Trying to decide if I should buy Poker Tracker

[HRFats]

I've been a real money player since Sept 2004 but did not play very often. I got a little more serious in January with bonus whoring but was not making much money. The poker gods have been good to me for the last six weeks and I'm finally making some decent money. So, now I'm thinking about buying PokerTracker. What benefits can I expect and what are some of the downfalls? My biggest concern is I will use it too often to make a call/raise/fold decision and use it as a crutch.

Comments are encouraged!

[dogmeat]

Spend the money. Even if it hurts a little right now, the rewards (unless you refuse to use the program) will be many times the cost, and if you are actually trying to understand poker, your results will improve and you will soon think that posting this question was silly.

Most important features are your ability to see exactly what hands are winning for you, from which postion, and how you are doing with regards to your pre-flop calling and raising standards. There is also a replay feature, and you can see any hand played back. When I have been playing poorly, this feature usually tells me exactly why.

Spend the few dollars this item costs. It is well worth it.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[Nigel]

Being serious about online Poker and not having PT just don't belong in the same sentence.

Nigel

[smoore]

The hand playback feature is worth $50 by itself. Of course, I still use it with gametime++ and yes, it is a crutch but I multitable limit so it's a neccesary one. It helped my live game too, simply because now I think, "Hmm, what would his numbers in PT be?" I never used to worry about that part of the game.

[jrbick]

Buy it. And it's not close.

[Patchmaster]

You can use PT at many different levels. At the most basic, it can automatically record your results and keep track of them for you. If you're really serious, this alone is probably worth the price. The vast amount of data can be analyzed and used to identify holes in your game. For instance, when I started using PT it was instantly apparent I was being too passive and really needed to work on my play from the blinds. Either of those items was worth several times the price of PT. More in depth analyses are possible using filters and data selection. Or, if you have MS Access, you can use the database directly and do all kinds of interesting queries.

And then we get into analyzing the play of opponents. It's certainly no substitute for closely observing your opponents, but it's a huge help if you're multitabling and simply can't keep track of 30+ players simultaneously. PT can also be a great help in table selection. From using PT I KNOW who has contributed the most to my bankroll and I actively seek out those players. Without PT I'd have some vague notion of who I'd won money from, but I know it wouldn't be completely accurate. Conversely, I know who I've lost the most to and can avoid them if I think they're significantly better players.

The only downfall I can think of is that it doesn't work everywhere. And PT is so useful I tend to not play at places that are not supported or even not supported easily. (One of the big reasons I stopped playing at Absolute was that it was too much of a hassle to use PT.)

[HRFats]

Thank you for everyone's replies. I am going to buy it tonight. Looks like there is some configuring to do but the site forums seem to explain that. Thanks Again.

[augie00]

It's well worth it if you use it ONLY for keeping track of how much money you've won. And it does so much more...

[KKbluff]

[ QUOTE ]
It helped my live game too, simply because now I think, "Hmm, what would his numbers in PT be?" I never used to worry about that part of the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

[poker-penguin]

I play a lot at non PT sites, and don't use PV or GT+ much even when I am at party.

And yet Poker Tracker is still one of the best $55 I invested in poker (TOP and SSH probably make up the other best $50ish)