Description of Poker Tracking Tools
What Does it Track?
The top products from poker-software developers will assist you with table selection as well as maintaining a history of your poker hands. You should also expect accurate reporting and analysis of poker sessions. Most of this should be available in real time, as you play.
Poker tracking software uses a heads-up display (HUD) to keep relevant numbers in view while you compete. Poker is, and always has been, a game of good decisions. Many of the top pros suggest focusing on making good decisions, one at a time. If you do this the long term will take care of itself. That’s where a good poker tracking system comes in. You have numbers and notes handy to help you decide correctly.
Here are a few of the key features you should look for:
- Make sure you have accurate information for table selection. Hand histories and reports on individual opponents will help you select a table at which you can be competitive.
- Once you are seated the HUD gives you odds and stats on opponents as you play each hand.
- Use the histories and analysis to improve your play. Good statistics from tracking software will show your weaknesses and strengths.
- Track financial success, winning percentages and more crucial information. Separate your reports into ring games, multi-table and single-table action.
In addition, you will have information from past sessions that will help you learn more about your opponents and their individual habits. Since we don’t have visible tells online it is important to study betting patterns and choices made by others.
The best poker tracking software has been developed in the past few years. Emphasis on the best programs is on opponent weaknesses, decision making and smart table selection (as part of bankroll management). If you are going to get serious about your online play, find good poker tracking software to help you.
Valuable and "Not-So-Valuable" Information
When you think about poker tracking software try to view this important tool as a way to “dig up” the best information you can find. Once you have these choices bits of information you can turn it into gold for your bankroll. Maybe that’s why they call it data mining.
In a lifetime of poker there are dozens upon dozens of pieces of information – pot odds, card odds, opponents weak and strong, comfortable betting limits and so on. It would take far too much time to write all this information in a record book, though some of the best players do make notes and study them after a session or tournament. Even the best memory in the world falls short of remembering everything that takes place in a poker game.
Valuable Information
One wise fellow advised people to fill your mind with important information. Educate yourself and you will fill your pockets with gold. Data mining/poker tracking software can do this if it is used correctly. What sort of data are we mining? Here are a few of the key items: table selection – to give yourself the best chance against the correct opponents; odds calculator – to help you make the right “financial” decisions; player notes and analysis – so you know more about your opponents than they know about you; hand histories – so you can see trends, track your winning percentages and see where you have been strong or weak.
How do you keep all of this available when you are playing? Well, the best poker tracking programs have a heads-up display (HUD) that shows relevant statistics and information in real time, as you are competing in a ring game or tournament. For example, a progressive heads-up display can lay the numbers out for you while you play. In addition many top programs allow you to see an up-to-date report on another player so you can make the right choice.
How Much is Enough?
Of course we would all like to have all the information we need. But “all” is a lot of information. How about having as much as you can humanly handle while you play? That’s right. Good poker tracking software records and uses millions of hands. You can assemble them and call them up as you need them.
Good programs also notify you of specific situations and may even suggest the best choice at the time. Good filtering of mined data will give you information that fits the situation. If conditions change significantly at your table or in your tournament the best auto-filtering will adjust to the changes (so the information remains relevant). Find a poker tracking system that will not only perform data mining but can also be customized to fit your poker world.