Review: PokerTracker Guide

I paid the $20 for the PokerTracker Guide e-book soon after it was released, and it was a worthwhile purchase.

For those of you who don't know, PokerTracker is a $55 program that keeps track of your winnings, and, more importantly, it compiles many detailed stats on your opponents' playing styles. When used in combination with a free program like PlayerView or GameTime+, you have a strong weapon in your arsenal to make better decisions at the table.

The book is 64 pages long, and it's filled with information.

I've been using PokerTracker for four months, and although a lot of the information was repetitive, it was a good review.

There was plenty of good new information though.

Here are the parts I found most useful:

1) The player ratings section, which assigns icons to players based on their playing styles. I had been using BisonBison's and Divett's ratings, but these seem more accurate and detailed. I also like how it puts more emphasis on Went to Showdown Percentage, because that seems like it has significant value that has been neglected in the PokerTracker community.

2) Setting filters to evaluate your play to discover whether you fall in love with semi-strong hands too often, and whether you're making the most out of your positional advantages.

3) Instructions on automatically importing PokerTracker notes into various poker programs. I hadn't realized how useful this could be for table selection.

4) Advice about how to review your play on a daily basis using PokerTracker.

5) Filters for finding the big fish.

I only have a few complaints.

I wish there were a way to be able to read the e-book and toy with PokerTracker at the same time. Because of the digital rights management software of the e-book, PokerTracker's functionality is disabled while the e-book is in use.

I think the table selection section should have been expanded. While it's very important to know if you're playing against fish or moneybags, I think it's more crucial for a limit game that you play at a loose game with VP$P over 30 percent for the whole table. The authors fail to expand on this crucial part of table selection.

If you use PokerTracker, this book will be valuable. As always, it's only worthwhile if you read it and follow its recommendations. Non-thinking players won't get much benefit.

Links:
PokerTracker Guide
PokerTracker
PlayerView
GameTime+