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General information

Foreword

This article is meant to give a detailed view into the functions and use of PokerTracker (PT). All those just starting to work with PT should at least read through this article once. PT offers many functions that are east to miss, since the program is unfortunately not very intuitive. Here you will find the essence of my year long work with PT and all the "wisdom" I have gathered while moderating the technical forums.

A word on competing products: there is now other software that does the same thing as PT, and in part offers more features. PokerStrategy, however, recommends PT. PT just offers the best support and the best compatibility with various poker sites. Furthermore, PokerAce HUD works with PT and is the best overlay program (more on that later) on the market at this time.

About PokerTracker

PokerTracker is a powerful tool for every pokerplayer for gathering information about the opposition, thus gaining a clear advantage in the decision making process at the table. It also lets you analyze your own game. PT lets you see what, when, where, and how you played. This gives you an overview of your own wins and loses and can reveal mistakes in your game. Together with programs like PokerAce HUD, you can project information on your opponent directly on the playing table and have it handy at all times.

download PT: http://www.PokerTracker.com/pt2su.exe

The PT homepage: http://www.PokerTracker.com

On the PT homepage you can find info on new versions and the PT forum, which has a lot of info on troubleshooting PT.

If you've installed PT, it is first an unregistered version. This version can only show 1000 hands, and some functions are restricted. To use PT to the fullest, you must purchase the full version for $55. You can pay with Neteller, PayPal, or credit card.

The registration key will be sent to you by email and is only good for one installation. If you re-install PT, you must request a new key from PT support (support@PokerTracker.com) by providing the Product ID (Help -> About PokerTracker). This is usually fast and done without hassle inside of a few hours.

Working with statistics

Here in the forum, I always see questions like: "Look at my PT stats. What am I doing wrong?" You must note that all the stats in the world do not allow you to draw concrete conclusions about the quality of your own game. You can have stats that look great by themselves even if you're playing poker incorrectly. Stats only provide quantitative measures of your game.

Statistics become interesting when you view them from the perspective of concrete questions. For example: "Do I win or lose with suited connectors from late position?" After answering this question you can look through the PT statistics for mistakes.

Statistics are always just the quantitative results of your own game. For superficial, rough analysis of your own game, it's better to post hands in the example hand forums for constructive dialog with other players. If you have a concrete suspicion about mistakes in your game, then a statistical analysis is helpful.

A necessary requirement for working with stats is the size of your sample, that is, the number of hands you have recorded. At it's core, poker is the result of stochastic experimentation. The results of each individual experiment (hands) deviate strongly from the expected value (variance). It can take a lot of trials until the average value approaches the expected value. As a rule of thumb: statistics become significant after 20000 hands.

Configuration and databases

Quickstart

Those who don't want to "waste" time reading the entire article can find a short step-by-step guide to configuring PT to read hands from PartyPoker here. Complete information on configuration and working with databases follows.

Step 1: Start PT.

Step 2: Click on File -> Autoimport Party (and Affiliates) Hand Histories. The following window opens:

Step 3: Make a folder anywhere on your hard drive called Oldhands or something similar and activate the option Move processed files..., click on Browse and choose the directory you just created. PT will store hand histories here that it has already seen.

Step 4: Check to make sure all other options are as in the screenshot (deactivated) and whether the timer reads 2 minutes.

Step 5: Click on Program File Locations in the upper right. Point to the PartyPoker install directory where partygaming.exe resides and uncheck the "disable" box next to PartyPoker. Confirm your input with OK.

Step 6: Click on Start Timer.

PokerTracker will now import and process your hands played every two minutes. You can check this after the importing occurs by clicking File -> Ring Game Player Statistics and picking your name out of the list to see your first stats.

Configuration and importing of hand histories in detail

Autoimport

So that PT can import and process your hand histories as you are playing them, you must adjust the settings for particular poker sites. Some poker clients require extra programs to access the hand histories. I will restrict this article to the configuration of PartyPoker since they are the preferred client of PokerStrategy. A list of supported clients and instructions for their configuration can be found at: http://www.PokerTracker.com/ptsupported.html

To configure PokerTracker for working with the PartyPoker Software, call up the Autoimport dialog with File -> Autoimport Party (and Affiliates) Hand Histories or click on the PartyPoker (PP) symbol in the toolbar as in the screenshot:

The following window opens:

Enable logging … : This option helps PT support track bugs. It can be deactivated for everyday use.

