Poker Tracking Software

‘Math is idiotic.’ Not my words, but those of Barry Greenstein after sucking out on Tom Dwan in a pot worth $548,700 during the last season of High Stakes Poker. Thankfully, he was only joking (as part of a bid to raise money for charity), because as everyone should know by now, online poker is a numbers game.

In the past couple of years, with the rise of training sites and strategy forums, the average game has become much harder, and the need to maximise every edge ever more important. The edges in some games have become so tiny that many career players are relying on rakeback just to make money!

Thankfully, there’s a simple but effective bit of kit available that is an essential weapon in the battle for profits: tracking software. As well as revealing essential figures such as your profit and loss, the software displays statistics about your opponents while you’re playing, overlaying key data onto your poker tables via a heads-up display (HUD). These statistics deliver crucial info about the way your opponents play, and can be extremely helpful when making decisions. For example, if you know someone is playing 50% of their starting hands you can assign them a wide range and three-bet them light. And if another opponent is only reraising 2% of the time you can insta-muck your pocket tens when they re-pop you.

The only thing stopping most players from getting the software is that to the uninitiated tracking software can seem terrifying. But it needn’t be. With a bit of patience and guidance you can start crushing the online game. Right then, let’s get started…

Choosing Software

The first thing you need to do is select from the many tracking software packages that are available. To be honest, though, if you’re after the most comprehensive programs, there are really only two to choose from. PokerTracker (www.pokertracker.com, $89.99) has been the benchmark for several years, but we reckon Hold’em Manager (www.holdemmanager.com, $80) has now edged ahead as the best product and is the software we used for this article. While the initial outlay might seem a bit steep, trust us, it’ll pay for itself in no time at all. You can also download free trial versions and even get the full programs gratis if you sign up to an affiliate poker site and play a few hundred hands.

Once you’ve downloaded the software and opened up the database the first thing to do is stay calm! Far too many people get put off by the bewildering array of options and never get any further, but all you have to do is follow the Hold’em Manager Quick Start guide (www.tinyurl.com/HMsetup) which will guide you through the process of getting your database and HUD up and running.

A Matter Of Import

Once that’s all sorted you’re ready to roll with your first session. When you open the program the first thing you need to do is click on the ‘Import’ tab and then ‘Start Auto Import’. As soon as you open up some tables the Table Manager should pop up and begin tracking your hands, and after you’ve played a hand on a given table the HUD stats will appear on your screen. By default there will be a few figures displayed, and for the time being, that’s probably all you need to worry about until you get a grasp of what’s going on. Later you can add more numbers if you wish, but for now let’s break the default stats down and find out what it all means…

Why Is It Useful?

Now that you know what all the numbers mean, how do you go about putting them to good use during a session? Well, the first things to keep an eye on are the vital VPIP/PFR numbers. They’re so important that when players discuss opponents in terms of stats they usually just quote VPIP/PFR, as in: ‘I was in a pot with a 20/16 TAG and a 40/4 donk…’

Sometimes AF is also included as a third stat, but with VPIP/PFR alone you can usually make quick, reasonably accurate reads on the table, which is especially useful if you are multi-tabling. For example, if a tight 12/10 player raises in mid position your A-J in the small blind suddenly doesn’t look too hot. It makes sense to fold against this kind of opponent as you’ll be entering the pot out of position with a hand that will often be dominated by a larger Ace or pair. However, if a player who opens 30% of hands raises from the same position, A-J is a relative monster.

The VPIP and PFR stats can also help to highlight the players you need to isolate and play pots against. If you’re lucky enough to find someone who plays a ludicrous 40/3 style, they’re guaranteed to be an awful player that you should be taking advantage of. It’s also important to keep an eye on your own stats, as tracking software has become so popular it is likely other winning players at your table will be using it and looking to exploit you in the same way.

The A-factor

With your opponents now tagged as rocks, maniacs or spew-monkeys you can take things a step further by playing through the hand. Understanding the Aggression Factor stat will help you pick up pots here. Let’s say you call a raise with a speculative hand against a player you’ve tagged as weak-passive with stats of 20/12/0.5.

