo support, immediately. This is integrated in PokerEV and and not a separate charge. I play Omaha Hi/Lo and the lack of a good Omaha tracker is one of the main reasons I started on PokerEV.
- Like PokerTracker, I'm not going to force bundling of a HUD. You can just get the tracker if you want.
- I wrote every line of code in PokerEV myself and know everything backwards, so improvements are easier to do. In contrast, after 8 months in development plus 5 months in beta, another developer bought a lot of their components including their HUD and their replayer.
Weaknesses
- I know everyone wants a HUD, and it's not in there yet. I've been developing it alongside the tracker for the past month and half and spent a lot of time planning and coding a truly next generation HUD. There is also another cross platform HUD (not related to PokerEV, but running off the PokerEV, PT or HM databases) that is going to be announced this weekend or early next week. And of course you can run the free version of RealTime, which at the current time is almost identical to the HM HUD, since HM bought it out recently. (but please give mikechops a donation).
- Tournament support is weak as of the date of this post and vastly inferior to PT2. Tournament support is limited to chips and only the three major sites. I plan to rectify this. You can run luck graphs, stats, filters etc based on chips, and use the replayer, but that's it.
- There's no email import option yet.
- There is no players tab displaying compiled stats. Those stats are linked to the HUD, which will undergo a few more changes. In case you're wondering, the importing speeds quoted include compiled stats.
- Support is currently only for Party, Stars and Full Tilt. I have Everest and iPoker parsers but I need more hands for full testing. If anyone can help out, especially with hands from lesser know iPoker sites, please email to support AT pokerevsoftware.com. First priority is to continue the support available in the old PokerEV, which is the above five sites. I plan to support every site, but some of the developers here will be happy to know that the parsers use an abstract rules based system which can be imported and exported to XML, so adding sites is as simple as creating the XML file, and doable by anyone who wants to.
Other
- Beta period will continue until around the end of January, to give everyone a chance to try it out and compare it to PokerTracker 3. I'll probably make the old version of PokerEV permanently free, or release it open source (the new version is completely rewritten). It's a bit of work and it depends on demand, so let me know.
- Haven't decided on pricing but it will be a lot less than the $95 quoted by HM for the Tracker + HUD.
That's about it for now. I won't be around much the next few days (still with family over the holidays - sorry to all) but I'll try to answer any questions you have.
The download link will be at http://www.pokerevsoftware.com/ There is only the old (free PokerEV) page there right now - the website will be launched after the holidays are over.
Happy holidays to everyone.
A few months ago, after running into many problems and limitations with extending support for the PokerTracker 2 and Hold'em Manager databases, and disappointments with their features and design, I decided to write my own tracking application and HUD that could have the features I wanted.
The tracking application is almost ready for release, and the HUD will follow around mid January. There are a few lingering bugs in the latest build which means I can't release it right away, but here's a preview of what's coming:
Native Imports, Unlimited Hands, Good Performance
My own database means the limitations of PokerTracker imports are gone. Everything is stored in a database and EV calcs run automatically during import. Imports are very fast (I get 170 hands/sec) - importing screenshots are further down in the post.
Graphing:
Graphs are highly configurable, and allow you to graphically display almost anything. I won't reveal the graph features just yet, but here's a screenshot of the familiar luck graphs:
And of course you can graph millions of hands. The FGators EV graph from a couple of months ago was done via PokerEV's own hand imports and database (and hra146's great patience with an early alpha version
)Replaying:
The replayer is one of my favorite features of PokerEV, and I think the key to effective session review. It's significantly improved in the new version, with some really great features that are currently hidden. But here's what it has right now:
- Omaha & Omaha Hi/Lo support with equity display
- Attached datagrid, which is configurable with whatever stats or values you want.
(playernames, etc smudged out)
- Site skins. These will integrate with the HUD (which overlays stats) to give 100% realistic hand replay.
Party skin with filtering options:
- Customization of replay speed and individual timings (see below)
- Custom skins. You can mod any of the tables the same as you mod Full Tilt or Party tables. Just drop the images in the directory. For example, here's Greg777's Full Tilt skin dropped in the skins directory.
These will work best with a future HUD overlay to get an realistic replay experience.
Stats and Reports
There is just about every stat imaginable available in PokerEV, and reports are very flexible. In a few clicks you can choose up to two grouping stats and any number of return stats, add whatever filter you want, and save it as a report to use next time. For example, here is custom report created in a few clicks, grouped by month and then stakes with winnings and all-in luck.
To add a stat to report you just double click it. No mucking around with XML or SQL or waiting for the developer to write the report you want - everything is automatic and easy to use. This configurability is built into every datagrid in the application, and you can see exactly the stats and values you want to review with a click. All of your configurations are auto saved and displayed the next time.
If there's a specific stat or grouping you want that PokerEV doesn't have, you can create it using the stat creation wizard. I've hidden a few innovative features, but here's a very simple example of the wizard in use creating a $/hand stat:
(middle bit greyed out because it's very useful)
Again, no SQL or XML required, although you can do that too if you want.
