Software to Take Your Game in Poker to the Next Level - By Andrew Perry

The arc for many successful poker players looks much the same, as many get started in casual games with friends or online and spend plenty of time having fun but largely spinning their wheels as far as making steady profits. For players that decide they want to get serious about the game, the next step in their poker journey typically involves reading poker strategy books, visiting poker forums, and signing up for coaching or subscribing to an poker video training service.

One of the most common ways that players at many different stakes and games improve their profitability at the tables is by turning to tracking software such as PokerTracker and HoldemManager. These rival programs are very similar in function, giving online poker players the ability to record and analyze all of the hands that they play online. Both programs work with all the major online sites, and with a few clicks you’ll be up and running and able to automatically log all of the hands you play online.

Once you’ve collected enough data you can then start sifting through all your hands and start identifying areas of your game that are strong as well as picking out weaknesses to focus on. Stats can be filtered by hundreds of different parameters, letting you see how well or poorly you play from each position at the table, whether or not you’re defending your blinds as much as you should be, and what starting hands are your big winners or losers. The programs won’t recommend how you should play pocket jacks from early position but they can definitely increase your profits at the tables.

You can also use them to do far more than just calculate poker odds and look at your past data, as both programs include tools that pull from your database and display stats in real-time as you play at online tables. This means that at a glance you can see stats at the table such as how aggressive your opponents have played in the past as well as session stats for your own play such as how often you’ve raised pre-flop, how many times you’ve check-raised, and other valuable insights.