Professional Poker Software – PokerTracker
The best software for evaluating your game and that of your opponents is PokerTracker. This remarkable software will make a record of each and every hand of poker you play online and sort them into a user friendly database so you can see your plays exactly, and even better, your opponents play. The pros use this, why not you? How it works:
Detailed histories of all the hands that you play online are automatically stored on your hard drive by the poker rooms. PokerTracker will take those histories and import them into an easy-to-use database so you can compile statistics, which you can then analyze to help you play a better, more winning, hand of poker.
The software also lets you see your opponents strengths and weaknesses so you take advantage of the flaws in their game. Since PokerTracker is such a great tool for record keeping, you will know how many hands you have played, for how many hours, how many you have won and lost, give you a rate per hour of your play, and whether you have a net profit or loss to show for all that. It actually does more than that, too, but the statistical capabilities of the software is what makes it such an essential tool for the serious poker player.
You have probably wondered at some point how aggressively or passively, or how tight or loose you play. PokerTracker will give this information to you on your game and on all your opponents as well. It will tell you when you lose focus and when you begin playing too many hands, an aspect that you have probably not looked into before. You also probably are unaware of the number of times you checkraise, win at showdown, go to showdown, and a myriad of other worthwhile facets of your game that you should be paying attention to.
With this software you can look at and judge the performance of every type of starting hand that you have played. These hands can then be sorted by position so you can see the places where you are making money and those where you are losing. Obviously, you want to cut out the losing hands and play only the winners making you a more profitable (and more formidable) poker player. If you cannot look at a history tracking the hands you have played in what position, you also cannot tell which hands are making you money and which ones are costing you. Most of us remember the outstanding winners and the big losers, but it is the not so memorable hands in between that separate the professional poker player from the amateur. Don’t be an amateur.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Poker Heaven Rakeback as well as Rakeback at Absolute Poker.