Here's a screenshot of the sessions tab. It shows a few other features...click and drag aliases (you drag a player to the alias window to add it - good for quickly reviewing the stats of particular player classes), breakdown of aliases, and more. The players window is actually its own configurable datagrid, so if you want to add a hand count or VPIP or fish factor score to the player list for quick review, it's done in a few clicks. The sessions themselves are configurable in many ways...they're all reports so you can choose from any stats you want, and you can save your configuration with one click.
Also notice the net won adjusted stat - this adjusts your winnings for all-in luck to get a more accurate idea of how you're playing. There are other features related to this that I'm not showing yet.
Performance
Both imports and retrievals in PokerEV are fast and I believe better than the current competition, despite tracking a larger set of stats as well as EV. This is thanks to very fast hand parsers, and an importing routine that scales up performance relative to RAM and CPU. I currently get ~170 hands/sec, including EV calculations, as compared to the 50 that the best competitor does on my system. PokerEV scales well to multi million hand databases as well thanks to its efficient partitioning. Here's a screenshot of a 400,000 hand import in progress:
PokerEV handles large files properly as well - the above are 8 - 300MB files which are handled in place and resumed automatically if you cancel, as opposed to taking extra time and disk space to split them up and put them in a working folder.
Maintenance Tools & Configuration, Updates, Other Features
PokerEV was designed with ease of use in mind. Here's the database maintenance window - you can use it while the program is running, instead of having to shut down each time. And you can cluster and index from within the program too - no fiddling around with pgadmin. An extra 100 lines of code, and a few more minutes spent thinking about design add up to a better day to day experience. These quality differences are everywhere in the program and you'll see them in future updates too.
You probably won't ever need more than one database, but it's there if you want it.
Program updates come from an automated patching system, which can automatically check for, download, and install the latest patch ( and just the updates - not a full sized installer). Of course, you can still download it manually if you wish.
I've also done a few things to make life easier, that developers of other programs should have done. For example, there is a wizard to guide you through the first install and database creation. You can import automatically from your old PokerTracker databases. Features like that take a few hours to code, but make life a lot easier for thousands of users. I'm amazed that others haven't done it after many months.
And if you don't like shiny stuff (like me), there's an option to skin everything in your operating system's native style.
Filters
The old PokerEV kicked off a lot of the new advanced filtering capabilities you see.
The new filters in PokerEV give greater depth than anything available right now. For example, you can set AND and OR items on any available filters with a couple of clicks, to any nested depth, enabling you to filter situations that no other program can right now. You can save and retrieve filters with one click. And since PokerEV tracks items that others don't, it's possible to analyse your play to a greater depth.
Other Features
There's a lot I haven't shown here, and some I won't release until the program is ready for sale. A few others:
- Superior game analysis tools. A good portion of my time developing PokerEV has been spent on some advanced tools (currently hidden). These will be released next month, along with the for-sale version.
- Full Omaha & Omaha Hi/Lo support, immediately. This is integrated in PokerEV and and not a separate charge. I play Omaha Hi/Lo and the lack of a good Omaha tracker is one of the main reasons I started on PokerEV.
- Like PokerTracker, I'm not going to force bundling of a HUD. You can just get the tracker if you want.
- I wrote every line of code in PokerEV myself and know everything backwards, so improvements are easier to do. In contrast, after 8 months in development plus 5 months in beta, another developer bought a lot of their components including their HUD and their replayer.
Weaknesses
- I know everyone wants a HUD, and it's not in there yet. I've been developing it alongside the tracker for the past month and half and spent a lot of time planning and coding a truly next generation HUD. There is also another cross platform HUD (not related to PokerEV, but running off the PokerEV, PT or HM databases) that is going to be announced this weekend or early next week. And of course you can run the free version of RealTime, which at the current time is almost identical to the HM HUD, since HM bought it out recently. (but please give mikechops a donation).
- Tournament support is weak as of the date of this post and vastly inferior to PT2. Tournament support is limited to chips and only the three major sites. I plan to rectify this. You can run luck graphs, stats, filters etc based on chips, and use the replayer, but that's it.
- There's no email import option yet.
- There is no players tab displaying compiled stats. Those stats are linked to the HUD, which will undergo a few more changes. In case you're wondering, the importing speeds quoted include compiled stats.
- Support is currently only for Party, Stars and Full Tilt. I have Everest and iPoker parsers but I need more hands for full testing. If anyone can help out, especially with hands from lesser know iPoker sites, please email to support AT pokerevsoftware.com. First priority is to continue the support available in the old PokerEV, which is the above five sites. I plan to support every site, but some of the developers here will be happy to know that the parsers use an abstract rules based system which can be imported and exported to XML, so adding sites is as simple as creating the XML file, and doable by anyone who wants to.
Other
- Beta period will continue until around the end of January, to give everyone a chance to try it out and compare it to PokerTracker 3. I'll probably make the old version of PokerEV permanently free, or release it open source (the new version is completely rewritten). It's a bit of work and it depends on demand, so let me know.
- Haven't decided on pricing but it will be a lot less than the $95 quoted by HM for the Tracker + HUD.
That's about it for now. I won't be around much the next few days (still with family over the holidays - sorry to all) but I'll try to answer any questions you have.
The download link will be at http://www.pokerevsoftware.com/ There is only the old (free PokerEV) page there right now - the website will be launched after the holidays are over.
Happy holidays to everyone.
12-28-2007
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