Move processed files … : This option should be activated so that PT moves already processed hands to the given folder at the close of the autoimport dialog, usually at the end of a session. Thus, PT won't have to look through hands it has already processed. This will improve PT's performance considerably.

It is recommended to designate a special folder for the old hand histories. That way you can rebuild your database from scratch in case it is damaged irreparably, though this seldom occurs.

Auto rate players … : PT can categorize players depending on their stats. This feature is called auto rate. This option can be deactivated to start. I will present this feature in more detail in chapter 4.

Treat all hands as 6-max … : The PP client does not label table size directly in the hand history itself, causing games played at shorthaned tables to appear as though they had been played on normal big tables. If you only play shorthanded, you can activate this option to have PT handle all imported hands as shorthanded.

Set timer to … : This sets the interval between PT refreshes of the hand histories. The pre-selected value of 2 minutes is fine.

The Program File Locations button at the upper right opens a dialog where you must point to the file of the PP client, partygaming.exe. You should also check that the disable box next to the line PartyPoker is not checked, since otherwise no hands will be imported. Confirm with OK. The dialog will look like this:

You can ignore the Observed Hands page since the PP client does not save hands for games where you were not at the table yourself.

b. Manual Import

To import hand histories from a previously saved location or from other users and tournament summaries that you received by email, proceed as follows:

Open the import dialog either with File -> Import Hand Histories / Tournament Summaries or by clicking on the proper icon in the toolbar, shown in the screenshot:

The following dialog opens:

Here you can import hand histories or tournament summaries:

Select File(s) To Import… : Choose the file you want to import. You can choose more than one file at once, either by holding the ctrl key and individual clicks or the shift key to highlight whole blocks of files.

Check POP3 E-mail… : This function lets you query your POP3 email account to import hand histories or tournament summaries directly from there. PT supports the email formats for Pokerstars, PartyPoker, Paradise Poker and Absolute Poker.

You must fill in the data for your POP3 email account using Utilities -> POP3 Email Setup…

Check E-mail… : This function lets you import hand histories and tournament summaries directly from the inbox of your email client (Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, …).

When the import is finished, you will get a summary showing how many hands were imported etc. You will also be notified of any problems PT had while importing.

c. Regional and language settings

It is necessary that PT have access to the regional and language settings to ensure smooth operation. PT will ask you this when you start. After the fact, you can change this under Utilities -> Regional Settings. The dialog looks like this:

I recommend using the third option, as in the screenshot, since otherwise problems can occur with the format of the date, time, and currency. The poker clients are English-speaking and require this small concession.

Databases and database functions

Data imported from hand histories and tournament summaries is saved in one or more databases. The following will explain how to use these databases and how to optimize the performance of PT.

a. PostgreSQL vs. Microsoft Access

By default, PT uses 2 Microsoft Access databases: one in which the hand history data itself is stored and another for the processed stats on yourself and other players. These databases can be converted to PostgreSQL format.

In principle, MS Access databases have the advantage of being able to run without additional software. But they also have two grave disadvantages: they perform terribly compared to PostgreSQL databases. They are also limited in size, meaning you must make a new databank after collecting a certain number of hands. At some point, then, you'll have multiple large Access databases that must be continuously queried. This reduces PT's performance considerably.

Working with PostgreSQL databases is unilaterally recommended.

b. Creating and maintaining databases

Access databanks are the basis for working with PT. Even if you use PostgreSQL, you must first create new databases as Access databases and then convert them. To maintain databases, use the dialog under File -> Maintain Database Names… It looks something like this:

The default settings for PT are a single Access database. This is called "My First Poker Tracker Database." This is marked as default by a check in the field Dflt. This means that PT will automatically open this database when started.

You have the following options in this dialog:

Rename database: You can easily rename a database by clicking on the name field and typing in the new name. Note that this name is only internal to PT. The actual filename of the database is shown in the right column for access databases.

