My first ever tread !
Hello,
I hear alot of talk about pokertracker on these forums , i cant seem to be able to get into there site and was wondering..
is it highly recommended or just another downloadable gaget thats not necessary ?
does it cost ?
does it take up much space as my computer only has about 10% free ?
and where someone post there stats is that information taken from pokertracker ?

also i read .. ' and make sure i sign up for rake ' ..what is meant by that ? Isnt the rake the amount the site takes of the pot ?
cheers

Pokertracker is a very important statistical tool, that can be used to analyse your own and your opponents game by building a database.
I believe it cost 50$ but I'm not quite sure as there is a new version comming out very soon.
I don't think the program itself takes up a lot of space, but as your database gets bigger it might be taken up some space...I'm really not sure but space wasn't a problem with pokertracker on my other very old computer so I highly doubt that you will find trouble there.
The statposts that you see are indeed almost always from pokertracker and as you might see there is a lot of information to be gained from these stats.

Rake is the amount the site takes of the pot, and as you might be able to figure out it is by no means a small amount when added over tens of thousands of pots. So rakeback is simply a way for you to get some of these money back. The amounts vary a bit but you are often able to get around 30% of your paid rake back. That is a lot of meney even at small stakes. I would suggest that you took a look at the Sponsored Support forums where some acknowledged rakeback providers can help you find a rakeback deal for your site.

Yes, you need Pokertracker.

I am addicted to PT and also HUD. I have played mostly live cash games and if I had this info for those games then I would be very rich because in general the people that go to the casino are there to gamble and get drunk lol.
OP'er, you can download Pokertracker3 which is in beta testing but it's free until they officially release it. The biggest advantage on it is not only does it keep track of your own stats, but of all the people you play against as well. Then you can add Pokerace HUD which puts your opponents stats right on your table next to the player so you will know how they play which makes your decisions when up against them a lot easier (PAhud is not yet compatible with PT3 but should be soon).
I have been playing in casinos for a while now but since using PT I do think online players have a higher advantage than live players, to a point. I know that when people go to the casino, they go there to try craps, bj, roulette, and then they often wonder into the poker room to play the game they see on TV. Sure a lot of them only go there to grind out poker winnings but there is a fair number of players who go to the casino to try their luck at poker, and the people who play poker online are there only for poker and in my opinion are generally good players as compared to what I see in live casinos. However with PT and Hud, I think it gives the online player an advantage because we can't keep track of people that good in live games - u need a mad strong memory. PT makes a big difference, and it is well worth the 50 bucks.

Thanks for the info...I have been trying to find out more info about PT but haven't seen any useful replies...Definitely going to invest in it, or at least check out the beta version first

yes you do. it will do all of this for you:

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...0&fpart=1&vc=1

It would be really stupid not to buy it if you intend to play online poker.
You don't technically need it though.

depends if you can spare the money (i.e. if you play 1c/2c with a very small bankroll then it might not be worth it)....but personally I believe it is a great piece of software, get a HUD as well if you do get it...

No, you don't. I have never used any software like this and many other winning players don't either.

I am not even sure if it would benefit my game, besides the point that I dislike the idea to play poker with help of this tools.

I would not argue against the idea that it generally can help players to gain advantages. But in the individual case I think it can have the opposite effect.

Probably more than 80% of all Pokertracker users are anyway losing players.

Best poker software ever invented.

Get it asap. It will help you find leaks in your game. Worth every bit of the price.

I really don't understand how additional information can't help you improve your game, of course it's possible to win without it but don't you want to know what the stats are on someone your facing in a HU pot, or how many times people fold to 3bets, or how many times they raise pre flop plus a million other things.
Well, this must be a decoy post and u dont want anyone to get it that might be up against you nm.

Poker is a game of constant adjustment and that is valid regardless if your basic style is nittish or laggish. Statistic of a players might be good for many people but I prefer a more intuitive style which might be hurt if I am fixed with a lot of statistics.

70% of these types of statistics are made up 39% of the time.

Personally, when I play online I multitable, thus making it difficult to keep track of 30-40 opponents at once and judge their playing styles. Also, in an online environment it is difficult to keep track of players with people filtering in and out constantly.