Immediately, you know he is unlikely to run any double-barrel bluffs on you due to his low AF. In this instance, he checks the flop and you can bet, whether you hit anything or not, and be fairly confident he will fold. As your opposition gets tougher you can fine-tune AF to provide data throughout each individual street. If you’re on the river, for example, and a player has a high River Aggression Factor such as 5.5, prepare to face a lot of thin value bets and big bluffs. A lower River AF such as 1.5 will be easier to combat as they’ll tend to value bet only with strong hands and check/call a lot more.

Threesy-peasy

The 3-bet% stat is proving more invaluable by the day as aggression levels online continue to rise. Aggressive players will often have a 3-bet% of somewhere between 8-12, making it very difficult for you to know if they are pushing you around with air or have a real hand. It’s so difficult to play against that it’s fairly obvious you should be actively trying to reach this number yourself.

To combat serial three-bettors you need to throw in the occasional four-bet bluff (alongside your four-bet value bets and shoves) – and if you tinker with your HUD display settings there is even a stat to show an opponent’s ‘Fold to 4-bet%’ so you’ll know how likely it is to succeed.
Playing against players with a very low 3-bet% is easy. Simply put, if they reraise they have it. You shouldn’t feel bad about folding A-Q and T-T preflop to a very tight player’s three-bet, especially out of position.

Your HUD stats are fully customisable, so have a play around and find what stats work best for you. The stats we’ve mentioned are, we think, the essentials, but you will also find Steal Attempt%, Continuation Bet% and Fold to C-bet% useful in most games, along with something as specific as Check-Raise Flop% for playing heads-up cash. The only word of warning is not to overdo it on the stats. Not only will there be so many numbers on screen that you’ll be unable to comprehend anything, but there is also sometimes a danger of relying too much on the stats and not enough on adapting to the game and applying your poker instincts. 

Post-session Breakdown

Any top online pro will tell you that the work you do away from the tables is just as important as anything you do at the tables. It’s here that you learn what is working in your game and what is costing you money. So, as soon as you finish a session, don’t shut the computer down and rush off to the pub. Instead, click the Cash or Tourney tab in your tracking software and review all the big pots you won and lost.

Be critical of your own game and look for spots where you can improve. If you find you’ve been getting stacked a lot with pocket Aces, maybe you are slow-playing them too much preflop and allowing opponents to get there – or refusing to fold when a player with a low AF check-raises you on the flop and continues to fire. It’s also always worth getting a friend, preferably one who is better at poker than you, to look over your database of hands and point out what you need to improve.

Once you have a few thousand hands logged, you’ll start to see some invaluable patterns emerging in your play and you’ll wonder how you ever coped in a world without the numbers.
Lastly, if you’re a stats geek, checking through your session results, how much you’ve won or lost for the month, perusing your graph (with all-in EV line) and many other options, can make the game a lot more interesting and give you something concrete to work towards. You can start to talk about your BB/100 (big blind per 100) stat in forums and work out how big a winner or loser you are.

In short, poker tracking software will provide you with all the tools you need to take your game to the next level. And if you’re not using any, you’re going to be left behind.

Tracking Tips

1. Take it slowly

Don’t panic when you launch your tracking software for the first time. Follow the quick-start guide and take time to familiarise yourself with the interface.

2. HUD configuration

The default HUD display is all you’ll need at first, showing all the important stats on screen, but don’t be afraid to play around with the settings after a while.

3. Pay attention

Once the stats are there on screen, use them! If you see a players’s VPIP number turn green, it’s because they’re playing too many hands. Punish them!

4. Review your sessions
Go over your play after each session, working out which hands are costing you money and which players are causing you trouble. Identify leaks and plug them.

5. Further investigation

Tracking software has an incredible array of options. For deeper investigation of all the settings, download the program’s manual or check the site’s forums.