Create new database: You can create a new database by clicking on the "Add" button. Enter the name for the new database and click in the white field to the right and choose the option "Create A New, Empty Access Database." After clicking OK, the following dialog opens:

Here you can specify whether you want to include notes on players, rules for the autorate feature, or copy the autoimport settings from another database. Make sure that do everything necessary. You cannot copy the notes retroactively without effort. You should at least copy the auto-import settings so that you don't have to do it later. Confirm this with OK and the new database will be created and appear in the list.

Note: PT can only create Access database. These must be converted to PostgreSQL format later. Don't be confused by this. The exact workings of this process are given below.

Connect PT to an existing database: If you got a database from a friend or have re-installed PT and want to re-connect an old database, proceed as follows. Click "Add" and give the database a name. Choose "Browse to find an existing Access Database…" in the right field for an Access database and choose the database you want. You can connect to an existing PostgreSQL database with " Select an existing PostgreSQL Database." You will then see a list of accessible databases.

Delete database: to delete a database, highlight the name and click "remove". Confirm this action in the dialog. This will delete the database from PT. To delete the database completely, you must delete the file manually from the PT folder.

Default Database: You can declare a database as the default by checking the "Dflt" field next to the database. The default database is opened whenever PT starts.

Open database: To work with a database in PT, either to look through statistics or import hands, you must open it in PT. This is done with File -> Open A Database or by clicking on the proper icon in the toolbar. The following dialog will open:

Check the "select" column to pick a database to open and confirm with OK. The database is now open.

If you open more than one database at once, PT will ask you which database to use for certain actions, e.g. importing hands. Be sure to pick the right database and use clear database names to avoid confusion.

Close database: In analog to opening a database, you can close a database with File -> Close A Database. PT requires at least one database to be open, so you cannot close all databases at once.

c. install PostgreSQL

To put databases in the superior PostgreSQL format, you must first install the PostgreSQL database software. Requirements are: Windows 2000, Windows 2003 oder Windows XP. PostgreSQL will not work with Windows 98 or Windows ME. The partition where PostgreSQL will be installed must use the NTSF file system format. To see which system your partitions use, right-click on "My Computer" and choose properties. In the dialog that appears you will see which file system is in use, amongst other things.

Follow these steps to install PostgreSQL:

Step1: Download the PostgreSQL Software here: http://www.PokerTracker.com/grant/postgresql-8.0.3.zip
Use this version since PT does not support versions of PostgreSQL newer than v8.0.3.
Unpack the files wherever you want and doubleclick on postgresql-8.0.msi to start the installation.

Step2: Choose English/English for the language.

Step 3: Click on the next button in this window.

Step 4: Leave everything as it is in this window too, but enter a password. You must enter a password here!!!

Step 5: Again leave everything as is but enter a password. It can be the same as in the previous step for simplicity's sake.

Step 6: Change nothing and click next.

Step 7: Click next. This completes the input necessary for installation.

PostgreSQL is now installed. Start PT and open the dialog Utilities -> PostgreSQL Settings:

enter the username "postgres" and enter the second password you put in during the install.

The installation and configuration is now finished and you can begin working with PostgreSQL databases.

d. Converting databases to PostgreSQL

After installing PostgreSQL as described above, converting a database is east. Open the following dialog with Utilities -> Convert Database :

Use the "select" column to choose the databases you want to convert and click on "start conversion", confirming with "yes". You must now give the new database a fitting and descriptive name and the access database will be converted to PostgreSQL. This can take anywhere from seconds to hours depending on the machine and size of the database. Plan generously for large databases. If it's taking too long for you, you can cancel the operation.

To be able to work with the new database, you must open the new PostgreSQL database as described in chapter 2.3b with File -> Maintain Database Names and close the old Access database. Furthermore, you should also mark the new PostgreSQL database as default, so that it will open automatically in the future.

e. Special considerations for Access databases

Using databases in PT is easy. From time to time at the end of an autoimport dialog, PT will inform you that the database must be compressed to ensure optimal performance. You should do this. The simplest and best way to do this is to choose Utilities -> One Step Compact – Poker and Hand History Databases and confirm with "yes." The compression will then take place automatically.

The compression can take anywhere from a few seconds to hours depending on the size of the database and the machine. Do not cancel this operation or the database will be irreparably damaged.