I wouldn't say that pokertracker is NECESSARY to play winning poker, but it is without a doubt the most helpful tool that I have ever used. In addition to keeping stats on your opponents (you have no idea how useful it is to know how often an opponent folds to a flop/turn bet or raises preflop until you try it), it is highly useful for keeping track of your own flaws. Learning to play properly depending on position is probably the most important part of your game, and PT can help you greatly with this.

Overall, after having played online with PT, I can't imagine playing without it.

You can perfectly play good poker without that. If anyone want to have an edge over others by using this program, they have to know how to use it! Just looking how many times your aces get cracked wont help you a bit.
In live games you cant use PT also.
But it sure helps your game if you can use it, just early beginners aren't ready for it, i think.

your hurting yourself if you dont use it IMO. It gives you a realistic way to measure results

I multitable aswell. I am quite new to NL (have been playing mostly fix limit before), but for a little more than 2 months this year and 1 month last year I multi table Pokerstars 100NL, full ring, up to about 20 tables at same time. To have very good control is practically impossible. I am sure that players who rely on Pokertracker/HUD are confident with that when they multitable - but I doubt any program in the world will give you information which make you a very good decision maker when you play so many tables.

The idea behind multitabling so many tables is that you will benefit a lot from the VIP-system. Because collecting of those benefits will be the main income at lower stakes, you should logically try to minimize your risks for losing big stacks especially when you can’t have so good control. My way to do it, instead of trying to use programs which I dislike and program which might hurt my game, is to short stack the tables and punish very bad players which are in this games and who have no clue about some basic poker fundaments. I am not a good poker player myself, but that is not needed to beat the games year after year and make a decent income.

lol randomtask has it spot on

surely the question is can he afford it and if he can then he may as well get it...if its out of his bankroll then obv. not worth streching for it....but why would you not want something that is useful?

Sorry, but ignore this - you need PokerTracker if you're playing online poker in any practical sense the way the games play online today. If it's out of your price range, then in all probability internet poker is likely to be out of your range as well.

For $50, the ability to look back through all of your hands and evaluate your results in a meaningful, objective sense is a huge help. The database function alone is worth the cost many times over. And no one says you have to use the heads-up display in practice if you have a problem with it. Besides, you don't have to depend on it. It doesn't factor in to many decisions for me, and I may not even use the HUD playing HU a lot of the time. But massively multi-tabling?

Honestly, you've been a 2+2er for 5 years and you're shortstacking NL100. And you want to tell other posters that they don't need Pokertracker... Jesus man come on. This is an argument for buying PT if I've ever heard one.

OP I would follow the advice of most of the people on here and buy PT.

Improving your game - PT helps loads. You can highlight your weaknesses by analysing the database. You can choose specific hands and post them on 2p2 for discussion. This is invaluable when learning. As Gonso said $50 is so damn cheap for this tool.

Sodom's comments are misleading. You can make money and play good poker without PT but it removes a lot of information that you could have had. I think PT both speeds up your learning process, helps find leaks and with PAHud allows you to multitable better.


Unless you want ot be shortstacking $100 NL in five years time..

Yes, I am new to No-Limit so I start a bit low, but it’s ok for me to be at 35usd/hour (inclusive win at the tables and VIP-benefits). I doubt many beat that at any stake in the long run; maybe 1 out of 100 players.

I just want to clarify that I do not mind at all that people use Pokertracker/HUD or other legal software’s. (I would like that they where forbidden to use, but that is another question and it will not happen because the pokersites earn lot of money because of all multitabling with help of this tools.)

I just said, that it’s not a necessary and it might have it backside.

You can also put it like this. It is important to evaluate your game and study the games and the game conditions all the time. You can do that with help of a lot of different tools, software’s and other more traditional ways. All this thinking and studding about the game will take time for you. That time you might use for other things than/beside analyse statistics.

There are so many ways to play poker and so many ways to improve. You have to choose the way which suite you best.

make sure you sign up on poker sites through a rakeback affiliate, because once you are signed up for the site it is very hard to get rakeback if u didn't sign up through a rakeback affiliate.

Wow , thanks alot for all the feedback, looks like il be buying pokertracker. Thank you all