Go ahead and buy PT now?

goodfelladh · #1 08-26-2004, 06:56 PM

I know that a lot of folks on here recommend PokerTracker as strongly as possible, and initially I didn't think much about since I wasn't certain how valuable it would be playing at the micro-limits. But now that I've had success at PP .5/1 and am looking to begin moving up the limits, I'm thinking maybe I should go ahead and make the purchase. I'd venture that some even say it's essential? I am kind of in the fog as to what the exact benefits are, but it's hard to imagine the sheer enormity of the information it provides could not help somewhat.

gergery · #2 08-26-2004, 07:04 PM

how to use PokerTracker 101

http://www.andymcnish.btinternet.co....erguide/pt.htm

goodfelladh · #3 08-26-2004, 07:48 PM

This might sound very dumb and newb-ish to some, but I'm curious as to if Party Poker or any other sites consider using PT while you play as unethical or "illegal"? It just seems like a serious advantage to have rather than not.

MiloBloom72 · #4 08-26-2004, 08:26 PM

Just download it and try it... it is free to use for the first 1000 hands imported.

Oh and I agree that it's a big advantage (for example I sat down this afternoon & thanks to Poker Tracker I could see immediately that the guy to my right has a history of raising with an A no matter what his second card is or whether it's suited). But it's an advantage freely available to everyone just as the opportunity to study books, read what people on the internet write, etc. is available for everyone who wants to make the effort.

Blarg · #5 08-26-2004, 09:23 PM

It's pretty cheap for the value of the tool.

Whether you buy it now or not, you may buy it or a tool like it someday. Because of that, DO request your hand histories and keep them up to date -- always!

They add up to be quite a wealth of very valuable information to you after a while. And the value of it is increased by the depth of it. For instance, if your notes on someone show that he raises pre-flop 15% of the time but you only have 40 hands on him, he looks much more aggressive than he might be after you have 300 hands on him, where you can see he only raises preflop 7% of the time, and you were at first just around him when he was having a good run of starting cards.

It's really worth it to make those history requests and just save the results for whenever you can use them.

Oh, and do a search on exporting notes and one of bisonbison's recent posts called "notes on notes" I think it was. There are so many benefits to the program it can actually be kind of overwhelming what to recommend or focus on first. But there are probably few people with the program who haven't sometimes spent hours studying their numbers and gaining insight. P.S. -- you can even replay hands by typing in their history number, so you can study yourself perfectly to find your weaknesses.

Smokey98 · #6 08-26-2004, 10:03 PM

If you request the last 100 hands and insert that into PT and then you request the next 100 hands and they overlap, will PT know this? Most places will email you your LAST 100 hands I believe. So an overlap is possible, I think.

ThePimpulator · #7 08-26-2004, 11:16 PM

Yes, PT reads the hand number and will not include a hand twice. It is safe to set PT to auto request hand histories with a slight overlap and it will ensure you dont miss any hands.

sammy_g · #8 08-26-2004, 11:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
If you request the last 100 hands and insert that into PT and then you request the next 100 hands and they overlap, will PT know this? Most places will email you your LAST 100 hands I believe. So an overlap is possible, I think.

[/ QUOTE ]
PT ignores the hands it's already seen.

Blarg · #9 08-27-2004, 12:37 AM

Smokey, it's best to try to get some overlap, too. You can set Pokertracker to automatically request X number of hands(up to 100) over Y number of minutes, which is very nice, but no matter how you request hands, Partypoker for instance can sometimes not respond time after time to hand history requests. So I always ask for 100 at a time and at a rate that gives me about 60 hands per request, on average. You just must do something like this or else you will frequently get 100 hands in a time period that you should have gotten 60 in. ..which will virtually without exception mean you've gotten hands from TWO request cycles and are now missing a bunch of hands!

So, go for that overlap.

And if something feels funny -- like you haven't seen the requesting hands window pop up for a long time, go check to see if you missed a hand history somewhere so you can request it before it's too late.

Sheriff Fatman · #10 08-27-2004, 05:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
This might sound very dumb and newb-ish to some, but I'm curious as to if Party Poker or any other sites consider using PT while you play as unethical or "illegal"? It just seems like a serious advantage to have rather than not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its an advantage having PT, but not in the same way as a 'bot' making your decisions for you would be. At the end of the day PT just provides you with information on your opponents - you still have to decide how to apply it.

Most sites give you the facility to make player notes. PT just provides extremely detailed notes on your opponents, based on their play against you, so isn't unethical in any way.

Sheriff