PokerTracker creates a backup of the database before it tries to compress it and saves it to the PT directory. If there are problems, you can restore the original databank from the backup by deleting the corrupted database and replacing it with the backup. For example, the backup for ptrack.mdb will be called ptrack_backup.mdb.

You can compress the stats database and hand history database separately with Utilities -> Compact a Database and Utilities -> Compact Hand History Database. The method described above, however, is easier and takes less time.

You can set reminders for database compression under Utilities -> Compact Database Preferences. Normal to heavy players can leave the preset value at 7 days. Those who don't play much can raise it to 14 days. Furthermore, you can specify an alternative directory for saving the backups.

The function Utilities -> Repair a Database lets you recover a damaged Access database. If you work with Access databases and encounter a database error, you should first try this function to repair the database.

f. Special considerations for PostgreSQL databasese

Maintainence of PostgreSQL databases is done entirely through Utilities -> PostgreSQL Database Functions.

PokerTracker will regularly remind you that the database must be compressed after the Autoimport dialog. This must be done to avoid performance hits in PT. To compress a databank, it's enough just to choose it and click "compress." The default setting "Vacuum/Analyze" describes the degree and method of compression. This setting is good and can be left alone. After confirming the operation, the compression will begin. It can take anywhere from seconds to hours depending on the size of the database and the machine. Do not cancel the compression as this can damage the database irreparably.

The options for deleting PostgreSQL databases here are only for databases that are not connected to PT. Only old, unnecessary databases from previous installations that are not connected to PT can be deleted here. Chapter 2.3b deals with deleting regular databases that are connected to PT.

The backup and restore functions are described in a following chapter.

g. General considerations for databasese

Utilities -> Database Maintenance And Options will bring you to a dialog for general maintenance of databases for both PostgreSQL and Access. The functions are spread out over several tabs. I will describe the tabs one by one:

Tab "Ring Hands":

6 Max / 5 Max / 1-on1 – Conversion: Most poker clients do not indicate the table size in the hand histories explicitly. Because of this, PT handles all imported hands as if they were played on a normal 10 player table. This option lets you correct this, so that the true table size is reflected in the statistics.

A click on the button opens the following dialog:

Choose your table size under "Convert To" (e.g. "6 max" for shorthanded tables on PP) and use "search" to pull the tables you want from the database. It's recommended that you narrow the search by date since it can otherwise take large databases a long time. Highlight the sessions to be corrected (often "select all" will do). Clicking on "convert now" and confirming begins the conversion. This can take some time depending on the number of sessions.

If you accidentally change the wrong sessions, you can undo it in the above dialog by choosing "I want to Remove the 6 max,5 max 1-on-1 designation."

Purge Sessions: This option deletes the sessions selected in the list. You'll have to reimport the hands if you accidentally delete them.

Purge Players: This option just removes from the database player names for which no hands have been imported or for whom no further information exists in the database.

Tab "Hide Ring Players":

This function hides players under a minimum hand count so that their stats do not appear in PT. This sounds useful at first, maybe for some statistical investigations where you want to concentrate on players for whom you have gathered a lot of data. In practice, it's not very useful.

Tab "Purge Tourney Hands / Summaries":

Purge Hands for Tourney(s): This function deletes the hand histories of the chosen tournaments and their data. Be careful with it. You can only fix a mistake by reimporting the desired hands.

Purge Hands / Summaries for Tourney(s): This function deletes not only the tournament hand histories but also the tournament summaries. Careful with this one too.

Show Tournaments With No Summaries Loaded: This lists the tournaments for which no summaries exist. More on that in section 2.3.h.

Purge All That Have No Summary: Deletes all data for tournaments for which no summaries exist. Be careful with this function. You can only fix a mistake by reimporting the desired hands.

Tab "Hide Tourney Players":

This function hides players under a minimum hand count so that their stats do not appear in PT. This sounds useful at first, maybe for some statistical investigations where you want to concentrate on players for whom you have gathered a lot of data. In practice, it's not very useful.

Tab "Hand History DB´s":

This lets you administrate additional hand history databases should the original database reach maximum size. This is so seldom the case that I refer you to the PT help. Reach it by clicking the blue "help" link.

h. Tournament Summaries

Many poker clients cause problems with the tournament summaries. You are often forced to enter them manually into PT. I will show how that works with an example from PP.

