[Nanook]

Hi Guys,

I have been meaning to really get serious about getting better at HE. One of the ways I thought that I could improve my game was by getting PokerTracker. I did that and I got PokerAce Hud too.

Sadly I must admit that I have not used either much. Not because I don't think they are good or anything like that, but because I really don't know how to use them to improve my game.

Here is my situation: I have been playing Poker for probably 25yrs, but HE only for the past yr or so. I play occasionally live both in B&M and in home tourneys, both cash and tourneys. Mostly, I play online. In the past 8 months I have played approximately 40,000 hands. About 1/2 have been lowish buy in SNG's and about 1/2 have been low NLHE cash (.1/.25, and .25/.5) I am about a break even player and want to learn how to get better. I have read the articles from bet-the-pot about how to set up different categories of players and such but it still sort of escapes me as to how one really goes about getting started with PokerTracker and how to effectively use it to actually make more money.

Any info or insight that anyone has would be much appreciated.

AB

[Poboy]

Where do you play? Step one is to get your hand histories into PokerTracker. Hopefully you play on either Pokerstars or Full Tilt because those are the easiest. In P* or FT, you need to enable 'save hand histories' and your HH's will be auto saved to your hard drive (the hands you play after having enabled the save feature). Tournament HHs are a pain in the ***. You have to request the tournament summaries via e-mail. I have yet to successfully get a tournament into PT.

I wouldn't worry about stats for rating players yet. Get your stats in and look them over (or post here).

[Nanook]

Originally Posted by Poboy

Where do you play? Step one is to get your hand histories into PokerTracker. Hopefully you play on either Pokerstars or Full Tilt because those are the easiest. In P* or FT, you need to enable 'save hand histories' and your HH's will be auto saved to your hard drive (the hands you play after having enabled the save feature). Tournament HHs are a pain in the ***. You have to request the tournament summaries via e-mail. I have yet to successfully get a tournament into PT.

I wouldn't worry about stats for rating players yet. Get your stats in and look them over (or post here).

I figured out how to get the stats in. I play mostly at p*. Only problem is that I play on two different computers so I have two sets of hand histories. I know how to combine the two so that is not an issue. I did figure out how to get both cash and tournies in there.

Now what?? What does all this mean and how can I sort any of it into anything meaningful??


AB

[Poboy]

Your main stats for ring games are:
VPIP (voluntarily put money into Pot)
VPIP from SB
FSBTS (folded small blind to steal)
FBBTS
ATS (attempt to steal)
W$WSF (Won money when saw flop)
BB/100 (BBs won per 100 hands)
WTSD (went to showdown)
Won at SD
PFR (pre flop raise)


Those are listed across the middle. They are pretty much self explanatory.
VPIP is an indication of how many hands you are playing. Post those up (stakes and amt. won/lost can be left off).

[smoore]

40k hands isn't a truly significant sample size but we can definitely get some idea of how you are playing. Take a screenshot of *your* PT stats and we can start discussion about what those stats mean and how you could adjust your play.

PT is a real PITA to use. Open your ring game window and select the "preferences" tab. There you can put your screen name so PT will automatically display you when you open a display window. Look at all the menu items that seem to apply to you and you'll get an idea of how to use the program. I don't know how skilled you are with computers and database front ends (what PT really is)

Have you imported the tournament summaries from 'stars? This used to be a horrible experience but now it's auto-magic. You'll need a POP3 mail server (not yahoo or something). Let us know if you need help with that too.

[Nanook]

Originally Posted by smoore

40k hands isn't a truly significant sample size but we can definitely get some idea of how you are playing. Take a screenshot of *your* PT stats and we can start discussion about what those stats mean and how you could adjust your play.

PT is a real PITA to use. Open your ring game window and select the "preferences" tab. There you can put your screen name so PT will automatically display you when you open a display window. Look at all the menu items that seem to apply to you and you'll get an idea of how to use the program. I don't know how skilled you are with computers and database front ends (what PT really is)

Have you imported the tournament summaries from 'stars? This used to be a horrible experience but now it's auto-magic. You'll need a POP3 mail server (not yahoo or something). Let us know if you need help with that too.

I noted above that I play on 2 different machines. For the sake of getting started I will post a screenshot from the one that has by far the least # of ring hands on it, however it is the only machine that I have started to "Play" with PokerTracker on.

This brings up a question #1 about combining databases. Obviously I can dump them all together, but does anyone have any suggestions for keeping things straight? What has been combined, what has not, tourney, cash different db, same db etc..

Question/Comment #2)
40,000 hands is not enough? I have heard many comments like this before but if that is not enough hands to start to learn to get better I just don't get it. Unless you are multi-tabling if you play 2 hrs a day 5 days a week online you will probably play something like 500 hands a week. At this rate you will play 40,000 hands in a yr and a half. What gives?

Yes I have figured out how to import tournament summaries from p*. I will show a screenshot to get started, but again most of the hands are not yet on this db/computer. I would like to get some discussion started so I am going to show what I have for now and add the rest later.

As far as computer savy, on a scale from 0-10 I would put myself at a 6 or 7. I use computers a lot. I have done a fair amount of programming in Excel Visual Basic and the like. I am not a programmer per se nor am I a tech support person, but a novice I am not.

There seems to be so much here that I just don't know where to start.....

AB

[smoore]

Basically, you can't combine the actual databases. Pokertracker has the "move hand histories to blah folder" option. You can get the HHs from that folder and import them to the other computer's database. On the pokertracker forums there is some discussion about using PT on two computers, sharing one database somehow. I haven't investigated it.

40k hands are definitely enough to start spotting leaks but it's not statistically significant when trying to determine absolutes like, "Am I a winning player?" It can be used for things like, "Am I folding on the river too much?"

When you post screenshots you really only need the "player summary" section. Those numbers are what people will need to discuss. I use irfanview to crop/resize screenshots. You can drag that window larger to show all of the levels you've played. As that shot stands now, we can't see the bulk of the hands.

I'm personally not going to be able to help you with your numbers, I'm a limidonk.

Yes, PT is a horribly complicated program. I probably only use 25% of the thing myself.

[bolgenmod]

I too am starting to try and use PT. And I don't understand the tournament summary thing. I imported my HH from my computer (which took three seconds because I don't play one-tenth as much as the rest of you), but I got a pop-up about tournament summaries being needed. I have no idea what these are or how to get them.

Please help -- it's bad enough that PT is a database (I don't use many databases to teach English Lit), but it is also a darn confusing thing to use.

[Nanook]

Originally Posted by bolgenmod

............... I got a pop-up about tournament summaries being needed. I have no idea what these are or how to get them.

Please help -- it's bad enough that PT is a database (I don't use many databases to teach English Lit), but it is also a darn confusing thing to use.

Wowee. I can actually answer this..........

This is just the info that PT needs to make your tournament info useful. Pt already has all the hand history info, but nothing of the sort like where you finished, how much you payed to be in the tourned and if you won money or not etc...

Do you play on p*? if yes I can answer, if no I think some of the others are more difficult. If you or someone else plays on p* and you want a explanation I will give it.

AB

[bolgenmod]

Tournaments are all on Pokerstars -- I play some ring games at other sites. I would appreciate the help...