REPOST: Online Poker Tournaments: Poker Tracker / Hold'em Manager

[Bryan Micon]

Quick intro: Some of you know me from the Neverwinpoker project and generally playing poker for a few years now. I rarely talk strategy on my own forum because it is not really the place for it, and I really have to hand it to Pokerroad for operating such an amazing forum. I have been digging through it all day and I love what I have found.

Now the question: I have to admit to being very lazy from 2006 until mid-2008. I am pretty sure online poker tournaments got a whole lot tougher during this time and the player base as a whole got a lot better due to the amazing amount of information available to anyone with the drive to find it and learn to apply it. This brings me to the question:

How many of the great players that populate this forum use Poker Tracker or Hold'em Manager or some sort of Heads-up display while they play online poker tournaments?

I have heard that some of the best players don't use it, I know some players that have been very profitable using it over the past year or so. So who uses it? Who doesn't use it? Does anyone think that it gives an unfair advantage and should be disallowed by the Poker sites? Do you think software like Poker Tracker has made online tournaments much tougher to beat in recent years?

thanks to all who respond, and again great forum.

[scott diamond]

Anything that gives a player an advantage should not be allowed.One does not have such a tool playing in a live tournament.

[DennisG90]

well, i myself dont use any of those tracking programmes, as a good player one can still beat the lower stakes without them. personally i think that such programmes make you act more and more like a bot and take away the skill factor that once made me love this game... so i kinda disapprove of the fact that poker sites allow the usage.
But one day i might be forced to change my mind and take on those programmes, at the lastest by the time that i poker for a living, cause i could not give away this edge that ppls might gain using pokertracker and so on...

[Bthoven]

I don't play as much online poker as I used to and even then I played mostly cash games but I did use Poker Tracker. I think this is a great tool and since it is allowed and many of your opponents are using it why deny yourself that same advantage. With that being said, I do think it is better suited to cash games than tourneys since people will often be changing their games up as the blinds increase. I think that is also part of the reason why it isn't used more in the bigger games. I think the opponents in those games are much more likely to be changing gears, which makes the stats less effective, plus I think the top players are better able to identify the trends that PT would spot on their own anyway.

I used PT mainly for table selection and to identify the bad players. Just start PT up like a half hour before your session and when you sit down you can better choose which tables to play. Also, by data mining tables you can find those players who are playing badly and sit with them or look for them the next time you play. As far as how it effected my play, I pretty much played my normal game but I would factor in a player's stats if I was faced with a borderline decision.

[NorCal Sports]

I think its a tool worth using but its merely a tool.

Give my girlfriend pokertracker and she's a loosing player. Give a semi-pro poker tracker and it probably will help here and their.


Its like persimmon drivers over titanium. One gives you an edge, but it doesn't make you a pro.

[theEcrane]

I use pt2+pahud. I find that at the beginning of a session when I have 8 mtts going that having tracking software is extremely helpful. Once I get down to 3 tables or less it's much less helpful as I can keep track of players tendencies much better. It's also a nice way to identify players as well. Sometimes I'll get a player that's sitting in the same seat as another player but on a different table confused and tracking software helps me to not be so confused.

[Bryan Devonshire]

paging a mod pls

[feihua]

I am trying one out right now for the first time.

It is pretty goofy having my computer tell me to check, fold, bet, raise and call when it means check.

The plus side is that for the first time I am actually enjoying a glass of warm sake while playing. And making plays the peanut gallery respects. And yeah, it is goofy how it works. I feel like Aaron Bartley is telling me what to do. Except when it gets down to four players and I have AA and one chip with a three bettor and a reraiser, I don't think the computer is going to tell me to fold.

The down side is that it is effin' with my nitzilla side of life.

With this short experience, I am giving the advantage 4 out of 10 for being unfair, 6 out of 10 for taking advantage of it.

I say allow it. It can no more translate to live games than Alta Vista Babelfish can make someone multilingual.

Online is a different game. Isn't it? When the sites increase the time clock, there is plenty more to become a concern.

And that said, I do not think I will be applying a purchase to this particular trial.

Oh......wow........as I am typing this and listening to the commands, it appears I am in the money.

Hmmmm........

Nah..........I am on a budget.

EDIT: I won the SNG. Damn truth about the post is that the software didn't work during the game I was playing while writing this thread. All of my comments were about play chips. So, I guess my thinking is that it is good to write posts about software help while playing SNGs.

Dammit, I am out of sake.

Y'all have a good night.

[AANick123]

I thought these programs were not allowed? Can you use Holdem Manager and PT on say Full Tilt still? Thanks for the info!

[feihua]

I can tell you it does not work with the Full Tilt beta version.

It sorta worked with the Full Tilt standard edition.

It does not equal Hold Em Mgr nor Poker Tracker, but "this stuff" is allowed......for the time being.

That "it/these things" do not work with Full Tilt beta is probably only because it is in a different directory on my computer.....I can switch between the beta edition and the standard edition. Buttttttttt, my bets are that Full Tilt is not in the anti column on this matter.