After playing in a tournament, you should check whether a tournament summary was logged for it. Do this either under Utilities -> Database Maintenance And Options as described in the previous section 3.2.g or open the dialog File -> Party & Affiliates Tournament Results - Manual Entry:

Find the tournament with the missing info and put in the following data under "selected tournament details": the buy-in and the participation fee, the type of tournament and number of players. In the list of participants to the right you should find your name and enter the buy-in, cost and number of rebuys and addons. Clicking on "save" saves the information and works it into the statistics.

i. Backups of Access Datenbases

I want to make it clear that, just like any other software, you should make regular backups of your data when working with PT. Databases can become damaged or lost for many reasons: viruses, hard disk failures, program crashes, etc. backups should be made in regular increments to keep the losses to a minimum. I recommend that all regular PT users backup their data at least once a week if the database has been modified.

Create backups of Access databanks as follows:

You can find the access databases directly in the PT install directory. The actual PT databases are named PTRACKx.MDB, where x is an incremental number on the database. The database created on installation is called PTRACK.MDB and next database would be called PTRACK2.mdb. The hand history database is called HHDB.MDB.

It's best to copy all files with the name PTRACKx.MDB and the file HHDB.MDB to a "safe" place on your hard drive or another drive entirely (not just another partition of the same drive). It's even better to burn the files to a CD or DVD. Then the backup is safe out of the reach of hard drive failures or power spikes.

To restore the backup, it's enough (assuming the PT installation is still intact but only the database is bad) just to overwrite the corrupted databases with the backups.

Otherwise, such an access database can be connected to a new PT installation with the dialog File -> Maintain Database Names as described in 2.3.b.

j. Backups of PostgreSQL databases

I want to make it clear that, just like any other software, you should make regular backups of your data when working with PT. Databases can become damaged or lost for many reasons: viruses, hard disk failures, program crashes, etc. backups should be made in regular increments to keep the losses to a minimum. I recommend that all regular PT users backup their data at least once a week if the database has been modified.

PostgreSQL databases may be backed up as follows:

Open the dialog Utilities -> PostgreSQL Database Funtions:

Click on the "backup" button and enter a filename for the backup. You should keep the extension ".backup". A DOS window will open and you must enter your PostgreSQL password that you entered at the beginning of the installation. Confirm the password with "enter". The backup will now be created.

Copy the backup files to a "safe" place on your hard drive or another drive (not just a different partition on the same drive). It's even better to burn the backups to a CD or DVD. That way they're safely out of reach of hard drive failures and power spikes.

To restore the databases from the backup, click on on the button "restore" in the same field. A dialog opens for you to pick out hte backup files. The database will now be restored. If a database of the same name exists, this will be overwritten. If no database of that name exists, a new one will be created. To use a newly created database, you must connect it to the system in the dialog under Dialog File -> Maintain Database Names.

k. Sharing a database between multiple computers

If you have more than one computer at home, like a desktop and a laptop, it's fairly easy to configure PT to use only one central database to which all computers have access.

As a pre-requisite, your network must be configured so that they can communicate with one another. The computer that is to hold the actual database must have a static IP address. Furthermore, port 5432 must be open in that computer's firewall.

Configuration is as follows:

On the primary computer:

1. Install PT and PostgreSQL.

2. Convert databases to PostgreSQL.

3. Open "Start -> Programme -> PostgreSQL 8.0 -> Configuration Files -> Edit pg_hba.conf"

4. Scroll all the way down and add the following line to the section "IPV4 local connections" :

host all all 192.168.10.4/24 md5

(Use the IP address of the primary computer and not the example address shown here)

5. Open "Start -> Programme -> PostgreSQL 8.0 -> Configuration Files -> Edit postgresql.conf"

6. Change the following line under "Connections and Authentication":

from

#listen_addresses = 'localhost'

listen_addresses = '*'

7. Save the file and you're done.

On the secondary computer:

1. Install PokerTracker and PostgreSQL.

2. In PT open "Utilities -> PosgreSQL Settings" and change "localhost" to the IP address of the primary computer.

Now both PT installations should be sharing the same databases on the primary computer.